Saturday, February 2, 2019

Harold Bradley - too many songs to name

Harold Bradley died in his sleep this week, after 93 years on this good Earth.  He was one of Nashville's greatest studio musicians and the co-founder of Music Row.  His obituary in Variety makes an attempt at listing the hits that he played on:
Bradley was a part of Nashville’s recording scene for more than seven decades. A member of Nashville’s famed “A-team” group of studio musicians, Bradley played on many of Nashville’s greatest hits. His staggering list of credits includes Patsy Cline’s “I Fall To Pieces,” “Crazy,” She’s Got You” and “Sweet Dreams,” along with Tammy Wynette’s “Stand By Your Man,” Loretta Lynn’s “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” Elvis Presley’s “Devil in Disguise,” Roy Orbison’s “Crying” and “Only the Lonely,” Brenda Lee’s “I’m Sorry,” Bobby Helms’ “Jingle Bell Rock,” Roger Miller’s “King of the Road,” Eddy Arnold’s “Make the World Go Away,” Alan Jackson’s “Here in The Real World,” Jeannie C. Riley’s “Harper Valley P.T.A.,” Red Foley’s “Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy,” Johnny Horton’s “Battle of New Orleans,” Jimmy Dean’s “Big Bad John,” John Anderson’s “Swingin’,”  Hank Williams’ “Ramblin’ Man,” Conway Twitty’s “Hello Darlin’,” the Everly Brothers’ “Ebony Eyes” — and so many more that a complete discography would turn this piece from an obituary into a book.
Add in Hank Williams, Burrell Ives, Perry Como, Boan Baez, Buddy Holly, and Connie Francis.  I don't know that this makes him the most important studio musician in history but I don't know that it doesn't.

Interestingly, he was a fan of Django Reinhardt, who we've seen here before.

In any case, here are some of the hits that he played on.











Rest in Peace, Mr. Bradley.  Thanks for all the great music.

2 comments:

SiGraybeard said...

That's a rather incredible collection of work, and I've never even heard of that name. Thanks, Borepatch.

Old NFO said...

One of the unnamed professionals that ARE the backbone of Nashville...