Hank GARLAND

Guitariste et chanteur Country US né Walter Louis Garland, le 11 novembre 1930 à Cowpens (Caroline du Sud). De 1947 à 1949, il accompagnera Cowboy Copas avant de devenir un musicien de studio trés influencé par le jazz et Django Reinhart. Il héritera du surnom de "Sugarfoot" après une session de Red Foley qui produisit le classique "Sugarfoot Rag". Durant sa carrière, il jouera pour beaucoup d'artistes Rockabilly tels que Roy Hall, Janis Martin, Ronnie Self ou Eddie Bond et dans un style plus country pour Webb Pierce, Ferlin Husky, Jim Reeves, Don Gibson ou Brenda Lee. De 1958 à 1961, il accompagnera Elvis Presley en studio et, le 25 mars 1961, il sera sur scene à ses coté à Honolulu. Le 08 septembre 1961, un accident de voiture presque fatal mettra un terme à la brillante carriere de ce musicien. Son frère Billy prendra soin de lui jusqu'à son déces survenu le 27 décembre 2004 à Orange Park (Floride). Un film retraçant sa carrière est en cours de production et sortira au USA sous le titre de "Crazy".Talents : Guitar, Mandolin, Singer
Style musical : Traditional Country, Jazz

SUGARFOOT RAG

Walter Louis Garland was born November 11, 1930 in Cowpens, South Carolina, a small town just north east of Spartanburg, not far from the North Carolina border. It was an area dominated by hard-core country music, which had quite an impact upon young Hank. Chet Atkins, who worked closely with Garland through the years, recalls that "Hank said his first inspiration was, the Carter Family [GP, Mar. '791. He heard Maybelle picking the 'Wildwood Flower' when he was a little kid, and he dreamed that night he was playing it and he couldn't wait, of course, to get a guitar." Garland's father-bought him a used Encore steel-string when Hank was six, and young Garland began taking lessons from one Mr. Fowler, who taught him basic chords and positions.
Early on, Hank was attracted to another young guitarist, who was beginning to make his mark as a musician. Arthur Smith was just 17 when he began playing over radio station WSBA in Spartanburg, and Hank listened closely to him. Smith's electric lines captivated Garland to the point that the younger musician attempted to electrify his acoustic. Atkins remembers Hank's account of this event: "He told me he hooked an electric cord to the strings and plugged it in the wall and almost burned the guitar up."
Chet Atkins was in Nashville for the, first time in 1946, working as a sideman with Red Foley on the Opry. He recalls with laughter and great affection his first meeting Garland there: "He was a little old, fat, red-faced punk, and he hadn't gotten all of his height yet. He was playing choruses that he heard on Bob Wills records done by Jimmy Wyble, the fellow who played like Charlie Christian. And he rushed an awful lot; he'd pick up tempo". Veteran Nashville session guitarist Harold Bradley, who met Garland around the same time through Ernest Tubb's lead player Billy Byrd, has a similar recollection. "Hank was very fast", he says. He was rough, but very fast, and he had a lot of phenomenal technique.

But one didn't make a living playing jazz guitar in those days around Nashville, so early in 1947 Hank left Howard and the Cotton Pickers when steel guitarist Bob Foster recruited him for a new band being led by singer Cowboy Copas. Copas had just departed from Pee Wee King's Golden West Cowboys after scoring successes with King recordings such as "Filipino Baby". Hank' gained experience doing some of Copas' earliest sessions. According to Dr. Charles K. Wolfe, a professor of English at Middle Tennessee State University at Murfreesboro who is currently working on a bibliography of country music for the Smithsonian, recording session books during the late '40s and '50s are very unclear as to just who worked on what songs, but all the available data points to Hank playing on Copas tunes such as "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down," "Honky Tonkin'," and "Down In Nashville Tennessee."

Nashville, too, was undergoing some radical changes at the time. Until then the Opry was its sole connection with country music. Most country recording sessions were usually done in other cities or with portable equipment in Nashville, and a few were held in radio station studios. Then in 1947 Castle Studios opened in the Tulane Hotel, signalling the beginning of the recording industry there. It also created a new role for local musicians. Although many singers preferred either to use their touring groups or to borrow someone else's group, there was a small enclave of players who made themselves available for sessions something that until then hadn't been done much in country music. But it was an inevitable by-product of the studio industry, one that became increasingly important in Nashville.

By the late '40s and early'50s, Hank, Grady Martin, Harold Bradley, and Chet Atkin's were the main guitarists in Nashville. During those days the studios were loose, and the musicians free to contribute their own ideas to songs. Bradley remembers Garland going even further than that: "He had a very good imagination for not only coming up with ideas, but also with arrangements." And Chet Atkins says that this ability was typical for Hank throughout, his studio career: "Hank was very outspoken and he had a lot of ideas. He didn't take any talk from any producer. If they said something smart to him, his face would get real red and he'd say something back. But he was such a good musician that everyone had a terrible amount of respect for him, so nobody stepped on his toes. He could only help you: He was so good, he could never hurt you." Garland did a number of early Nashville sessions, including a notable one with singer Eddie Hill in 1952. The song, "The Hot Guitar," featured Hank, Chet, and Jerry Byrd imitating other guitarists as well as themselves. The flipside cut "Steamboat Stomp," was done with just Hank, a steel guitarist, and a rhythm section. Having begun as a routine western swing number,' the song found Garland taking an incredible bebop guitar break in the middle which turned the tune inside out. Hank's jazz talents were crystallizing. Having already assimilated elements of Django, Christian and Barney Kessel, he now showed signs of Barry Galbraith and Tal Farlow influences in his playing.

Hank's guitar work, however, played an important role in many of the better cuts. He picked some searing guitar on Wayne Walker's Bo-Bo Ska Diddle Daddle", Red Foley's "Crazy Little Guitar Man",Bill Brown's "Flip Out" and Webb Pierce's "Bye Bye Love." Hank also added a bone-jarring solo to Jimmy Dickens' 1958 hit 1 Got A Hole In My Pocket" as well as hot lines to Jerry Lee Lewis' "What'd I Say", Ronnie Self's rendition of "Bop-A-Lena" and Eddie Bond's early rockabilly recordings for Mercury Records. Hank also played on nearly all of Brenda Lee's Decca sessions, and picked a superb country-jazz solo on Patti Page's version of "Just Because".

PHOTOS





HANK & ELVIS au PEARL HARBOR SHOW (HAWAII) en MARS 1961



Avec Jimmy SWEENNEY

Hank HARLAND SUGAR FOOT RAG



Hank GARLAND & Eddy ARNOLD

Hank GARLAND
I'M MOVIN' ON d'Hank SNOW en Juillet 1950



Avec ELVIS LITTLE SISTER 1961

Avec Jimmy LOGSDON (Jimmy LLOYD) 1957
I GOT A ROCKET IN MY POCKET &
WHERE THE RIO DE ROSA FLOWS



Hank GARLAND STORY