 |
Musicians Hall of Fame Awards Show
Inductions honor heroes behind hits
Session musicians are used to taking solos, taking charge and taking unformed ideas and making them into master recordings.
Monday night at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center, some of the finest of those players did something unusual. They took bows.
"We're usually the unseen people," said Nashville-based guitarist Reggie Young, who was inducted as one of The Memphis Boys, who played on Elvis Presley's "Suspicious Minds," Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline," Dusty Springfield's "Son of a Preacher Man" and hundreds of other notable recordings.
Young, Gene Chrisman, Bobby Emmons, Mike Leech and Bobby Wood performed at the ceremony; Ed Kollis was also inducted with the group.
Garth Brooks said his performance with The Memphis Boys of Presley's "Suspicious Minds" made him more nervous than he'd been onstage in years.
Throughout the evening, vocalists took the stage to sing the songs recorded by the new Hall of Famers. Brooks, George Jones, Peter Frampton, Vince Gill, Amy Grant, Roger McGuinn, Rodney Crowell, Mary Wilson of The Supremes, Dobie Gray, B.J. Thomas, Keith Anderson and Mandy Barnett all sang in honor of the musicians.
"There's been nothing like this before," said Blue Moon Boys drummer D.J. Fontana. Amy Grant, who sang "These Boots Were Made For Walking" with The Memphis Boys, looked around the room at a pre-show reception and said, "I think my whole record collection is in this building."
For the purposes of the induction, The A Team is identified as Harold Bradley, Floyd Cramer, Pete Drake, Ray Edenton, Hank Garland, Buddy Harmon, Tommy Jackson, Grady Martin, Charlie McCoy, Bob Moore, Boots Randolph, Hargus (Pig) Robbins and Jerry Kennedy.
Those players helped define "The Nashville Sound" on more than 130,000 recordings. Brenda Lee hugged each living player in that ensemble and said, "We couldn't have made those records without these musicians."
The Wrecking Crew created the core sound for records by Sonny and Cher, Ricky Nelson, The Beach Boys, The Byrds, The Mamas and the Papas and others.
Nashvillians Billy Strange, Jim Horn and Al Delory were part of the Crew, as were Glen Campbell, Tommy Tedesco, Leon Russell, Don Randi, Larry Knechtel, Carol Kaye, Joe Osborn, Ray Pohlman, Hal Blaine, Earl Palmer, Julius Wechter, Lyle Ritz, James Burton, Mike Deasy and Plas Johnson.
Moore went into the Hall with drummer Fontana, who joined the band in 1955 and played on more than 450 of the King's cuts.
Cash's Tennessee Two was made up of Marshall Grant on bass and Luther Perkins on guitar. Grant stood onstage Monday night and played bass while Cash's son, John Carter Cash, strummed an acoustic guitar and worked to re-create the glorious, primitive early Cash sound.
"It was a sound created out of inexperience and out of circumstance, but most of all it was a sound created out of joy," Cash said.
The Funk Brothers backed Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross and every other important Motown artist.
Nashville's Bob Babbitt joined Brothers drummer Uriel Jones and guitarist Eddie Willis in representing the band, which also included James Jamerson, Joe Messina, Eddie "Bongo" Brown, Robert White, Richard "Pistol" Allen, Jack Ashford, Joe Hunter, Earl Van Dyke, William "Benny" Benjamin and Johnny Griffith.
The night began with an inductee ceremony backstage presenting everyone with a medallion similar to what you get at the
Olympics. It was like a who's who. Peter Frampton, Roger McGuinn, George Jones, Rodney Crowell, Mandy Barnett, John Carter Cash, Danny Serraphine, B.J Thomas
(who I spent a great deal of time with catching up on stuff) Dobie Gray, Mary Wilson ( of the Supremes.. She was too cool... Gigi and I hit it off with her ), All the Jordanaires, Vince Gill, Amy Grant, Garth Brooks, Brenda Lee, James Burton, Scotty Moore,
The Funk Borthers from MoTown, The old Nashville A Team with Bob Moore and Harold Bradley, The Wrecking Crew from Los Angeles ( these are the guys that played on everything from Sinatra to the Beach Boys ), The Memphis boys with Reggie Young ( they had 144 top 40 hits between the years of 1967 to 1972 ), The Blue Moon Boys ( Scotty and DJ ) and The
Tennessee Two ( who were Johnny Cash's Band Luther Perkins and Marshall Grant )... There were a ton of other people there that I hadn't met before and got to meet like Billy Strange ( guitar ) Hal Blaine ( drums ) and Eddie Willis ( guitar with the Funk Brothers ).... It was a great day and evening. We were there from 1:30 till way late. The show over at a little after 10 and the party afterwards at the Musicians Hall of Fame It was great being there on Scotty's big night when Vince Gill talked about him and DJ.... Also, we were sitting right across from the lead singer in Lynyrd
Skynrd... Bucky Barrett November 30, 2007
Nashville A Teamer Jerry Kennedy was one of the night's inductees. Music runs wild through the Kennedy bloodline: All of Jerry's three sons are hit songwriters, while Shelby Kennedy is also a Writer/Publisher Relations representative in the Nashville office. The vast majority of 2007's inductees are BMI affiliates, veterans and virtual architects of the American popular music canon. Nashville's A Team lent their gifts to studio recordings by Patsy Cline, Jim Reeves, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Brenda Lee, Marty Robbins and countless others. The Blue Moon Boys and the Tennessee Two helped shape the sounds of Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash, respectively. The Wrecking Crew's musicianship finessed legendary singles for The Ronettes, The Beach Boys, Simon & Garfunkel, The Carpenters and more. Detroit's Funk Brothers were a tour de force in Motown, playing on Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It through the Grapevine," singles by Smokey Robison & The Miracles and a smorgasbord of others. The Memphis Boys picked, strummed and drummed through major hits for icons including Elvis Presley and Willie Nelson.
Joe Chambers, gatekeeper of the
Musicians Hall of Fame, took great care in organizing the event, which
brought due recognition to behind the scenes virtuosos. Peter Frampton,
Vince Gill, George Jones, Brenda Lee, Mandy Barnett, The Jordanaires,
Dobie Gray, The Supremes' Mary Wilson, Amy Grant, Keith Anderson, Ray
Scott, Garth Brooks, John Carter Cash and Rodney Crowell presented,
performed and reiterated glowing praise. Actor/musician Creed Bratton,
beloved character of the same name on The Office, proved an able host;
before gaining attention for his television and film work, Batton played
guitar in popular 60s group The Grass Roots.
|
|
All photos on this site (that we didn't borrow) unless otherwise indicated are the property of either Scotty Moore or James V. Roy and unauthorized use or reproduction is prohibited. |
