In doing early research for my next Nicky Hopkins post, I landed on the Jefferson Airplane’s 1969 album, Volunteers, because Hopkins plays on five tracks. Unfortunately, his prodigious talents couldn’t pull the record out of a nose dive. I get that the group has many adherents who appreciate their wild, shirtless sensibility, but I don’t […]
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A couple of weeks ago, Bob Dylan gained a measure of notoriety for giving a speech in which he sprayed buckshot in the direction of Merle Haggard, Tom T. Hall, Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun, and the classic songwriting team, Leiber & Stoller. In an age where internet comment sections are like speed dating […]
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“We didn’t find it difficult to write pop songs, but it was VERY difficult — and I think Mick will agree — to write one for the Stones. It seemed to us it took months and months and in the end we came up with ‘The Last Time,’ which was basically adapting a traditional […]
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Merle Haggard is certainly one of America’s greatest singers and songwriters, but the secret weapon throughout his career has been an army of guitar badasses. Roy Nichols, James Burton, Glen Campbell, Roy Buchanan, Eldon Shamblin, Ronnie Reno, Bobby Wayne, Redd Volkaert, Ralph Mooney, Norman Hamlet, let alone Merle himself. It’s a veritable roll call of […]
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Ralph Mooney died last Sunday and calling him a pedal steel pioneer seems woefully inadequate. He was the crucial link between Bakersfield country and Texas outlaw country, the two most significant reactions to the Nashville Sound between 1955-80. Think about this. Moon played for Wynn Stewart at Wynn’s peak (1950s-’60s), played for Waylon Jennings […]
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