Intro
REGGIE YOUNG 1936-2019 A short appreciation of perhaps the greatest unsung hero of music making, the self-effacing southern gent who sent dozens of hits into the charts with his canny knack of writing instantly memorable guitar hooks.
10
Spring 2019
H
ad you been the guitarist that created the memorable opening lick on Elvis Presley’s comeback hit, In The Ghetto, and the even bigger-selling charttopper Suspicious Minds, both credited with igniting the King’s comeback career, you’d probably be pretty pleased with yourself. Had you also done exactly the same for Dusty Springfield on Son Of A Preacher, Neil Diamond on Sweet Caroline, Dobie Gray on Drift Away, Willie Nelson on Always On My Mind, Billy Swan on I Can Help, The Box Tops on The Letter and many, many more, you’d probably be puffing out your chest like a preening prize pigeon. But the great session hero Reggie Young, who sadly died on January 17th this year, did all that and so much more. And Reggie was among the most self-effacing musicians we’ve ever come across. He’s perhaps the most recorded of all session guitarists, having played on thousands of records from the ’50s until recently. Top artists such as Presley, Dusty, Eric Clapton, George Jones, Garth Brooks, Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard, BB King, Johnny Cash, Kenny Rodgers, Roy Orbison, Ringo Starr, Etta James, Cat Stevens, Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Dolly Parton and JJ Cale all felt privileged at having this hook-writing genius adding gold dust to their records. We recently spoke to Reggie about his career and tried to discover some of his session secrets. Not only did he downplay his role on so many hits, he seemed to not even be aware of how he did it. There was no obvious formula: he hardly read music, and rarely took direction from the producer; yet he forged a bond with the musicians around him, to the point where they worked like a single musical mind, pooling their talents for the greater good of the song. Mississippi born and Arkansas raised, by the 50s Reggie was touring the rock and roll and country circuits with artists such as Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Roy Orbison. He also appeared on the Louisiana Hayride in Shreveport, a fertile proving ground for southern talent. He was a member of the Bill Black Combo (Black was Elvis’s original upright bass player) and The Beatles requested them as
ANTHONY SCARLati
Reggie Young: still recording great music well into his 80s