ROOTS of Country Music

The Professional Work of Ralph Mooney

(Sep. 16, 1928 - Mar. 20, 2011)

Ralph Mooney, a pioneering steel guitarist who played on numerous country classics in the 1960s and 1970s, died at his home in Arlington, Texas, of complication from cancer. Mooney was the best steel guitar player ever! End of story. Anyone who is a fan of Buck Owens, Wynn Stewart, Merle Haggard and Waylon Jennings certainly will agree. And beyond the steel guitar, he was one of the most important and most influential musicians in country music history.

No steel man had more taste, more soul than Ralph Mooney. Ralph is the reason when those strings ring out, it reminds you of the past, it tugs at your heart. It awakens something deep inside of you that seems forgotten but totally familiar all at the same time.

Ralph Mooney was born born on September 16, 1928, in Duncan, Oklahoma and became interested in music as a youngster. When he relocated to California to live with a sister, he was taught to play guitar, mandolin and fiddle. He was 12 years old when he first saw a steel guitar and became interested in the instrument after hearing another steel pioneer, Leon McAuliffe. As a teenager, Mooney gradually developed his style by playing in amateur bands.

Mooney worked for a time for the Douglas Aircraft Company. After playing with local band Lindsey And His Oklahoma Nightriders, Mooney joined Skeets McDonald's band and made his first recordings. With the help of Jesse Ashlock, he refined his skills, playing a self-built steel guitar. In 1950, he was a regular on Squeakin' Deacon's radio show where he met Wynn Stewart and gained session work.

Ralph is the Steel Guitarist credited with creating the "Bakersfield Sound." More specifically Ralph was the man responsible for the trademark sound of Wynn Stewart, early Merle Haggard, the heyday of Waylon Jennings. Ralph was also a writer. He didn't write very many songs, though. Maybe he didn't need to, because when you write one of the biggest songs in country music of all time, do you need an encore? Ralph wrote "Crazy Arms (No. 1, 1956) and put Ray Price on the country music map. He wrote the song with Chuck Seals and it spent an astonishing 20 weeks at No. 1, making it the 4th biggest song in the history of country music, a feat that will never be broken.

During the late-'50s and early-'60s, Mooney worked as a staff musician for Capitol Records, where he played on the early recordings of Buck Owens. In 1961, Ralph moved to Las Vegas with Wynn, where he performed in Wynn's club and met Merle Haggard. He played on Merle's first Tally recordings and remained in Las Vegas for another six years, playing for Wynn and other artists.

Mr Mooney also worked with Merle Haggard, by this time fronting his own band, but he decided to discontinue due to the heavy travel schedule. However, he played on several of Merle's studio records including Swinging Doors, The Bottle Let Me Down and (All My Friends Are Gonna Be) Strangers.

Throughout the years, Mooney an Academy of Country Music award winner, left his mark on dozens of Wynn Stewart sessions such as, You Took Her off My Hands, The Happy Part of Town, It's Such a Pretty World Today and scores of other recordings.

Mooney's music can be heard on many hits by Buck Owens, including Under Your Spell Again and Foolin' Around and backing Warren Smith, Rose Maddox, Skeets McDonald, Bobby Austin, Bonnie Owens, Wanda Jackson, Donna Fargo and Jessi Colter. His longest running stint was with Waylon Jennings, whom Mooney joined in 1970 and stayed with until he retired in the early '90s.

Mooney performed extensively with Waylon Jennings in the 1970s and 1980s, both on tour and in the studio and his playing can be heard prominently in Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys, Jennings' iconic 1978 duet with Willie Nelson. He was one of the last keys to the old outlaw sound.

Dozens of famous steel guitar players have graced the Nashville recording studios. However, not many acquired a distinctive sound. Mooney was an exception. He had a captivating, distinguishable trademark sound. If it wasn't for Ralph Mooney, country music would be something very different than we consider it today, if it even still existed.

Few musicians was as important or influential to country music as Ralph Mooney. Ralph was the best steel guitar player, ever!

Researched and written by Richard bell, Roots of Country Music, Mar. 25, 2011.