Chuck began playing in the church at age eleven and today is recognized as a great innovator and teacher of the tradition. In the 1970’s he began playing the twelve-string pedal steel guitar. Campbell developed a unique tuning and set-up for the pedal steel that is emulated by a new generation of steel players.
Chuck is one of three steel players in the Slide Brothers ensemble, a group of sacred steel players founded by steel guitar virtuoso, Robert Randolph.
Homespun Music Instruction 2004 – Homespun produced a 90-minute instructional video of Chuck Campbell teaching in close-up detail, the techniques and musical ideas of sacred steel music using the pedal steel guitar.
Heritage Fellowship Award
In 2004 the National Endowment for the art presented Chuck Campbell with the Heritage Fellowship Award. The NEA recognizes lifetime achievement, artistic excellence and contributions to our nation's traditional arts heritage. In addition to being a master of the art form, Campbell serves as a role model for dozens of aspiring steel players within the House of God church and abroad.
Chuck Campbell was inducted into the Sacred Steel Hall of Fame in 2018.
Sacred Steel is an African-American gospel tradition that features the steel guitar in religious services. It originated in Pentecostal churches in the 1930s
It developed in the Church of the Living God, particularly in the Keith and Jewell Dominions.
Sacred Steel gained wider recognition through performances by artists like Robert Randolph, Calvin Cooke, Aubrey Ghent and the Campbell Brothers, who brought the genre to international fame.