If he were growing up in Texas or maybe the South where there were more readily available pedal steels around and in music stores, odds are better that he’d just come across one. But he didn’t.
And he’s not playing slide guitar or a steel bodied National as many blues players did—he’s using pedals on a pedal steel guitar. Sure, it’s bluesy, not Nashville E9, but still kind of specific. He obviously spent some time studying Western swing, which features steel playing hot leads, as pedals were just evolving.
