Charlie McCoy performs at Sunday Morning Country.
He added his harmonica to some of the greatest songs in country music like "Old Dogs, Children & Watermelon Wine," "He Stopped Loving Her Today" and "I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool"
Charlie McCoy is a multi-talented musician who has played the guitar, bass, keyboards, vibraphone, and other instruments on countless other songs, not only in country but other genres as well. On July 13th, he became an official member of the Grand Ole Opry.
Gatlin welcomed Charlie to the Grand Ole Opry.
There is a live music show in the world. I think it is pretty amazing. There is a great band and singers. It is the greatest audience in the world. It's like a huge family and I'm proud to be a part of it.
When he arrived in Nashville in 1959 he was an important part of the country music scene. He did not begin playing country music.
Mel Tillis heard me playing Chuck Berry when I was 18 years old. He said he would get me on records.
That was similar to showing a steak to a dog.
He tried out for two renowned producers responsible for the Nashville sound. They said he was pretty good, but they didn't do that kind of music here. Bradley invited him to sit in and watch the recording.
A fourteen-year-old American rock and roll singer leaves for Milan, Italy, at the airport in London. The photo was taken.
He says he had nothing else to do. I watched 13-year-oldBrenda Lee record her first hit. I said I don't want to be a singer anymore and I want to do this.
He meant to become asession musician. He was asked to play the harmonica at a recording session for a young singer from Sweden. There was a woman named Ann Margret.
The second session was with Roy Orbison. When the song they recorded called "Candy Man" became a hit, McCoy was on his way.
Roy Orbison relaxes with his guitar. The photo was taken by Evening Standard.
He says his phone started ringing after the song hit the radio. It is still ringing 61 years after it was first heard.
He was able to play so many different instruments, and use whichever one was needed, to make both song and singer shine, which led to him becoming so successful. He was dubbed a "utility man."
"People would call and say, 'Look, I don't know what you're going to play, but put everything you've got in your car,'" They would run the next song and say, "What do you hear on this one?"
He used those skills to their fullest potential. He played the bass harmonica on Simon and Garfunkel's "The Boxer", the saxophone on Roy Orbison's "Pretty Woman", and the trumpet on Bob Dylan's "Everybody Must Get Stoned"
He played a lot of instruments on the soundtrack for the film.
There was a chance to play with Elvis. The Nashville recording of the soundtrack was changed at the last moment. The musicians who usually recorded with Elvis were booked for something else. He was told that Elvis would have to work with another band.
All of us were concerned. What is Elvis going to be? He had only worked with those guys, and now there are a lot of strangers here. Elvis shook our hand and said thank you for helping him. It was great from that point on. He had 13 albums with me.
The Nashville sessions musicians include Elvis Presley.
An actor plays the harmonica in a song called "Hard Luck" which is featured in a movie called "Huram Scarum"
He sings a song called "Hard Luck" after coming out of his place and fighting with his girlfriend. I was playing the harmonica all over it. They were looking for a movie with pantomime in it.
Bob Dylan recorded in Nashville. He was involved in getting Dylan to come to Nashville in the first place. During a trip to New York, Bob Johnston invited him to meet Dylan at a recording studio.
Bob introduced me to Dylan. He said, "Hey, I'm getting ready to record a song, why don't you grab that guitar over there and play along." I agreed. There was a song called "Desolation Row" that lasted 11 minutes.
On January 13-15, 1965, Bob Dylan recorded his album "Bringing It All Back Home" in New York City. The photo was taken by Michael Ochs Archives.
It ended up on Dylan's album. When Dylan was coming to Nashville, a call was made to McCoy to book a band. Folk singers had a not-so- positive opinion of the place back then.
Before Blonde on Blonde, there were no folk-rock people here. It was like the floodgates were open after that. It was Leonard Cohen. The list keeps going on and on.
It is not easy to calculate how much actual music has been influenced by the artist. He is at it. There are many stories of unique approaches he has taken to add something special to songs. The orange blossom special is one of the ones. Johnny Cash recorded a vocal version of the fiddle song in 1965, but McCoy came up with a harmonica solo to make up for it. His signature song is a full-length harmonica version. He plays it a lot when he does a live performance.
He created his own music for all that he added to other artist's music. He has recorded 45 albums of his own, and is currently working on a new one. He had a band called "The Escorts" in the 1960's and 70's. They played a lot of music.
A number of albums are being recorded with his band.
A book about his years in music and the stories of the artists he worked with has been published. He shared his experiences as an artist as well as his time on the TV show "Hee Haw."
There is a book detailing his life and six decades of working as a session musician.
The 81-year-old is grateful for his experience and excited about the future. He will be making a lot more appearances on that stage now that he is a member.
He says that his life has been a fairy tale. I am so thankful for all of the blessings that keep on giving.
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