[Harp-L] Famous Harmonica Players

Tom Halchak info@xxxxx
Fri Jan 25 14:02:59 EST 2019


Frequently when people learn that I play the harmonica business or that I
have a harmonica business, they will throw out names like Billy Joel or Bob
Dylan.  Just last week, one guy told me Neil Young was a great harmonica
player and cited Heart of Gold as proof.  Here’s a video of what might be
his first ever public performance of Heart of Gold.

https://youtu.be/Eh44QPT1mPE

At the very beginning when he sits down, he talks about it being a “new
song”.  He fumbles around with his neck rack and mentions that he just
started playing the harmonica and it can get very confusing to find the
right key.  It is a great song, a classic, and the harmonica fits nicely,
but none of us would call it a virtuoso performance.  But what the hell do
we know?  Did I mention that this video has 79,619,943 views?  Seventy Nine
Milllllllllllllion.

I must confess, that I had been playing the harmonica for about 35 years
before I discovered guys like Charlie Musselwhite, Mark Hummel, Kim Wilson,
Gary Smith, Gary Primich, etc., etc.  Yes, I was ONE OF THEM!  The people
who are musically clueless.  I’m still clueless about a lot of things, but
that’s another story.

Shifting gears, and he might have already been mentioned but I don’t have
the time to read every word of the harp-l digest every day (or the sports
section for that matter), but to me the guy who stands out as a giant in
popular music and is also a very fine harmonica player is Huey Lewis.  It
is hard to top his combination of songwriting, vocals and harmonica
playing.  But still, he is not often mentioned nearly as often as Billy
Joel or Bob Dylan.

Apparently, the harmonica is an acquired taste and we are harmonica snobs.

*Tom Halchak*
*Blue Moon Harmonicas LLC*
*P.O. Box 14401 Clearwater, FL 33766*

*www.BlueMoonHarmonicas.com <http://www.BlueMoonHarmonicas.com>**(727)
366-2608*


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