From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Mon Nov 11, 2002  6:17 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Hank Garland

HANK GARLAND

Born Walter Louis Garland, 11 November 1930, Cowpens, South Carolina;
died 27 December 2004, Orange Park, FL

Cowpens is a rural suburb of Spartanburg, SC, and while growing up there,
Garland absorbed country music from Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith and
Mother Maybelle Carter on the radio, eventually switching from banjo to
guitar. He joined the Grand Ole Opry at 15 in 1945. In the spring of 1949,
staff producer Paul Cohen signed him to Decca Records as a solo artist.
His first session, on May 1, 1949, produced the amazing instrumental
"Sugarfoot Boogie", which he would develop into the classic "Sugarfoot
Rag" at his next session (during which he also recorded three tracks as
a singer). Backed by Garland, Red Foley recorded a vocal version of
"Sugarfoot Rag" later in 1949, which would peak at # 4 on the country
charts. After leaving Decca in 1951, Garland recorded for Chic Records
and Dot, then joined Eddy Arnold's backup band.
From the mid-fifties on his most adventurous work was done in the studio
backing others. Garland appeared on innumerable Nashville recording
sessions, mostly country, but also rock 'n' roll, including Elvis Presley's
famous June 1958 session ("A Fool Such as I", "A Big Hunk O'Love" etc.)
and several post-Army Presley recordings. In July 1960, Garland came
forward as a jazz musician, organizing a combo that was scheduled to
play the Newport Jazz Festival but found itself on the sidelines after riots
closed the festival. Garland's jazz debut on records, "Jazz Winds From
A New Direction" astonished both jazz and country circles, and a follow-
up album "The Unforgettable Guitar of Hank Garland" was issued. Hank
seemed set for jazz stardom. Then tragedy struck.
On the morning of September 8, 1961, he'd quarreled bitterly with wife Evelyn,
who took their two children to a Nashville motel until things calmed down.
Arriving home, Garland found them gone and assumed she'd taken the kids
back to her native Milwaukee and set out after her. Speeding north, around
5:00 P.M., on Route 41 north of Springfield, Tennessee, his station wagon
overturned, throwing Hank from the vehicle. He spent weeks in a coma.
Finally, when he awoke, Grady Martin brought him a guitar. A few minutes
later, Martin emerged in tears. Hank could not maintain his coordination.
After he recovered, his aggressive personality changed; he could play well
for only brief periods before losing his train of musical thought, a consequence
of the injury. His attempts to resume session work faded. For the next year,
as financial problems closed in on the Garlands, his friends on the Nashville
A-Team signed his name on Musicians' Union cards to guarantee the family
had something to live on. Given the scope of his musical contributions, it's
doubtful the deception upset even the record companies. The family moved
to Milwaukee, where Evelyn died in a 1963 auto accident. After years of
inactivity, Garland appeared at an Opry old-timers show in 1975, where
he managed to pick out "Sugarfoot Rag."
Today, still revered for his past work, Hank Garland resides quietly in
South Carolina with his sister and her husband. In Nashville, the younger
generation of studio musicians has barely heard of him, but the many
members of A-Teams past as well as the stars he backed, still remember
him as one of the greatest guitarists.

CD : Hank Garland and his Sugar Footers (Bear Family BCD 15551).
20 Decca recordings, including eight tracks with a vocal by Red Foley.
Website: http://www.nashvillesound.net/garland.htm
 

Updated 23 April 2005