Darick Campbell, gospel musician who upheld sacred steel tradition, dies at 53

The cause was complications from heart surgery, said his brother Chuck Campbell. 

Sacred steel traces its roots to 1930s church services at the House of God, a small African American denomination where the steel guitar - a staple of Hawaiian and country music - emerged as a more portable alternative to the church organ. 

By turns mournful and joyous, the instrument energized congregations and fostered a call and response between the chancel and the pews. 

While his older brother Chuck played the pedal steel guitar, which uses knee levers to raise and lower its pitch, Campbell played a traditional Hawaiian lap steel. In his hands, the instrument sang like a human voice. He could create four or five distinct melodic notes while striking a string only once. And his use of the wah-wah pedal, an electronic device popularized by rock guitarists such as Jimi Hendrix, enhanced its plaintive quality. 

In House of God churches, steel guitarists typically began on the lap steel and advanced to the more complex pedal steel. But Campbell, who started out as the group's drummer, found his niche on the old-style lap and stuck with it.

"He played more traditional House of God steel, whereas I was more progressive," Chuck Campbell said in a phone interview. "We progressed into more of a rock-ish style because of the bigger amps, electronics and the more modern choir songs. Darick was a great drummer, too. He listened to Billy Cobham, Stewart Copeland and Tony Williams, all of whom are fusion players. But when it came to the steel, he was focused on the tradition."

Darick Everett Campbell was born in Rochester, N.Y., on Nov. 12, 1966. His father was a bishop in the Keith Dominion, a House of God branch. By age 8, Campbell was drumming in the family church group with his older brothers, Chuck and Phillip, a guitarist and bassist, and studying the steel with such elder players as Henry Nelson, Ted Beard and Calvin Cooke. 

By the time the Campbell Brothers made their studio debut, with "Pass Me Not" in 1997, the group was rounded out by drummer Carlton Campbell, Phillip's son, and guest singer Katie Jackson.

"Darick got so good that instead of having one steel player, both of us would play," Chuck said. "Darick ended up a more soulful, melodic and old-school player than I was. It gave us a great contrast. Between the two of us, we had a great variety of sounds and covered the entire evolution of the steel in the church. Everything we tried to do with [electronic] effects - whether it was using an e-bow, phase shifters, flange or wah-wah pedals - was to mimic the voice of the singers in the church."

Their fans included the Allman Brothers Band, who brought the Campbells onstage beginning in the early 2000s, and John Medeski of the jazz fusion trio Medeski Martin & Wood, who produced their 2005 album"Can You Feel It?"

Campbell also recorded with folk blues artist Keb' Mo' and gospel singer Mavis Staples. With his brother Chuck, he belonged to a steel guitar supergroup, the Slide Brothers, who performed alongside Buddy Guy and Bootsy Collins on a 2012 Hendrix tribute tour. 

As the Campbell Brothers became popular outside the church, they broadened their repertoire as well, premiering a steel guitar interpretation of John Coltrane's spiritual jazz suite "A Love Supreme" at Lincoln Center in 2014.

Their renown in rock and jazz circles was not always well-received by House of God leaders in Nashville, Tenn., who reportedly wanted to keep the Campbell Brothers' music situated within the sanctuary.

The title of their album "Beyond the 4 Walls" (2013) refers to that conflict, and to a civil suit that nearly drove them from the church. According to a report in the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, church leaders sued the group in 2005, alleging a misuse of church funds allocated to a commissioned DVD and book. The case was thrown out of court five years later. 

The church barred the group from performing at services, and Campbell - who had learned steel from church elders - wondered whether the musical torch could continue to be passed. 

"All of these young players are coming along," he told the Democrat & Chronicle in 2013. "But the cool guys who I looked up to, the guys who shared with me, they're no longer there. The younger generation of the House of God, they have no one to watch."

Campbell attended a House of God church in Atlanta in recent years.

His marriage to Sharon Moore ended in divorce. In addition to his two brothers, survivors include his wife of five years, Pamela Ross Campbell; a daughter from his first marriage, Alexis Campbell; a sister; and a granddaughter.

The Campbell Brothers took their music to more than 25 countries, by Chuck's count. 

"It's almost an out-of-body experience," he said, "because it's something we never expected - particularly because we only play what we played in church."