ROOTS of Country Music

The Professional Work of Henry Strzelecki 

(b. Aug. 8, 1939)

Nashville session man Henry Strzelecki used a Fender Jazz bass on countless recordings. He played on hundreds of top-10 hits, including Roy Orbison’s Oh, Pretty Woman (1964) and Georege Jones’ He topped Loving Her Today (1980).

Henry Strzelecki, born in Birmingham, Alabama, worked among others with Hank Garland, Johnny Cash, Simon & Garfunkel, Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley and for 20 years with Chet Atkins.

Henry Strzelecki started out in country music in his teens, recording with songwriter Baker Knight on the Decca label out of Nashville, Tennessee (TN) in the mid-'50s. Strzelecki played with his brother Larry in a group, the Four Flickers (later the Four Counts), who toured the southern and border-states in the late-'50s. 

Mr. Strzelecki moved to Nashville, TN in December 1960. Soon after arriving in the Music City, he connected up with Hank Garland. After working an informal session with Hank Garland, Bill Purcell and Buddy Harmon, Garland offered Strzelecki a job. At that time, Mr. Garland had a small band that played at Jimmy Hyde’s supper club in Nashville's Printer’s Alley.

Mr. Strzelecki started out on the upright bass, but a couple years later switched to electric bass. It was while working at Printer’s Alley that Mr. Strzelecki met Chet Atkins. 

“On Sunday nights Chet would come in and play. I didn’t have anything else to do, so I hung around to meet him. I listened to Chet on the radio when I was a kid down in Birmingham, Alabama. We would string a wire across the back yard so we could pick up WSM better. We’d use the clothesline connected to the radio. It worked great. So, I knew who Chet was. I just wanted to meet him because I always thought a lot of him. I appreciated and loved great guitar players. I always wanted to be one. I ended up playing bass for everyone else--you know how that goes. There are fewer bass players than guitarists.

Once I met Chet, he invited me to play with him on Sunday nights. He knew I needed a job and he heard me play with Hank. Bill Purcell and I played duets Monday through Thursday night. On Friday and Saturday, Hank and Buddy Harmon joined us to form the band. Chet has some bass player for Sunday night. I cannot remember his name, but he wanted Sunday off to do other things. This is how I got the job with Chet.” ~ Henry Strzelecki. 

Strzelecki worked with Hank Garland as a bass player in the early '60s and subsequently worked for Chet Atkins for more than a decade, both in the studio and on tour, which helped move him to the front ranks of Nashville's session players.

The list of recordings on which Henry Strzelecki has worked over the years; usually as bassist, is prodigious and encompasses the work of just about every star to come out of Nashville, TN since the early '60s. Mr. Strzelecki said in an interview that he played on 10,000 sessions, including 100 number one singles. Mr. Strzelecki was a player in The Nashville A-Team. 

The Nashville A-Team was a nickname given to a group of session musicians in Nashville, TN, who earned wide acclaim in the 1950s and 1960s. They backed dozens of popular singers, including Elvis Presley, Eddy Arnold, Patsy Cline, Jim Reeves, Kitty Wells, Ray Price and others. The Nashville A-Team's members typically had backgrounds in country music but were highly versatile. 

Mr. Strzelecki briefly toured with Johnny Cash (Dec 1980 - Spring 1981 ). In late 1980, Joe Allen (bass) departed the group and Strzelecki (bass) joined the band for a short time. The following year, Strzelecki left the band and Marty Stuart took over as bass player.

Mr. Strzelecki also founded a publishing company in Nashville, TN that was very active during the 1970s and 1980s. In 1987, he was nominated for Bass Man of the Year at the 23rd Academy of Country Music Awards.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Henry Strzelecki Session Work

Marty Robbins Recording Session

Jan 7, 1963

Nashville, Tenneessee USA

Producer: Don Law & Frank Jones

Session Personnel: Marty Robbins (vocal, guitar), Grady Martin, Jack Pruett, (guitar), Bill Pursell (piano), Henry Strzelecki (bass guitar), Louis Dunn (drums)

• Smokin' Cigarettes and Drinkin' Coffee Blues

Feb 27, 1963

Nashville, Tenneessee USA

Producer: Don Law & Frank Jones 

Session Personnel: Marty Robbins (vocal, guitar), Grady Martin, Jack Pruett (guitar), Bill Pursell (piano), Henry Strzelecki (bass guitar), Louis Dunn (drums)

• Man Walks Among Us

Feb. 16, 1976 

Nashville, Tenneessee USA

Producer: Billy Sherrill 

Session Personnel: Marty Robbins (vocal), Grady Martin, Jack Pruett, George Richey (guitar), Henry Strzelecki (bass guitar)

• El Paso City

Loretta Lynn Recording Session

Mar. 9, 1979

Bradley's Barn; Mt. Juliet, Tennessee USA

Producer: Owen Bradley

Session Personnel: Loretta Lynn, Jordanaires (vocal), Harold Bradley (6-stribg electric bass guitar), Ray Edenton (acoustic guitar), Murrey "Buddy" Harman Jr. (drums), Hargus "Pig" Robbins (piano), Henry Strzelecki (bass guitar), Harold Rugg (steel guitar), Herman Wade (electric guitar)

1. I've Got a Picture of Us on My Mind

(L-R) Henry Strzelecki (Bass), Chip Young (Rhythm Guitar), Jim Malloy (Producer), Glen Sherley (prisoner, songwriter), Jerry Carrigan (Drums), Lloyd Green (Steel Guitar), Bobby Thompson (Guitar & Banjo).

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Researched, compiled and written by Richard bell, Roots of Country Music, Jan. 3, 2010.