Walter Louis Garland (November 11, 1930 – December 27, 2004), known professionally as 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.
The Hank Garland biopic ''Crazy'' was released in 2008.
Biography
Born in
Cowpens, South Carolina
Cowpens is a town in Spartanburg County, South Carolina, Spartanburg County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 2,162 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. The town was chartered February 20, 1880, and was incorporated in 1 ...
,
Garland began playing guitar at the age of six, and began to appear on local radio shows at 12. At 14 he moved to
Spartanburg, South Carolina
Spartanburg is a city in and the county seat of Spartanburg County, South Carolina, United States. The city had a population of 38,732 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in South Carolina, 11th ...
where he met
Don Reno who gave him lessons, and worked with him on the
WSPA-FM station in Spartanburg, both playing lead guitar.
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''. Garland is perhaps best known for his Nashville studio work with
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...
from 1958 to 1961 which produced such rock hits as: "
I Need Your Love Tonight", "
A Big Hunk O' Love", "
A Fool Such As I", "
I Got Stung", "
Stuck on You", "I'm Comin' Home", "
I Feel So Bad", "
Little Sister" and "
(Marie's the Name) His Latest Flame
"(Marie's the Name) His Latest Flame" is a song recorded in a hit version by Elvis Presley and published by Elvis Presley Music in 1961. It was written by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman and first recorded by Del Shannon on the album '' Runaway with ...
". He worked with many country music and rock and roll musicians of the late 1950s and early 1960s, such as
Patsy Cline
Patsy Cline (born Virginia Patterson Hensley; September 8, 1932 – March 5, 1963) was an American singer. One of the most influential vocalists of the 20th century, she was known as one of the first country music artists to successfully Cross ...
,
Brenda Lee
Brenda Mae Tarpley (born December 11, 1944), known professionally as Brenda Lee, is an American singer. Primarily performing rockabilly, pop, country and Christmas music, she achieved her first ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' hit aged 12 i ...
,
Mel Tillis,
Marty Robbins,
The Everly Brothers
The Everly Brothers were an American rock duo, known for steel-string acoustic guitar playing and close-harmony singing. Consisting of Isaac Donald "Don" Everly and Phillip "Phil" Everly, the duo combined elements of rock and roll, country, ...
,
Boots Randolph,
Roy Orbison
Roy Kelton Orbison (April 23, 1936 – December 6, 1988) was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist known for his distinctive and powerful voice, complex song structures, and dark, emotional ballads. Orbison's most successful periods were ...
,
Conway Twitty, and
Moon Mullican
Aubrey Wilson Mullican (March 29, 1909 – January 1, 1967), known professionally as Moon Mullican and nicknamed "King of the Hillbilly Piano Players", was an American country and western singer, songwriter, and pianist. He was associated with ...
.
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 Lloyd's (recorded under pseudonym of (
Jimmie Logsdon) "You're Gone Baby" and "I've Got a Rocket in My Pocket";
Lefty Frizzell
William Orville "Lefty" Frizzell (March 31, 1928 – July 19, 1975) was an American country and honky-tonk singer-songwriter.
Frizell is known as one of the most influential country music vocal stylists of all time. He has been cited as in ...
'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
Brenda Mae Tarpley (born December 11, 1944), known professionally as Brenda Lee, is an American singer. Primarily performing rockabilly, pop, country and Christmas music, she achieved her first ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' hit aged 12 i ...
's "
Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree".
Don Gibson
Donald Eugene Gibson (April 3, 1928 – November 17, 2003) was an American songwriter and country musician. A Country Music Hall of Fame inductee, Gibson wrote such country standards as " Sweet Dreams" and " I Can't Stop Loving You", and enjo ...
's "Sweet Sweet Girl" and "Don't Tell Me Your Troubles";
Patsy Cline
Patsy Cline (born Virginia Patterson Hensley; September 8, 1932 – March 5, 1963) was an American singer. One of the most influential vocalists of the 20th century, she was known as one of the first country music artists to successfully Cross ...
'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
Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz Saxophone, saxophonist, bandleader, and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of beb ...
in New York and went on to record ''Jazz Winds from a New Direction''
with
Gary Burton
Gary Burton (born January 23, 1943) is an American jazz Vibraphone, vibraphonist, composer, and educator. Burton developed a pianistic style of four-mallet technique as an alternative to the prevailing two-mallet technique. This approach caused ...
on vibraphone,
Joe Benjamin on double bass, and
Joe Morello on drums.
That session took place in Nashville in 1960.
That same year, Garland, along with other members of the
Nashville "A-Team" of session players, was invited to perform at the
Newport Jazz Festival
The Newport Jazz Festival is an annual American multi-day jazz music festival held every summer in Newport, Rhode Island. Elaine Lorillard established the festival in 1954, and she and husband Louis Lorillard financed it for many years. They hire ...
. For years, these musicians unwound by playing jazz after hours at Nashville's Carousel Club. The group included Gary Burton on vibes, guitarist
Chet Atkins
Chester Burton Atkins (June 20, 1924 – June 30, 2001), also known as "Mister Guitar" and "the Country Gentleman", was an American musician who, along with Owen Bradley and Bob Ferguson (musician), Bob Ferguson, helped create the Nash ...
, pianist
Floyd Cramer
Floyd Cramer (October 27, 1933 – December 31, 1997) was an American pianist who became famous for his use of melodic "whole-step" attacks. He was inducted into both the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His signatur ...
, saxophonist
Boots Randolph, bassist
Bob Moore, drummer
Buddy Harman and African-American violinist
Brenton Banks, who played in the string sections that adorned many Nashville recordings.
RCA Victor
RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic ...
had a mobile recording unit there to record their performance, but when rioting prematurely ended the festival, the group performed (with the tapes rolling) on the porch of the mansion where they were staying. The album was released as ''
After the Riot in Newport''.
At the request of
Gibson Guitar company president
Ted McCarty
Theodore McCarty (October 10, 1909 – April 1, 2001) was an American businessman who worked with the Wurlitzer Company and the Gibson Guitar Corporation. In 1966, he and Gibson Vice President John Huis bought the Bigsby Electric Guitar Company. ...
, 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.
In September 1961, a car crash left Garland in a coma.
He regained consciousness and recovered with the help of his wife, Evelyn, and two daughters, but due to a brain injury sustained in the car accident, he was unable to return to the studios. After Evelyn died at the age of 38 in a car crash in
Milwaukee
Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...
,
Wisconsin
Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...
on December 2, 1965, Garland's parents took care of him until their deaths. He then went to live with his brother, Billy and wife Amy.
Garland suffered from constant ill health in his later years and died in
Orange Park, Florida
Orange Park is a town in Clay County, Florida, United States. As a suburb of Jacksonville in neighboring Duval County, it is formally a part of the Jacksonville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 9,089 at the 2020 cen ...
on December 27, 2004, of complications from a staph infection. He was 74 years old. He is interred in Jacksonville Memory Gardens in Orange Park.
Discography
As leader
* ''Velvet Guitar'' (Harmony, 1960)
* ''
After the Riot at Newport'' with the Nashville All-Stars (RCA Victor, 1961)
* ''Jazz Winds from a New Direction'' (Columbia, 1961)
* ''The Unforgettable Guitar of Hank Garland'' (Columbia, 1962)
* ''Hank Garland and His Sugar Footers'' (Bear Family, 1992)
* ''Subtle Swing'' (Sundazed, 2004)
As sideman
*
Red Foley
Clyde Julian "Red" Foley (June 17, 1910 – September 19, 1968) was an American musician who made a major contribution to the growth of country music after World War II.
For more than two decades, Foley was one of the biggest stars of the gen ...
and
Ernest Tubb, ''Red and Ernie'' (Decca, 1956)
*
Bobby Helms, ''
Jingle Bell Rock'', (Decca 30513A, November 1957)
*
Janis Martin, ''The Female Elvis: The Complete Recordings'' (1956–57, released on
Bear Family Records
Bear Family Records is a Germany-based independent record label, that specializes in reissues of archival material, ranging primarily in country music but varying in everything from 1950s rock and roll to old German movie soundtracks.
History
T ...
, 1987)
*
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...
,
50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong: Elvis' Gold Records, Volume 2 (RCA Victor, 1959)
*
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...
,
Elvis Is Back!
''Elvis Is Back!'' is the fourth studio album by American singer Elvis Presley, released on April 8, 1960 by RCA Victor. It was Presley's first album of new material since 1958's '' King Creole'' soundtrack as well as his first to be recorded a ...
(RCA Victor, 1960)
*
Ray Walker, ''Everybody's Hits But Mine'' (Columbia, 1961)
*
The Everly Brothers
The Everly Brothers were an American rock duo, known for steel-string acoustic guitar playing and close-harmony singing. Consisting of Isaac Donald "Don" Everly and Phillip "Phil" Everly, the duo combined elements of rock and roll, country, ...
, ''
Both Sides of an Evening'' (Warner Bros., 1961)
*
Don Gibson
Donald Eugene Gibson (April 3, 1928 – November 17, 2003) was an American songwriter and country musician. A Country Music Hall of Fame inductee, Gibson wrote such country standards as " Sweet Dreams" and " I Can't Stop Loving You", and enjo ...
, ''Girls, Guitars, and Gibson'' (RCA Victor, 1961)
* Elvis Presley,
Something for Everybody (RCA Victor, 1961)
* Elvis Presley,
Follow that Dream (EP) (RCA Victor, 1961)
* Elvis Presley,
Pot Luck (RCA Victor, 1962)
* Elvis Presley, Elvis’ Golden Records, Volume 3 (RCA Victor, 1962)
*
Skeeter Davis, ''Blueberry Hill and Other Favorites'' (RCA Camden, 1965)
Notes
References
* Kienzle, Rich (1998). "Hank Garland". In ''The Encyclopedia of Country Music''. Paul Kingsbury, Editor. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 194–5.
Hank Garland Biography
External links
Walter "Hank" "Sugarfoot" Garland recordingsat the
Discography of American Historical Recordings.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Garland, Hank
1930 births
2004 deaths
People from Spartanburg County, South Carolina
Musicians from Nashville, Tennessee
20th-century American guitarists
American country guitarists
American male guitarists
American jazz guitarists
American rock guitarists
American session musicians
Deaths from staphylococcal infection
Infectious disease deaths in Florida
People from Orange Park, Florida
Guitarists from Tennessee
Country musicians from Tennessee
Country musicians from Florida
Country musicians from South Carolina
Jazz musicians from Tennessee
20th-century American male musicians
American male jazz musicians