RE: [Harp-L] Upon Charlie being elected ...

[Jim Fitting <jfitting@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

 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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