Re: [Harp-L] Charlie McCoy and the Nashville Number System

Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx> · Thu, 5 Feb 2009 14:05:09 -0800 (PST)

According to Chas Williams, author of the book "The Nashville Number System," 

http://nashvillenumbersystem.com/

Neil Matthews, developed the Nashville Number System for the Jordanaires to use in the studio, and Charlie was an early adopter who came up with some extensions. This overlaps with PT Gazell's statement.

The oral accounts from Charlie's band members that you cite are statements of belief by informants who may or may not have accurate knowledge, even if they are Nashville session guys. They may have come on the scene after the fact and formed an impression that, while sincere, may or may not be accurate. Given Charlie's significant involvement in its development, they may easily have formed the impression that he invented the system. Calling them the horse's mouth is an overstatement. The real horse's mouth, at least as regards Charlie's individual involvement, is Charlie himself.

Other websites refer to the "evolution" of the system, indicating that several individuals may have been involved in the development of the system as it is now known. Charlie may well be among this group.

Third-party attestations, especially when they seem attractive (for instance, when they affirm an cherished belief or lend glory to a valued individual), must be treated skeptically and evaluated with care.

Winslow

Winslow Yerxa

Author, Harmonica For Dummies ISBN 978-0-470-33729-5

--- On Thu, 2/5/09, icemanle@xxxxxxx <icemanle@xxxxxxx> wrote:
From: icemanle@xxxxxxx <icemanle@xxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Charlie McCoy?
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Date: Thursday, February 5, 2009, 1:14 PM

 Charlie works with his "usual suspects" when he can afford to bring
them to a gig - these are great Nashville session players that worked with
Charlie when he was musical director for "Hee Haw". Unfortunately,
when he is booked in the US, most of it is for regional festivals and - if you
can believe it - the RV Parks, where there is not a lot of $ to spend, so he
will use a local country/bluegrass band for back up. They cut the gig, but are
definitely a level or two below where he likes to play. 

This I know from talking with him directly, as I booked him for a show last
year in the Orlando area. Because I like to create a first class experience for
the musicians and the audience, Charlie was very happy when I told him I'd
bring in his hand selected Nashville musicians for this particular gig, as they
haven't played together in years. What a blast, especially picking them all
up at the airport. It was quite a reunion scene. It was also fascinating to
watch him work them at the sound check/rehearsal to pull them into a first class
unit in a short period of time. Charlie is amazing and the respect and response
from these musicians was something to see. The show that night was as good as
anything done at The Grand Ol' Opry.

Anyways, the next day I took all the side men out for lunch before running them
to the airport. They all told me amazing stories about Charlie, including the
fact that he, along with Chet Atkins, developed the Nashville system for charts
back in the early days. 

So, my verification is from horses' mouths and was good enough for me to
repeat here. Winslow, on the other hand, may like more official documentation -
perhaps something in writing....?

I think he was around when it was developed, but is he the actual originator? 
Likely more than one person was involved.

If this claim can be documented and verified, it would be great.

-----Original Message-----
From: Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Thu, 5 Feb 2009 2:41 pm
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Charlie McCoy?

I think he was around when it was developed, but is he the actual originator? 
Likely more than one person was involved.

If this claim can be documented and verified, it would be great.

Winslow

Winslow Yerxa

Author, Harmonica For Dummies ISBN 978-0-470-33729-5

--- On Thu, 2/5/09, icemanle@xxxxxxx <icemanle@xxxxxxx> wrote:
From: icemanle@xxxxxxx <icemanle@xxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Charlie McCoy?
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Date: Thursday, February 5, 2009, 10:59 AM

 Did you know that Charlie was responsible for developing the chord chart
system known as the Nashville System? 

there are a lot of people who owe a lot to him without even 
knowing about him.

-----Original Message-----
From: Rick Dempster <rick.dempster@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: mzaklan@xxxxxxxxx; harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Thu, 5 Feb 2009 10:30 am
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Charlie McCoy?

Well, good, and about time. I don't think Charlie gets enough attention on 
harp-l. He brought harp kicking and screaming into the post Beatles era, and 
gave it more mainstream cred. than anyone since the chromatic lads (Borrah, 
Larry, Jerry M. etc. etc.) AND he was playing diatonic. Harp wasn't the
same 
after Charlie, and there are a lot of people who owe a lot to him without even 
knowing about him.
RD

>>> Mick Zaklan <mzaklan@xxxxxxxxx> 06/02/09 12:03 AM
>>>
   According to the AP (
http://news.search.yahoo.com/search/news?p=McCoy&ei=UTF-8);  Barbara
Mandrell, Roy Clark, and Charlie McCoy are being inducted this year.

Mick Zaklan
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