PHOTOGRAPH BY DANNY CLINCH
PHOTOGRAPH BY JACK SPENCER
Still—as blues chanteuse Sippie Wallace wrote—you got to know how. There’s a laugh from the thoughtful, almost introspective player. “How do I know if I’m gonna play sweet or a little raunchy?” he intones. “I’ve played mostly with writers, and the lyric for them is everything. I really try to pay attention to what’s being said.”
for their squawking recast of Brownsville Station’s “Smokin’ In The Boys Room.”
Distilling essence is harder than it sounds. Yet when Ray Charles died, Nelson brought the harp player for accompaniment to the funeral. “It was a little AME Church in L.A., and we were doing ‘Georgia.’ You look out and there’s Wynton Marsalis, Stevie Wonder; you think, I just wanna play true.”
This day, though, no harmonica’s involved. Instead, Raphael weighs Bob Dylan’s “One Too Many Mornings,” a track he is rebuilding for an upcoming Highwaymen box set. The mid-80s supergroup of Johnny Cash/Waylon Jennings/Kris Kristofferson/ Willie Nelson built around friendship and classic songs has become even more iconic in the ensuing years, so he was tapped to produce ancillary material.
That thoughtfulness elevates Raphael’s musicality from one more cloud of notes to something genuinely evocative. As he listens to playbacks of the Highwaymen, noting, “It’s not a big sound, but it showcases each so well,” it is the grain of truth he’s seeking within each performance.
Mickey Raphael with Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, and Merle Haggard
“I love real melodic shift and tone,” he says. “I wanna play what’s right for the song . . . and something simpler is often better: match the intention, know what the song’s about. Rather than being another hot guitar lead, try to bring something else out of the song.”
Playing true is just what marks Raphael’s work. As a player, an accompanist, a producer: the vérité is all that matters. M ickey Raphael i s current ly on tour with Willie Nelson and Family. For more information please visit www.mickeyraphael.com.
“I know where all the bodies are,” he jokes, referring to his tenure with Nelson, as well as time on the boards with America’s many icons.
That’s why Lionel Richie suggested Raphael “take the guitar solo” on a recent re-recording of his Commodores classic “Easy.” Also why Mötley Crüe enlisted him
PHOTOGRAPH BY DANNY CLINCH
Few working musicians have the fastidious detail, vast knowledge, but especially the soul for where this music comes from. Raphael knows how to elicit a performance from Nelson—who recently added vocals to the original Chips Moman-produced Cash/Jennings track—as well as enhance the original recording’s intentions.
Mickey Raphael with Willie Nelson
76 | July 2014 NashvilleArts.com