Monday, 11 November 2019

Hank Garland born 11 November 1930


Walter Louis Garland (11 November 1930 – 27 December 2004) professionally Hank Garland, was an American guitarist and songwriter. He started as a country musician, played rock and roll as it became popular in the 1950s, and released a jazz album in 1960. His career was cut short when a car accident in 1961 left him unable to perform

Born in Cowpens, South Carolina, Garland began playing guitar at the age of six. He appeared on local radio shows at 12 and was discovered at 14 at a South Carolina record store. He moved to Nashville at age 16, staying in Ma Upchurch's boarding house, where he roomed with Bob Moore and Dale Potter. At age 18, he recorded his million-selling hit "Sugarfoot Rag". He appeared on the Jubilee program with Grady Martin's band and on The Eddy Arnold Show. Here's one of his many singles. This one's from 1953.


                              

Garland is perhaps best known for his Nashville studio work with Elvis Presley from 1958 to 1961 which produced such rock hits as: "I Need Your Love Tonight", "A Big Hunk o' Love", " I'm Coming Home", "I Got Stung", "A Fool Such As I", "Stuck on You", "Little Sister", "(Marie's The Name) His Latest Flame", and "I Feel So Bad". 
He worked with many country music rock and roll musicians of the late 1950s and early 1960s, such as Patsy Cline, Brenda Lee, Mel Tillis, Marty Robbins, The Everly Brothers, Boots Randolph, Roy Orbison, Conway Twitty, and Moon Mullican.

Garland's guitar drove such classic recordings as Little Jimmy Dickens' "I Got a Hole in My Pocket"; Benny Joy's "Bundle of Love" and "I'm Gonna Move"; Jimmy Loyd's (recorded under pseudonym of (Jimmie Logsdon) "You're Gone Baby" and "I've Got a Rocket in My Pocket"; Lefty Frizzell's "You're Humbuggin' Me"; Simon Crum's "Stand Up, Sit Down, Shut Your Mouth"; and Johnnie Strickland's (1935-1994) "She's Mine"; plus, seasonal staples "Jingle Bell Rock" with Bobby Helms, and Brenda Lee's seasonal "Rockin' Around the Christmas 
Tree". Don Gibson's "Sweet Sweet Girl" and "Don't Tell Me Your Troubles"; Patsy Cline's "Let the Teardrops Fall"; Ronnie Hawkins' "Jambalaya"; and Faron Young's "Alone with You" spotlighted Garland's guitar work.

He played with George Shearing and Charlie Parker in New York and went on to record Jazz Winds from a New Direction with Gary Burton on vibraphone, Joe Benjamin on double bass, and Joe Morello on drums. At the request of Gibson Guitar company president Ted McCarty, Garland and guitarist Billy Byrd influenced the design of the Byrdland guitar, which derived from the Gibson L-5, having a slimmer body and shorter scale for ease of playing.

Hank Garland's professional career spanned only 15 years, less than a third of his life. In 1961, at the age of 30, his dream of becoming "the best guitar player in the world" was shattered in a violent auto accident. His 1959 Chevy Nomad station wagon crashed near Springfield, Tennessee, throwing Garland from the car and leaving him in a coma for months. After lingering near death, he began to recover, but the price paid was devastatingly high. Severe brain damage claimed most of his motor functions and co-ordination, and his dreams of greater music to come seemed to have evaporated. He recovered with the help of his wife, Evelyn and two daughters,

The loss of ability to play would have sent most guitarists into a deep depression, but Hank decided to fight back. He practiced for two years after the accident, studying and working scales and arpeggios while fighting to regain control over his instrument. After two more years he'd gotten some of his command back, but not sufficiently to return to the studios. His advice to similarly afflicted guitarists is succinct: "Don't give up".

This wasn't the-end of the Hank Garland legend. It would be two, years after the accident until he regained any command of the instrument, and 13 more before he returned to Nashville for a brief appearance at the 1976 Fan Fair Reunion Show - where his rendition of his 1949 composition "Sugarfoot Rag" left moist eyes among performers and audience members. 
They could see and hear that while Hank Garland might not be returning to the Nashville studios, he had certainly returned from one of the most uncertain and harrowing journeys any musician could ever make.

Sadly the second half of his life was spent in obscurity and dogged by ill-health. He spent his final years battling record companies for royalties.


Hank Garland did live a long life, though, dying in 2004 of a staph infection at Orange Park Medical Centre, at the age of 74, according to his brother, Billy Garland.

 (Edited from Wikipedia & Wayback Machine)

7 comments:

boppinbob said...

For “Hank Garland - Move! The Guitar Artistry Of Hank Garland” go here:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/r2yAxiio

Disc 1

1. All the Things You Are
2. Three-Four, The Blues
3. Move
4. Always
5. Riot-Chous
6. Relaxing
7. Call D. Law
8. It's Love, Of Course
9. Not for Me
10. (Tell Me) What Am I to Do?
11. You're Here Again
12. Pop Goes the Weasel

Disc 2

1. Autumn Leaves
2. Why Not?
3. Ed's Place
4. Scarlet Ribbons (For Her Hair)
5. Like Someone In Love
6. Ain't Nothing Wrong With That
7. Polka Dots and Moonbeams
8. Tammy
9. Secret Love
10. Greensleeves
11. Blame It On My Youth
12. Unless You're In Love
13. Just for Tonight
14. Close Your Eyes
15. Rainy Afternoon
16. Ed's Place (early version)*
17. Polka Dots and Moonbeams (early version)*
18. Some of These Days*
19. Secret Love (early version)*
*previously unreleased

Bass – Joe Benjamin
Drums – Joe Morello
Guitar – Hank Garland
Liner Notes – Rich Kienzle
Vibraphone – Gary Burton

AllMusic Review by Jim Smith

This long-awaited two-disc set features all of Garland's jazz sides for Columbia Records between 1959-1960, including the complete albums Velvet Guitar, The Unforgettable Guitar of Hank Garland, and Jazz Winds From a New Direction. Although it may seem a bit quaint, in its time Jazz Winds was a revelatory performance; previously, it was almost impossible to believe that a country guitarist could attack jazz lines with this much imagination and finesse, even taking into account what Chet Atkins had already accomplished. Also surprising was the fact that Jazz Winds wasn't commercial or countrified in any way; it was marketed as a straight jazz album, played by a real jazz quartet that included Joe Morello (drums), Joe Benjamin (bass), and vibraphonist Gary Burton in his debut recording. However, even if that album caused all the fuss, there's terrific playing scattered throughout the other two, whether it's the cleverly titled "Call D. Law," the hard-swinging Garland original "Why Not?," or lovely takes on "Scarlet Ribbons" and "Polka Dots and Moonbeams." These sessions have become legendary in guitar circles, and the fact that most of them have been out of print for decades makes this reissue a real treasure for Garland fans.

Crab Devil said...

Thank you very much!

djmcblues2 said...

The link doesn't work for me.

boppinbob said...

Works OK this end!

Silvio said...

Hello,
Could you please make this one available for download again?
Hope to hear from you soon.
Thanks very much,

boppinbob said...

Hello Silvio, Another hard one to find but here's Hank......

https://mega.nz/file/hypAUZLR#1DSozFVthfr4hW5rPtM-kCnwnzHDmnHUTZXqE_jJ7gc

Silvio said...

Hello,
I have just downloaded... thanks a lot!