WORKING WITH MUSICIANS, SONGWRITERS & BANDS  MUSICIANS Working with music means working with musicians. To make the best music you really need to associate with the best musicians you can find. I think I've always had an ear for great sounds and great songsl. Over the years since I started I've been very fortunate to work with some of the best. GUITAR The Guitar has been the instrument of the future for as long as I've been alive and it will continue to be. There's nothing more exciting than a new lick or a new sound from a superlative guitarist. Hank Cochran taught me that you can make a great country record with just a guitar and a fiddle and a great song.These guitar players hold a candle to no one and I've had the pleasure of working with each of them. Jack Lawrence Andy May Joe Jones Tom Howes Rocky Stone Johnny Rivers George Montanna Freddy Wall Gypsy Carns Jack Pearson Reggie Young Red Lane Hank Cochran Bobbe Brown Jody Maphis Jim Hurst Russell Smith Bob Webb David Allan Coe Lobo (Kent LaVoie) Keith Urban Richard Starkey Willie Nelson Denny Lyle FIDDLE To make a country record you absolutely have to have several essential ingredients. Beyond the singer and the song lies the fiddle and you absolutely have to have one in your band or on your record. It's just not country without the lonesome sound of the fiddle and the fiddle is not an easy instrument to get sounding good or even to play in tune so when you hear a good fiddle you know that there have been years invested and a lot of born with talent applied to hard work.Here are some of the great fiddlers I've worked with with links to them if available on the internet. Henry the Fiddler Kenny Kosek Craig Eastman John Hartford Ron Levine Robert Herridge Johnny Gimble David Ragsdale Hank Hunsinger Craig Fletcher Clinton Gregory Fiddling Dick Ronnie Stewart Buddy Spicer Jeff Gilkenson (cello) Bob Bergman (cello) MANDOLIN Andy MayDean Webb Sam Bush KEYS - PIANO / ORGAN Now I've always considered myself a pretty good piano player and I've been friends with some of the best. With the exception of the Gilley bunch down in Texas and Becky Hobbs whose band I played in in the 80s, these key musicians mostly worked with me at Flatwood Studio on various record projects. They add a considerable aura to a record each having their own distinct style and the knowledge and soul to play the right thing in the right spots. I have always tried to work with musicians whos playing I've admired so I'm thankful for each opportunity that God has given me to work with each of these people.Mickey Gilley Carroll Gilley Gary Primm Johnny Neal Ronnie Godfrey Carson Whitsett Billy E Reese Wynans Hassell Teekell Becky Hobbs James Hooker PERCUSSION The drummer can make or break you. You're better off without a drummer if you can't find a good one and by good one I mean somebody who can maintain a tempo with you and plays the right stuff in the right spot. It's pretty simple really but for some reason it's pretty hard to do. I know what it sounds like and looks like when I hear it but I've never been able to do it myself to my own satisfaction. These people can do it.Woody Woodall Chopper Chodereau Rick McDaniel Mark Helms Terry Westbrook Peter Hackel Nick Blaxton Clyde Brooks Roy Yeager Richie Albright John Gardner Ed Greene Butch McDade Buster Phillips Gary Judkins Carson Graham Chi Howerton Stick Brown BASS God bless the bass players. It's monumentally hard to wrap your head around the low end and to become an anchor. This list of bassists is a who's who of low enders. Each brings a unique style to the electric and acoustic bass. All appropriate and all inspiring.Bob Fortner Ken Posey Dave Pomeroy Spadey Bob Babbitt Ruckles Bobby Bradley Steve Hill Stick Davis Billy Aerts Hoyet Henry Conrad St. Claire Jeff Gilkenson John Bellar Charlie the Chopper Allan Woody Ernie Sykes Gypsy Carns Bea Spears Roach FIVE STRING BANJO The five string banjo, especially bluegrass style, holds a special place in my heart. I first caught the true fire of wanting to play something well the first time I heard the five string banjo played. I worshiped Allen Shelton, Sonny Osborne, Bill Keith and Earl Scruggs and hung on their every note. When Earl's book on the five string banjo came out the field was so small that he had his home address in Madison, TN listed in the book. I drove to his house from south Georgia and knocked on his door to shake his hand and to get him to sign my copy of the book. He was very gracious and I'm sure that many made the pilgrimage Earl is the maharishi of banjo and it's grand poobah all rolled into one. Just to play like Earl is our mantra. He put his mark on every banjo player to come since and I have had the honor of working or playing with each of these great five string banjo musicians.Jim Smoak Ricky Burch Buck Trent Doug Dillard John Hartford Curtis McPeake Jim Calvin Digger Lou Dave Cossen Bernie Leadon Tom McKinney Steve Floyd DOBRO / RESOPHONIC / STEEL / SLIDE Maybe the hardest instrument to play is either the fiddle or the pedal steel, I'm not sure which. I guess the fiddle is the hardest because it's the smallest and easiest to carry around. Steel players are plagued with a giant, heavy, complicated guitar. The resophonic guitar better known by the name dobro attracts the same kinds of individuals, those with great hand - eye coordination with an ear for intonation. You see, any of these instruments played out of key sounds horrible. Playing in tune rules out a lot of players. All these people, however are great at getting the most out of this type guitar. I'd like to tell a little about each one too. There's just something about the sound of a steel, dobro or slide that you can't get any other way.Tut Taylor - I had read about Tut in a magazine when I was a student at Georgia Military College in Milledgeville. Tut was setting the world on fire as a flapicking Dobro player. Up to that point I think it was pretty much Uncle Josh playing three finger style with Flatt and Scruggs. Funny thing was that Tut lived just up the road at the motel he and his family owned. He hadn't moved up to Nashville yet to set the world on fire. I visited with him many times and he would always sit and play a little music with me. I admired him for it. He didn't have to. I was absolutely nobody. It's impressive when someone of that calibre will give a little knowledge to a beginner. An impressive person and musician. Jody Maphis - Dobro Jim Vest - Pedal Steel Johnny Bellar - Resophonic Curtis Burch - Dobro Larry White - Pedal Steel Sneaky Pete - Pedal Steel Bob Tuttle - Pedal Steel Eli Nelson - Pedal Steel Larry Bob Lehman - Pedal Steel Buddy Emmons - Pedal Steel Gypsy Carns - Slide Jim Heffernan - Pedal Steel Jack Pearson - Slide MORE ESSENTIAL INGREDIENTS Sax - Norman CarlsonWayne Jackson - The Memphis Horns Phil Kenzie - Saxophone Dulcimer - David Schnaufer Producer - Dave Ponder Producer - Richie Albright Producer - Freddy Wall Producer - Bert Frilot Audio Engineer - Greg Kane Studio Engineer - Jim Skiathedis Studio Engineer - Steve Messer Engineer & Producer- Bobby Bradley Studio Engineer - Gene Eichelburger THE SONGWRITERS Without the songwriters there wouldn't be any songs. Just about everybody I met in Nashville and Texas is or was a songwriter. That's why there are so many songs. There are not, however, that many good songs or songs that will ever see the light of day on the radio, tv or the movie soundtrack. I hold good songwriters in high reverence and these men and women in the highest. Between these folks there have been hundreds of hits and millions of dollars in royalty payments generated and I've had the pleasure of working with each and every one in some capacity. As time goes by I hope to write a little about how I met each of these great songwriters and what I took away from the experience.Hank Cochran - Thanks for Greg Kane who turned Hank over to me when he went on the road with Waylon Jennings I got to be Hank's favorite recording studio and engineer for a couple of years. Hank is, of course, one of the top generating country songwriters of all time and over 50 years. He discovered Willie and wrote for Patsy. Unbelievable. Truly an incredible person and talent and the experience of a lifetime to work with him and his friends and associates. Thank you Hank from the bottom of my heart. Russell Smith - Thanks Russell, you too. Another monumental talent and the creative force behind the Amazing Rhythm Aces and the writer of their hits and Grammy award winning songs. I was fortunate enough to be a part of two of the Aces more recent cds as both a studio operator and engineer and to become friends. Sam Neely Michael Rapunzel Gypsy Carns Butch McDade Keith Urban Chris Cagle Toby Steele Jim Calvin Cindy Kalmenson Becky Hobbs Lobo Jeff Raymond Don Goodman Tom Howes Red Lane Steve Michaels Bonepony Gary Burr Rob Crosby Mack Vickery Billy Don Burns Johnny Rivers Billy Joe Royal Alan Ray Bobby Braddock David Allan Coe Merle Haggard Willie Nelson Eugene Autry Johnny Lee Jerry Crutchfield Jerry Jeff Walker Nat Stucky Moe Bandy Floyd Tillman Ray Wiley Hubbard BW Stevenson Bobby Bradford Denny Lyle Bernie Leadon Woody Wright Dave Norris Joe Norris Floyd Tillman Kris Kristofferson SOME NOTEWORTHY BANDS Amazing Rhythm AcesGoose Creek Symphony The Ranch (Keith Urban) The Smashers Strange Bedfellows Timberlake Urban Cowboy Band The Brown Brothers Memphis Oklahoma Heart Bayou City Beats Medicine Wheel Cappy's Hat Band Andy May and the Texas Tabby Crabb Band Swamp Grass Bonepony Clue and The Honkytones Moe and Joe Conway Twitty and the Twitty Birds The Voltage Brothers Charlie Daniels Band Wet Willie Marshall Tucker Band Grinderswitch Spirit In Flesh The Choir Bear Mountain AND SOME NIGHTCLUBS, HONKYTONKS & OTHER VENUES Gilley's Club - Pasadena, TXCowboys - Oklahoma City Lone Star Cafe - NYC The Palamino - Hollywood Tootsie's Orchid Lounge - Nashville The Nesadel - Pasadena, TC Texas Opry House - Houston Wheeling Jamboree - Wheeling, WV Billy Bob's - DFW Cajuns Wharf - Little Rock and Nashville Red, White and Blues - Atlanta The Country Music Hall of Fame - Nashville Bluebird Cafe with Becky Hobbs and Oklahoma Heart The Wrong Place Saloon - New Orleans Catch A Rising Star - Reno Bally's Casino - Las Vegas Cactus Jack's - Fargo The Pump - Regina, SASK 
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