Hank Garland's counry guitar sound

Subject: Hank Garland's country guitar sound
From: Will Fly
Date: 11 Feb 09 - 12:23 PM

Just been listening, after some years, to Don Gibson's recording of "Sea of Heartbreak", and was - yet again - struck by the superb background guitar licks from Hank Garland. Can anyone a recommend a country-style album by HG? Much of his recorded output is on the jazz side, which is great, but I'd just like a little more of that fluid country flatpicking to listen to.

Subject: RE: Hank Garland's counry guitar sound
From: M.Ted
Date: 11 Feb 09 - 01:53 PM

Well, Hank and Chet, on that, but your point is well taken.

No doubt that HG was a great and influential jazz guitarist, but his solo licks on all those Nashville recordings are his greatest contribution to American music. There is Sugarfoot Rag, of course, and Patsy Cline stuff like "I Fall to Pieces" and "Crazy", and Elvis stuff, like "Little Sister", and "Jingle Bell Rock", which he wrote, but never received credit for. Also on "Bye,Bye Love" and"Wake Up Little Suzie" with Don and Phil, and on "Only the Lonely" and "Oh, Pretty Woman" with Roy--but that is just the tip of the iceberg.

I've looked around for a listing of the records that he did, but no one seems to have published anything like that--the studio logbooks do exist, and there are still a lot who worked with him that are still around, but people seem to be only interested in his jazz stuff.

Good luck, and post anything that you find--

Subject: RE: Hank Garland's counry guitar sound
From: Will Fly
Date: 11 Feb 09 - 02:12 PM

Ah, I hadn't realised Chet was on the Gibson cut. The beautiful background playing is hard to follow sometimes, but what comes out is superb. I had assumed it was all HG...

Subject: RE: Hank Garland's counry guitar sound
From: M.Ted
Date: 11 Feb 09 - 02:50 PM

Fairly early in the game, it was realized that if you used *three* guitarists on a rock and roll/country/pop or whatever recording , it would sound really great on a jukebox. This is one of my favorite songs, and I have a collection of different versions--the George Strait's cover sounds like it has about five guitars!

Subject: RE: Hank Garland's counry guitar sound
From: Will Fly
Date: 11 Feb 09 - 03:42 PM

It's a great song, and I had always assumed Gibson wrote it - wrong again! The co-composers were apparently Paul Hamilton and Hal David - yes, Hal David of Bacharach/David fame.

Subject: RE: Hank Garland's counry guitar sound
From: GUEST,Johnmc
Date: 11 Feb 09 - 04:18 PM

J Cash's version great too.

Subject: RE: Hank Garland's counry guitar sound
From: GUEST,bernieandred
Date: 13 Feb 09 - 01:37 AM

Don't know of a country collection, but there is a great DVD of his life story called "Crazy". I never heard anything about it when it was released, which I think was a couple of years ago, but I came across it on-line. It seems to be a fairly accurate representation of his life story, from what I have read. certainly well worth looking out for.

Subject: RE: Hank Garland's counry guitar sound
From: Will Fly
Date: 13 Feb 09 - 03:33 AM

Thanks GUEST,bernieandred - I shall start the search! :-)

Subject: RE: Hank Garland's counry guitar sound
From: van lingle
Date: 13 Feb 09 - 05:26 PM

This is not exactly on topic but I used to own a vinyl LP called "Jazz Winds From a New Direction" which featured HG playing some phenomenally good jazz alongside Gary Burton and some other heavies.

Subject: RE: Hank Garland's counry guitar sound
From: pdq
Date: 13 Feb 09 - 05:51 PM

Bear Family has a CD called "Hank Garland & His Sugar Footers", cat. #15551. It covers his pre-jazz material. The production and accompanying text is usaully first-rate with this company. Price usually reflects that. They seldom delete a title once it is issued.