RE: [Harp-L] Upon Charlie being elected ...
I think it's pretty clear that no harmonica player has been heard as much by the public as Charlie McCoy, yet he might not get his proper due from many musicians because what he played was so often understated and always so good. Other than Orange Blossom, he is seldom flashy, but he is always perfectly tasteful.
I'm a country guy, played bass for years in a lot of bad weekend country bands. Now that I'm trying to be a harp player, I find that Charlie is the best thing someone like me could ever try to copy. I'm so glad he is finally getting some real recognition.
Steve in Minn.
---- Rick Dempster <rick.dempster@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> 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 >>>
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> 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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