Guitariste
CountryUS né Thomas Grady Martin, le 17 janvier 1929 à Chapel Hill
(Tennessee). Grady Martin a enregistré pour Decca Records de 1951 à 1966. Il fut l'un des pionniers du Nashville
Sound et un musicien régulier au Grand Ole Opry (WSM, Nashville, Tennessee) en
1956. Il est décédé le 3 décembre 2001 à Lewisburg (Tennessee).
The chances
are pretty good that if a country record had some distinctive guitar licks on it,
anytime from the early '50s through the 1970s, they were played by Grady Martin.
Along with Hank Garland and
Chet Atkins — who, as a producer, regularly used Martin — he was one of the
most prominent session guitarists in Nashville for 30 years. Thomas Grady Martin
was born in Chapel Hill, TN, in early 1929, to a poor farming family living
outside the tiny town of Lewisburg — the youngest of four children, he was
taught the piano by his mother and took up guitar with help from his older
brother, and also became proficient on the fiddle at an early age. When Martin
was 15, his fiddle playing got him a gig playing in the band of Nashville radio
personality
Big Jeff Bess. Two years later, he joined
the Bailes Brothers, with whom he played guitar as well as fiddle. He was 17
when he appeared on his first recording, at a session for
Curly Fox & Texas Ruby, and during this period Martin started working
regularly with fellow guitarist
Jabbo Arrington. By the end of the 1940s, he and
Arrington had become a double-guitar act as part of
Little Jimmy Dickens' Country Boys, and it was there — after
Arrington's departure — that Martin teamed up with steel guitar player
Thumbs Carllile. Martin first emerged as a star before the public on his
instrument in 1950 with the release of Red Foley's hit "Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy"; he later took up
Foley's offer to lead his band. Martin spent the next few years playing with
Foley's band, in appearances on Ozark Jubilee as well as on the road
and all of his sessions, and on dozens of other artists' recordings as well. By
1952, he was working almost exclusively on guitar — his fiddle playing was
confined primarily to recording sessions, the last in 1955, in conjunction with
star instrumentalists
Tommy Jackson and
Hank Garland; indeed, the last time Martin played fiddle in front of an
audience was in 1952, accompanying Hank Williams in the latter's appearance on the
Kate Smith show, one of the most watched country music clips in television
history.Martin also led his own band,
the Slew Foot Five, starting in 1951. Their history was a bit uneven —
working on records by
Burl Ives ("Wild Side of Life") and
Bing Crosby ("Till the End of the World"), they rode to the upper reaches of
the country and pop charts. But their own recordings, done for Decca, fared a
lot less well, failing to chart despite numerous attempts across the decade on
singles and LPs. Meanwhile, Martin continued playing on hundreds of recordings
by other artists, including a ton of music cut by the likes of
Jim Ed Brown and
the Browns,
Patsy Cline, and
Hank Locklin.
The second half of the 1950s, however, saw Martin significantly expand the range
of music on which he was playing, in a new direction — the advent of the rock &
roll boom may have taken many of the youngest listeners (and much of the wind
out of the sails) of country music, but as a session player Martin only saw his
session assignments expand to include figures such as
Buddy Holly,
Johnny Horton,
the Collins Kids,
Brenda Lee, and
Ronnie Self. His best-known (or most widely heard) rock & roll sides were
those cut in 1956 with Holly during the latter's ill-fated Nashville sessions, produced by
Owen Bradley and later issued under various guises, including
That'll Be the Day,
The Great Buddy Holly, and
The Nashville Sessions — they don't sound a lot like the
Holly of later years, but the guitar playing by all is impeccable.One of
Martin's transcendent moments on record came in yet another related field —
"Western" music as distinct from country — in 1959, when he played on
Marty Robbins' renowned single "El Paso." The Spanish-style nylon guitar was
all Grady Martin, and it was a stunning showcase for his virtuosity, that guitar
part identifying not only the song itself but
Robbins' new Western sound. He was all over the album that followed, which
has proved to be one of the perennially best-selling albums in the whole
Columbia catalog. In addition to his work with
Robbins, he also played on the rather different cowboy songs of
Montana Slim.
The 1960s saw Martin move to the forefront of session guitarists and also issue
a pair of rock & roll instrumental singles, "The Fuzz"/"Tippin' In" and "Big Bad
Guitar." He also found success as a songwriter with "Snap Your Fingers," which
was recorded in hit versions by
Joe Henderson and
Barbara Lewis and later covered by Ronnie Milsap, among others. Most of his activity, however, was still
devoted to playing on other peoples' records, including
Roy Orbison's chart-topping "Oh, Pretty Woman,"
Lefty Frizzell's "Saginaw, Michigan,"
Little Jimmy Dickens' novelty tune "May the Bird of Paradise Fly Up Your
Nose" (also a number one single), and a ton of sides by
Tommy Collins,
Hank Snow,
Ernest Tubb, and much of the rest of Nashville. He even managed, by accident
and improbably, to introduce the distorted amplified instrument sound referred
to as "fuzz" on a finished record, in the years before any producer or artist
recognized its value. And when folksinger
Joan Baez decided to try assimilating the Nashville sound on her
Any Day Now album, Martin was the guitar player at her sessions, on
such records as "Poor Wayfaring Stranger," etc.
For a Tennessean and a Nashville resident, Martin was amazingly amenable to
working with some of the most left-leaning rock artists of the era, hewing even
further over with his work on a pair of
Country Joe McDonald LPs. He remained busy, if not quite as much, into the
1970s, working on records by Elvis Presley,
Conway Twitty,
Loretta Lynn, and
Kris Kristofferson, among others, and he also joined Monument Records as a
producer. Finally, in 1978, with his joining Jerry Reed's band, he returned to live performance on a regular basis for
the first time since the early '50s. He also played on the soundtrack to the
movie Honeysuckle Rose, starring his old friend
Willie Nelson, and joined his band. Martin enjoyed some successful years in
that capacity, until his health began declining in the early '90s. He died on
December 3, 2001, at the Marshall Medical Center in his hometown of Lewisburg,
TN.
http://www.nashvillesound.net/gradymartin.htm
http://www.rockabillyhall.com/BobGradyFC.html
Talents : Guitar, Guitar, Fiddle, Vibraphone, Composer
Style musical : Traditional Country, Nashville Sound, Honky Tonk
HOT LIPS
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Années en activité :
| 1910 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 | 60 | 70 | 80 | 90 | 2000 |
DISCOGRAPHIE
Singles & EP
| 11/1951 | SP DECCA 9-46375 (US) | . | San Antonio Rose / Bully Of The Town |
| 12/1951 | SP DECCA 9-27838 (US) | . | Beer Barrel Polka / Star Dust |
| 02/1952 | SP DECCA 9-27926 (US) | . | Slew Foot Rag / Tell Me Why |
| 04/1952 | SP DECCA 9-28055 (US) | . | Wild Side Of Life (with Burl IVES) / It's So Long And Goodbye To You (with Burl IVES) |
| 04/1952 | SP DECCA 9-28074 (US) | . | Don't Stay Away / Get Up And Give |
| 06/1952 | SP DECCA 9-28231 (US) | . | You Are The Light O' My Life / Night And Day |
| 07/1952 | SP DECCA 9-28265 (US) | . | Just A Little Lovin' (with Bing CROSBY) / Till The End Of The World (with Bing CROSBY) |
| 08/1952 | SP DECCA 9-28314 (US) | . | Too Old To Cut The Mustard (with Bing CROSBY) / Waiting In The Lobby Of Your Heart (with Bing CROSBY) |
| 08/1952 | SP DECCA 9-28322 (US) | . | Trying / Sweet Jennie Lee |
| 09/1952 | SP DECCA 9-28388 (US) | . | I Went To Your Wedding / You Belong To Me |
| 10/1952 | SP DECCA 9-28424 (US) | . | Settin' The Woods On Fire (with Merv SHINER) / Our Love Isn't Legal (with Merv SHINER) |
| 11/1952 | SP DECCA 9-28472 (US) | . | Anniversary Song / Happy Birthday |
| 11/1952 | SP DECCA 9-28497 (US) | . | Sioux City Sue / September Song |
| 12/1952 | SP DECCA 9-28499 (US) | . | That Heart Belongs To Me / Picking Sweethearts |
| 01/1953 | SP DECCA 9-28548 (US) | . | Lover's Quarrel (with Don CHERRY) / Changeable (with Don CHERRY) |
| 02/1953 | SP DECCA 9-28588 (US) | . | Fool Such As I / Side By Side |
| 03/1953 | SP DECCA 9-28613 (US) | . | Shenanigans (Part 1) / Shenanigans (Part 2) |
| 05/1953 | SP DECCA 9-28689 (US) | . | Bandera / Poor Butterfly |
| 05/1953 | SP DECCA 9-28699 (US) | . | My Dear (with Dick TODD) / Goin' Steady Anniversary (with Dick TODD) |
| 06/1953 | SP DECCA 9-28722 (US) | . | Sweethearts On Parade (with Carmen LOMBARDO) / Coquette (with Carmen LOMBARDO) |
| 07/1953 | SP DECCA 9-28792 (US) | . | Call Me Up (Jane TURZY) / I've Got A Letter (Jane TURZY) |
| 09/1953 | SP DECCA 9-28845 (US) | . | Dragnet / Velvet Glove |
| 01/1954 | SP DECCA 9-28987 (US) | . | Bimbo / Mexicali Rose |
| 03/1954 | SP DECCA 9-29059 (US) | . | My Window Faces
South (with
Red FOLEY) /
Pork Chop Stomp
|
| 04/1954 | SP DECCA 9-29098 (US) | . | Short Dog Stomp / My Adobe Hacienda |
| 06/1954 | SP DECCA 9-29146 (US) | . | Isle Of Capri / Twelfth Street Rag |
| 07/1954 | SP DECCA 9-29213 (US) | . | Jalousie / Alexander's Ragtime Band |
| 11/1954 | SP DECCA 9-29328 (US) | . | Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody / What's The Use |
| 12/1954 | SP DECCA 9-29361 (US) | . | Columbus Stockade Blues (with Dick TODD) / Sweethearts Or Strangers (with Dick TODD) |
| 03/1955 | SP DECCA 9-29468 (US) | . | Long John Boogie / Gorgeous |
| 06/1955 | SP DECCA 9-29558 (US) | . | Singing The
Blues Till My Daddy Comes Home /
Hot Lips
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| 10/1955 | SP DECCA 9-29691 (US) | . | Don't Take Your Love From Me / Nashville |
| 1955 | EP DECCA ED-2231 (US) |
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Slip In And Slip Out / Oklahoma Hayseed / Woody Boogie / Cornstalk Hop |
| 1955 | EP DECCA ED-2232 (US) |
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DANCE-O-RAMA VOL. 2 |
| 1955 | EP DECCA ED-2297 (US) |
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POWERHOUSE DANCE PARTY |
| 08/1956 | SP DECCA 9-30022 (US) | . | When My Dream Boat Comes Home / Allegheny Moon |
| 1956 | EP DECCA ED-2358 (US) |
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JUKEBOX JAMBOREE |
| 01/1957 | SP DECCA 9-30196 (US) | . | Keep It Movin' / Somebody Stole My Gal |
| 1957 | SP DECCA 9-25525 (US) | . | Somebody Stole My Gal / Rose Room |
| 09/1957 | SP DECCA 9-30453 (US) | . | Chicago / All The Way |
| 1958 | SP DECCA 9-25553 (US) | . | Three O'Clock In The Morning / Wedding Bells |
| 07/1959 | SP DECCA 9-30940 (US) | . | Hey Chick / Tuxedo Junction |
| 11/1959 | SP DECCA 9-31013 (US) | . | Elmer's Tune / You've Got Me Cryin' Again |
| 1959 | EP DECCA ED-2651 (US) |
|
Elmer's Tune / You've Got Me Crying Again / Moonlight And Roses / Meet Me Tonight In Dreamland |
| 01/1961 | SP DECCA 31211 (US) | . | The Fuzz / Tippin' In |
| 1961 | SP DECCA 25568 (US) | . | City Lights / Fraulein |
| 1961 | EP DECCA ED-2686 (US) |
|
GRADY MARTIN AND HIS SLEWFOOT FIVE |
| 04/1962 | SP DECCA 31381 (US) | . | Twist And Turn / Good Good Good |
| 1962 | SP DECCA 25605 (US) | . | Anytime / Down The River Of Golden Dreams |
| 1963 | SP DECCA 25617 (US) | . | Let Me Call You Sweetheart / Beautiful Brown Eyes |
| 1963 | SP DECCA 25629 (US) | . | Melody Of Love / Around The World |
| 1964 | SP DECCA 25642 (US) | . | Velvet Glove / Heartaches By The Number |
| 11/1964 | SP DECCA 31691 (US) | . | El Paso /me From Malamondo (Funny World) |
| 1964 | EP DECCA ED-2747 (US) |
|
HAPPY BIRTHDAY |
| 1965 | SP DECCA 25656 (US) | . | One Rose / Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody |
| 1965 | SP DECCA 25668 (US) | . | He'll Have To Go / Bully Of The Town |
| 1965 | SP DECCA 25676 (US) | . | Ring Of Fire / Forever |
| 12/1965 | SP DECCA 31885 (US) | . | May The Bird Of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose / Battle Of New Orleans |
| 07/1966 | SP DECCA 31990 (US) | . | Last Letter / Double O Dobro |
| 02/1967 | SP DECCA 32099 (US) | . | Kaw-Liga / Heartless Woman |
| 08/1968 | SP DECCA 25739 (US) | . | San Antonio Rose / Born Free |
| 08/1968 | SP DECCA 32173 (US) | . | Don't Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes / Ribbon Of Darkness |
| 03/1969 | SP DECCA 25749 (US) | . | Alley Cat / I Wanna Be Around |
| 1973 | SP MCA 65015 (US) | . | Happy Birthday / Anniversary Waltz |
| 09/1976 | SP MONUMENT 45-202 (US) | . | Riders In The Sky / El Paso |
Albums
| 1955 | LP 10" DECCA DL 5566 (US) |
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COUNTRY AND WESTERN DANCE O RAMA 6 - Woody Boogie / Cornstalk Hop / Slip In And Slip Out / Oklahoma Hayseed / My Window Faces The South / Remember This / Just Because / Pork Chop Stomp |
| 1956 | LP 10" DECCA DL 8181 (US) |
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POWERHOUSE DANCE PARTY - Star Dust / Don't Take Your Love From Me / That's My Desire / Cecilia, People Will Say We're In Love / Beer Barrel Polka / September Song / Rose Room / Sentimental Journey / Singin' The Blues Till My Daddy Comes Home / Night And Day / Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody |
| 1956 | LP 10" DECCA DL 8292 (US) |
|
JUKEBOX JAMBOREE - Hot Lips / Mexicali Rose / Velvet Glove / Bimbo / Jalousie / Bully Of The Town / Poor Butterfly / My Adobe Hacienda / Alexander's Ragtime Band / Side By Side / San Antonio Rose / Sioux City Sue |
| 1957 | LP 10" DECCA DL 8648 (US) |
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ROARING TWENTIES - Swingin' Down The Lane / Wedding Bells / What'll I Do / Nagasaki / At Sundown / Mary Lou / Somebody Stole My Gal / Prisoner's Song / Three O'Clock In The Morning / Chicago / Drifting And Dreaming / Ka-Lu-A |
| 1959 | LP 10" DECCA DL 8883 (US) |
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HOT TIME TONIGHT - Moonlight And Roses (Bring Mem'ries Of You) / Meet Me Tonight In Dreamland / Blue Prelude / That Old Gang Of Mine / Let Me Call You Sweetheart / Heartaches / Elmer's Tune / You've Got Me Crying Again / St Louis Blues / Japanese Sandman / My Blue Heaven / South |
| 1960 | LP 12" DECCA DL 74072 (US) |
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BIG CITY LIGHTS - City Lights / Singing The Blues / Tennessee Waltz / Crazy Arms / One Rose (That's Left In My Heart) / Anytime / Heartaches By The Number / Fraulein / Beautiful Brown Eyes / He'll Have To Go / Half As Much / You Are My Sunshine |
| 1962 | LP 12" DECCA DL 74286 (US) |
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SWINGIN' DOWN THE RIVER - Lazy River / Moon River / Swanee River / When It's Darkness On The Delta / Down The River Of Golden Dreams / Ol' Man River / Colonel Bogey March / River Stay 'way From My Door / Red River Valley / Missouri Waltz / Wabash Blues / Beautiful Ohio |
| 1964 | LP 12" DECCA DL 74476 (US) |
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SONGS EVERYBODY KNOWS - Alley Cat / I Left My Heart In San Franciscvo / Fly Me To The Moon (In Other Words) / More / What Kind Of Fool Am I / Around The World / Danke Schoen / Days Of Wine And Roses / I Wanna Be Around / Misty / Arrivederci Roma (Goodbye To Rome) / Melody Of Love |
| 1965 | LP 12" DECCA DL 74610 (US) |
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INSTRUMENTALLY YOURS - El Paso / Theme From Malamondo / Girl From Ipanema / All Alone Am I / Ramona, Ruby / Ring Of Fire / Where Have All The Flowers Gone / Near You / Devil Woman / Forever / On The Rebound |
| 1967 | LP 12" DECCA DL 74865 (US) |
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A TOUCH OF COUNTRY - Heartless Woman / Last Letter / Battle Of New Orleans / Kaw-Liga / Ribbon Of Darkness / Your Last Goodbye / Don't Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes / Double O'Dobro / May The Bird Of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose / Frankie And Johnny / Cattle Call / I Just Don't Let You Said Goodbye |
| 1967 | LP 12" DECCA DL 74915 (US) |
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HAPPY SOUNDS - Georgie Girl / Lara's Theme / Born Free / Man And A Woman / Un Homme Et Une Femme / What Now My Love / Et Maintenant / Thoroughly Modern Millie / Bye Bye Blues / Strangers In The Night / So What's New / On A Clear Day (You Can See Forever) / Shadow Of Your Smile / Sweetheart Tree |
| 1977 | LP 12" MONUMENT MG 7617 (US) |
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COWBOY CLASSICS - Riders In The Sky / Tumbling Tumbleweeds / Shenandoah / San Antonio Rose / Streets Of Laredo / High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me) / Cool Water / El Paso / Dusty Skies / Last Roundup / Riders In The Sky (reprise) |
| 04/1999 | CD SONY 33631 (US) |
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COWBOY CLASSICS - Riders In The Sky / Tumbling Tumbleweeds / Shenandoah / San Antonio Rose / The Streets Of Laredo / High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me) / Cool Water / El Paso / Dusty Skies / The Last Round Up / Riders In The Sky (Reprise) |
| 200? | CD BACM 2222 (UK) |
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CORNSTALK HOP - Wooly Boogie / September Song / The Velvet Glove / Cornstalk Hop / Singing The Blues Till My Daddy Comes Home / Allegheny Moon / When My Dreamboat Comes Home / Slip In And Slip Out / A Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody / Oklahoma Hayseed / Star Dust / Anniversary Song / My Window Faces The South / Mexicali Rose / Bimbo / Remember This / Sioux City Sue / Just Because / Pork Chop Stomp / Hot Lips / Chicago / Don't Take Your Love From Me / Beer Barrel Polka / Night And Day / Columbus Stockade Blues / Sweethearts Or Strangers / Bully Of The Town / Somebody Stole My Gal |
| 09/2007 | CD REV-OLA 26 (UK) |
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ROUGHNECK BLUES 1949-1956 - San Antonio
Rose / My Window Faces The South (Red
FOLEY) / A-Sleeping At The Foot Of The Bed (Little
Jimmy DICKENS) / Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy (Red
FOLEY) / Diesel Smoke, Dangerous Curves (Burl IVES) / (Now And
Then There's) A Fool Such As I (Dottie DILLARD & Jack SHOOK) / Hillbilly
Fever (Little Jimmy DICKENS) /
Birmingham Bounce (Red FOLEY) / Don't
You Worry (Cecil GANT) / It Ain't Gonna Be Like That (Cecil GANT) / I'm A
Big Boy Now (Justin TUBB) / My Girl
And His Girl (Danny DILL) / Roughneck Blues (Al TERRY) / Bird Dog (Don
WOODY) / Juke Joint Johnny (Red
SOVINE) / I'm A One-Woman Man (Johnny
HORTON) / Baby's Gone (Vernon CLAUD)
/ Shake Baby Shake (Wayne RANEY) /
All I Can Do Is Cry (Wayne WALKER) /
It Would Be A Doggone Lie (Autry INMAN)
/ I'm Hungry For Your Lovin' (Danny
DILL) / Three Alley Cats (Roy HALL)
/ Rock Billy Boogie (Johnny BURNETTE)
/ Crazy, Crazy Lovin' (Johnny CARROLL)
/ You're Barking Up The Wrong Tree (Don
WOODY) / Bigelow 6-200 (Brenda LEE)
/ Everybody's Rockin' But Me (Bobby LORD)
/ I'm Coming Home (Johnny HORTON)
/ Rock Aroudn With Ollie Vee (Buddy HOLLY)
/ Modern Don Juan (Buddy HOLLY) / The
Train Kept A-Rollin' (Johnny BURNETTE
TRIO) / When My Dream Boat Comes Home
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© Rocky Productions 6/03/2008
