ROOTS of Country Music

Piano Players in Modern Country Music ~ 1959 - 1990 

For decades, pianos have been an integral part of the country music sound. When available, pianos were part of rural string bands performing for dances. Its percussive rhythms made the dance beat more definable. One early country piano recording was done in 1927, when Virginia's Shelor Family String Band was recorded by Ralph Peer at the legendary Bristol Sessions. However, many early country performers thought little of using the piano. Charlie Poole was once (Pictured above Bill Pursell) ejected from a recording session when he wanted to use one; his New York producers felt it wasn't country- sounding. But this was not the case with early Grand Ole Opry star Sam McGee, who learned some of his instrumentals from a player piano roll.

When a young Bob Wills was playing fiddle for dances in Texas, pianos were a common part of the accompaniment. After Milton Brown left the Light Crust Doughboys to form his Musical Brownies (1932), he hired a jazz pianist named Fred "Papa" Calhoun, the first pianist in western swing. When Bob Wills started the Playboys (1933), he went through several pianists before he found Al Stricklin.

The western swing scene in Texas spawned other pianists, including Moon Mullican, who worked with Cliff Bruner and the crazed, stomping, pot-smoking singer-pianist John, "Smokey" Wood, who worked with The Modern Mountaineers and his own band, Smokey Wood and His Wood Chips. On the West Coast in the 1940s, pianists were a common part of most groups. The talented Vic Davis, blind pianist Jimmy Pruett and Billy Liebert worked with various country and Western swing acts.

Moon Mullican signed with King Records in 1946, and became the first singer-pianist to become a major star, with hit recordings like "New Pretty Blonde" and in the early 50s, "Cherokee Boogie." In Nashville, Owen Bradley did extensive piano work on country records, as he did with his Nashville-based dance band. Bradley sometimes played behind Ernest Tubb, who referred to him as "Half Moon" Bradley because he only layed halfway like Moon Mullican. Fred Rose played piano on some Hank Williams’ sessions. ebriefly at the end of Hank's 1952 song, "Half as Much.” Del Wood's hit, "Down Yonder" (1951) made her a part of the Opry until her death in 1989.

In California, San Diego pianist Merrill Moore did an excellent series of country boogie recordings for Capitol, while Roy Hall did likewise from the late forties on. Hall and Mullican were both influential on Jerry Lee Lewis' style, which was based so indelibly on his piano-pounding. Though bluegrass king Bill Monroe didn't use a piano on the road, for a time he had Sally Ann Forrester playing accordion with The Blue Grass Boys during World War II.

Blind pianist Hargus "Pig" Robbins was the top keyboard player in the Nashville studios from the 1960s through the 1980s. Jerry Lee Lewis had a profound influence with his over-the-top piano playing; though when he became a successful country singer in the late 1960s, he showed restraint, taste and grace when playing on his ballads.

Pictured left Hargus "Pig" Robbinss

Charlie Rich's piano work, understated on his big hits of the 1970s, always reflected the influence of jazz. Even a hardcore traditionalist like Roy Acuff routinely featured the piano in The Smokey Mountain Boys, with Jimmie Riddle doing the honors. Jim Reeves would cancel a show if his pianist, Dean Manuel, wasn't provided a decent instrument.

Floyd Cramer, who began as a pianist on the Louisville Hayride, later became Nashville’s primary studio piano player during the 1960s. In 1959, Chet Atkins played him a demo of a song titled "Please Help Me, I'm Falling." The next day, Atkins planned to have Hank Locklin record it.

Pictured right Floyd Cramer

Chet Atkins liked songwriter Don Robertson's style on the song's demo, using chromatic grace notes to recreate the changing pitches of a pedal steel, so he told Cramer to learn what later became known as the "slip note" style for the Locklin session. Cramer's piano figures became a integral part of the song and led to his own composition in that same slip note style: "Last Date."

Other singers like Ronnie Milsap, Mickey Gilley, Becky Hobbs and Gary Stewart all used piano as their primary instruments. Today, electronic keyboards have become an integral part of country recordings, some well-played, others used to excess.

The following is a partial listing of piano players who worked on session recordings from the 1950s through the 1990s, beginning with the top-five in ranking order.

1. Hargus “Pig” Robbins (era: 1950s-1990s)

 2. Floyd Cramer (era: 1950s-1980s),

3. Bill Pursell (era: 1950s-1980s),

4. Marvin Hughes (era: 1950s-1960s),

5. David Briggs (era: 1960s-1990s) 

• Benny Martin (era: 1950s)
• Barry Beckett (era: 1970s-1980)
• Billy Liebert (era: 1970s)
• Bobby Emmons (era: 1980s)
• Bobby Ogdin (era: 1970s-1980s)
• Bobby Wood (era: 1970s-1980s)
• Bobbie Nelson (era: 1970s)
• Earl Ball (era: 1970s)
• Evelyn Rowley (era: 1950s)
• Del Wood (era: 1950s – 1980s)
• Doc Lewis (era: 1960s)
• Edwin Carver (era: 1950s)
• Glen D. Hardin (era: 1960s-1970s)
• George French (era: 1960s-1970s)
• Glenn Hardin (era: 1960s-1970s)
• Gordon Stoker (era: 1950s-1960s)
• Jerry Lee Lewis (era: 1950s-1980s)
• Jerry Smith (era: 1960s-1970s)
• Jim Pierce (era: 1960s)
• Jimmy Pruett (era: 1960s)
• John Gordy (era: 1960s)
• John Hobbs (era: 1980s-1990s)
• John B. Jarvis (era: 1980s-1990s)
• Larry Butler (era: 1960s - 1970s)
• Madge Sutee (era: 1950s)
• Marty Gold (era: 1950s)
• Merrill Moore (era: 1950s-1970s)
• Mickey Gilley (era: 1960s – 1980s)
• Maijohn Wilkin (era: 1950s)
• Mark Yeary (era: 1970s)
• Moon Mullican (era: ‘40s/50s)
• Owen Bradley (era: 1950s)
• Paul Mitchell (era: 1960s)
• Pete Wasner (era: 1980s)
• Ron Oates (era: 1970s)
• Roy Hall (1940s-1950s)
• Tony Brown (era: 1970