[Harp-L] Charlie McCoy Inducted into the Country Music Hall Of Fame & 12, 000 sessions

[PT Gazell <pt@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Sunday, May 17th, Jellyroll Johnson and I played for Charlie McCoy¹s
induction ceremony into the Country Music Hall Of Fame. I was asked to play
Charlie¹s version of ³Summit Ridge Drive² and Jelly did Charlie¹s version of
³Today I Started Loving You Again.² I know I speak for Jellyroll by saying
that both of us considered it to be a tremendous honor to be asked to play
for someone who has been such an influence to so many harmonica players.

Charlie gave a great acceptance speech and did a beautiful version of
Shenandoah. I am including a link which has some photos and a recap of the
festivities. It is not a long read but worth taking a look for Charlie¹s
thoughts. I was surprised to find out that there are only 108 members of the
Hall of Fame including Charlie. This only makes the award that much more
special in my opinion since not all of those inductees are Artists. There
are many industry folks among that 108 figure. Charlie noted that he had
played on records for 53 of the other inductees....wow! Here is the link:

http://www.countrymusichalloffame.com/site/news_detail.aspx?cid=4124

I have to say that the whole discussion about whether or not Charlie played
on 12,000 sessions was very interesting since no one who commented has lived
in Nashville or at least not for any amount of time. I personally feel that
12,000 is not a stretch at all. When I moved here in 78¹ Charlie had already
been a mainstay in the studio for 15 years and continued to be the first
call harmonica player till Terry McMillan took over around 1984. Jellyroll
then picked up the mantle and continues to keep the instrument in high
regard in Nashville.

It was not unusual in the least for Charlie and the rest of the A team to do
three master sessions a day. The harmonica, thanks to Charlie, was hot then
and I got a lot of B team sessions because it was an accepted sound for
Nashville at the time. When I do the math and count up the years, that
12,000 sessions figure is not that far fetched at all.

Thanks and I hope to see some of you next month at Buckeye,

 
-- 
PT Gazell
pt@xxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.myspace.com/ptgazell
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