Re: [Harp-L] Dean Martin and Billy Lee Riley.

[Rick Dempster <rick.dempster@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

This is an old post now, but I just got some new headphones so I can
hear...Billy Lee Riley !!?? Really...? My gal is red hot......Flying
Saucers rock'n'roll etc..golly who would have thought?
Anyhow, when this track was on the radio..about 64 or 65 I'd guess, most
people I knew would never have known it was a country song. (Lattie Moore)
There was a lot of that going on in pop back then, gathering momentum from
the 50s on and what caused country to go pop so that it hardly exists as a
separate entity anymore...not as far as I'm concerned.
But (harp content) this is the kind of place you heard (diatonic) harmonica
in the mainstream. They really didn't want Dino to sell into the country
market, but they did want some 'barroom colour'.
To use, say, Buddy Emmons on steel, would have made it a country record. To
put some fairly un-refined (sorry Billy, no offense meant; I like it
anyhow) harp on the track is like sticking a cowboy hat on at a party while
wearing a tux. It's just a witty little gag. But at least there was that
place for harp in popular music; sort of like a racial stereotype in an old
movie.
Anyhow, thanx for the detective work Winslow.
RD

On 15 September 2012 02:52, Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Billy Lee Riley gets credit for harmonica on Dean Martin's records. This
> is fairly well documented and Riley, better known as a rockabilly artist,
> had a fairly significant career as a studio musician on harmonica.
>
> "My Rifle, My Pony, and Me" is more likely Tommy Morgan, as it was a film
> score, not a Dean Martin record.
>
> Winslow
>
> Winslow Yerxa
> Author, Harmonica For Dummies, ISBN 978-0-470-33729-5
>             Harmonica Basics For Dummies, ASIN B005KIYPFS
>             Blues Harmonica For Dummies, ISBN 978-1-1182-5269-7
> Resident Harmonica Expert, bluesharmonica.com
> Instructor, Jazzschool for Music Study and Performance
>
>
> ________________________________
>  From: Rob Paparozzi <chromboy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx; captron100@xxxxxxx
> Sent: Thursday, September 13, 2012 6:18 AM
> Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Dean Martin
>
> Sorry Ron my LEFT speaker was on the fritz!! I heard it this time thanx
>
>
> IMO....Definately NOT McCoy sounds to me like Toots on Blues Harp......
>
> Rob P
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: <captron100@xxxxxxx>
> To: <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Wednesday, September 12, 2012 12:38 PM
> Subject: [Harp-L] Dean Martin
>
>
> Someone asked who the harp player was on Dean Martin's "Little Ol' Wine
> Drinker, Me".  I just listened to it on U tube:
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdM9HDI33AY&playnext=1&list=PL1ABF2AED41D658D9&feature=results_video
> I would bet money any amt of money that it is NOT Charlie McCoy.  Imo,
> Charlie has a much better sound.
>



-- 
Rick Dempster
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