RE: [Harp-L] Upon Charlie being elected ...
Agree with you 100%, Jim.
However, regarding your
remark: "and more importantly using 2nd position in country music. Maybe
he wasn't the "first" but he was the man." - I would like to add a
comment.
I am aware that I am not
'on the ground' as far as US music is concerned; I can only know what
has been recorded, not what was played live in the year dot at
so-and-so's juke-joint/honky-tonk etc.
But I have listened
studiously to US music for most of my life and own recordings of blues,
jazz, country etc. etc. from the earliest years of recording on up.
I would venture to state
my belief that there was nobody playing anything at all like McCoy's
style prior to his appearance in Nashville. Roy Orbison's 'Candy Man'
was his first session, I believe - was this a Nashville recording? I
believe it's Charlie on Arthur Alexander's recording of 'Black Night'
(Alexander penned & first recorded 'Anna -go to him' later a hit for the
Beatles) which I think is a Muscle Shoals session. Dunno which recording
came first without consulting my collection.
Certainly country players
used second position way back, from Henry Whitter in the early 20s
onward.
But they were not using it
to play melodically; it was all fox-chase 'n' trains; if they were going
to play a melody, they used 1st.
I think Charlie was the
biggest thing to happen to diatonic since Little Walter, and I think
there are a heap of players, particularly younger contemporary players,
who probably never listen to 'country', possibly never heard Charlie
(consciously, anyhow) and yet they are indirectly influenced by McCoy
via all the players who came between him and these 'youngsters'.
Jason Ricci cites Pat
Ramsay as his main man, yet when I listen to Ramsay, I'm hearing McCoy's
influence.
I could be wrong, cause I
live in upside-down-land, but I reckon McCoy's influence is just about
in everyone's playing these days, whether they know it or not.
A bit like what Will
Shakespeare is to the English language; people quote Will daily without
ever having read his work. (note: I say 'a bit like' OK?! - not
'exactly' - just in case you think I'm going too far!)
Cheers,
RD
>>> Jim Fitting <jfitting@xxxxxxxxxxx> 11/02/2009 10:00 >>>
I loved this thread because it is about Charlie McCoy. If any
Nashville musician deserves to be be in "The Hall" it is Charlie. Take a
listen to George Jones' monster hit "He Stopped Loving Her Today".
Charlie's playing on that song answers about a quadrillion posts on
harp-L about how to play harmonica, how to accompany a song. Sure it is
commercial and there ain't a lot of notes, but his sensibility on how to
play harmonica in country music is spot on. He is all about playing the
melody, integrating the blues phrasing of call and response, and more
importantly using 2nd position in country music. Maybe he wasn't the
"first" but he was the man. Have you heard that live album from Paris he
released in '92? He did it with a bunch of guys from Norway. Nothing
against those guys but that cd is great and it is because of Charlie.
He's right there with Larry Adler or Little Walter or Stevie Wonder and
all that as far as I am concerned, but then again the first time I heard
him I had barely started playing and he was right there on the am radio.
His instrumentals were used as the background music for the Flagstaff
humane society's daily radio spot on KAFF. "Freckles, is a 3 year old
pug collie mix, brown eyes, loves kids" while "The Fastest Harp in the
South" or "Today I started Loving You Again" is playing in the
background. How cool is that? So I'm prejudiced...but all those great
players like Don Brooks, Mickey Raphael and PT and a million others have
all tried to play like Charlie at one time or another on one those
country tunes. And who has played more prettily or more soulfully on
more commercial records? OK maybe Tommy Morgan but hey that is pretty
good company. Bottom line is I am just a huge fan. JIM
PS That book by Kim Fields "Harps and Heavy Breathers" is a must read
for anyone interested in the history of harmonica.
> Date: Sun, 8 Feb 2009 17:03:48 -0500
> From: turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Country tuning
>
> Philharpn@xxxxxxx wrote:
> <"Harmonicas, Harps, and Heavy Breathers" was copyrighted in 1993 and
at least
> <once revised edition (with a different cover) has been published. I
have both
> <editions and I have no idea what was changed in the second edition
other than
> <adding death dates for those who died.
> <
> <On page 147, Charlie says he learned about what is now called
"country
> <tuning" from Duane Parker ("older gentleman") of Watertown New York
who told
> <Charlie...(etc.)
> <
> <This incident is not dated in the book; so I don't know when the
story
> <happened. But Parker was still around when the first edition of
"Heavy Breathers"
> <came out.
>
> This is very similar to what Charlie told me when I worked with him
on a session for Oak Publications in Nashville in the summer of 1979. My
memory tells me that Charlie identified the date of the incident as 1974
or 1975, but I can't swear to that. I'm certain that Charlie didn't
mention Parker by name. I'm sure he did say that he encountered the guy
at a concert in upstate New York.
>
> In other words, I think the book reference is probably accurate.
>
> Thanks and regards, Richard Hunter
> latest mp3s and harmonica blog at
http://myspace.com/richardhunterharp
>
>
>
>
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