Session Men: Nashville's A Team (Director Gil Baker)
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 ก.ย. 2024
- CLICK "SUBSCRIBE" FOR MORE FROM THIS CHANNEL Bob Moore, Buddy Harman, Grady Martin, Ray Edenton, Pig Robbins, Charlie McCoy, Fred Carter Jr, Vince Gill, Brenda Lee, Tony Brown. Cinematography Matt Coale, Rob Lindsay. Sound Matt Andrews. Produced, directed and edited by Gil Baker.
THE SESSION MEN STORY
1965. At Western Studios in LA, a group of musicians (later known as The Wrecking Crew) are working on a song called Help Me Rhonda. They include Glen Campbell, Hal Blaine, Larry Knechtel, Don Randi and Ms. Carol Kaye on bass. When Rhonda shoots to Number One, the Beach Boys are heralded for their brilliant musicianship. But their live shows don't sound like their records. And no wonder.
The Wrecking Crew performed on all of the big Beach Boys hits. Brian Wilson requested these players after hearing the magic they created for Phil Spector on productions like Be My Baby, Da Do Ron Ron and He's a Rebel. It's not widely known that Capitol's contract with The Beach Boys, who were signed by Nick Venet, stipulated that they hire studio musicians.
Wrecking Crew players also tracked hits for The Byrds (Mr Tambourine Man, Turn Turn Turn) Association (Never My Love, Cherish) Mamas & Papas (California Dreamin', Monday Monday) Grass Roots (Midnight Confessions, Sooner or Later) Carpenter's (Close To You, We've Only Just Begun) Fifth Dimension (Wedding Bell Blues, Marry Me Bill) Monkees (Mary Mary) Paul Revere's Raiders (Kicks, Steppin' Stone) Jay's American's (Cara Mia, Come a Little Bit Closer) Sonny & Cher (I Got You Babe, The Beat Goes On) Herb Alpert (Lonely Bull, This Guy) America (Ventura Highway, Horse with No Name) Frank (Strangers in The Night) and Nancy (Boots) to name just a few.
Crew member Larry Knechtel, who won a Grammy for his piano and arrangement of Bridge Over Troubled Water, is responsible for the organ on Never My Love, the bass on Mr Tambourine Man and that electric six-string solo on Bread's classic, The Guitar Man.
Through the 1950's, studio musicians were expected to show up on time and read the parts an arranger had written for them. But with folk and rock dominating radio in the 1960's, sheet music went out the window. Great records in these genres demanded session players who could figure out their own parts, and come up with an arrangement themselves. Recording acts, composers, producers, publishers all received royalties. But the session men were paid what amounted to an hourly wage for their invaluable contributions on huge hits. This inequity eventually lead the session men in LA to threaten a strike. But the Musician's Union settled for an increased hourly wage and some added benefits. Still no royalty of any kind for the session men. Not even a single percentage point to split between them.
The Wrecking Crew's counterpart in Alabama was the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. Roger Hawkins, David Hood, Jimmy Johnson, Pete Carr, Spooner Oldham and Barry Beckett were kids when they began cutting classics like Mustang Sally, When A Man Loves a Woman, I'm Your Puppet, Kodachrome, My Little Town, Tonight's the Night, Old Time Rock & Roll and Aretha's signature, Respect. They also cut hits with The Osmond Brothers, Dr Hook and other major label acts.
As members of Nashville's A Team, Grady Martin, Bob Moore, Buddy Harman, Ray Edenton and Pig Robbins played on well over 15,000 sessions between 1957 and 1987, including the biggest country and crossover hits of all time. These legendary studio musicians created the instrumental magic behind Elvis, Patsy, Conway Twitty, Brenda Lee, Jerry Lee Lewis, Marty Robbins, Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette, Johnny Cash, George Jones, Tom T Hall, Crystal Gayle and literally hundreds of other stars.
The American Studios Band ruled in Memphis, where Reggie Young, Gene Chrisman, Bobby Wood, Bobby Emmon, Mike Leech and Tommy Cogbill pasted the groove on classics like Sweet Caroline, Drift Away, Son of A Preacher Man, Angel of The Morning, Hooked on A Feeling, You Were Always on My Mind, Good Time Charlie’s Got The Blues, Suspicious Minds, In The Ghetto, Kentucky Rain, Funky Broadway, singles by The Box Tops (Cry Like A Baby, The Letter) and dozens of other hits.
After helping to invent The Sound of Philadelphia heard on hits like Love Train, Me & Mrs Jones, If You Don't Know Me By Now, Backstabbers and Elton's Philadelphia Freedom, the MFSB Rhythm Section players, led by Bobby Eli, Earl Young and Vince Montana, created a new 70's genre with dance tracks like Disco Inferno.
NYC studio greats Will Lee, Chuck Rainey, Paul Griffin, Vinny Bell, Herbie Lovelle, Hugh McCracken and David Spinozza discuss their careers and perform - with John Sebastian, (who played on dozens of sessions for other artists) providing commentary.
Along with profiles on the key players at Motown, Stax, Criteria and the studio scenes in Chicago and London - Session Men explodes some long standing myths, and celebrates these unsung heroes of popular music.
Gil Baker
Pay these men Royalties!
All of them are due production and even co-writing credits for lots of songs, but they did have the benfit of being union members unlike studio musicians today. Union scale back then was about 600 bucks a session in today's money money and the A-Teamers probably did 2-3 sessions a day. At least they were able to raise families and send kids to college doing what they loved to do--something that's all been impossible for even the most-called Nashville musicians to do for about 30 years.
We know thier game, making em wait so long for credits/Royalties hoping the musicians will forget or pass away...brutal b.stads, treat you real nice and polite then throw you crumbs when it's time to pay the bills. We have a Union here in UK..they try very hard indeed to get your dues for a small annual fee which is just 1 benefit among many.
I'm a songwriter. The Muse comes to songwriters. Most of us pay the dues, and souls are tattered and torn from being lovers in the world without any.
I spent $20,000 of my own money making my indie album. Way the business works is this is my creative product or my intellectual property. I hired a whole bunch of session people and they were real glad to get the work and to have an outlet for their creativity because many of these people are Masters at certain instruments or sometimes a few instruments. So back to the math. I spent 20 grand to make the album. I paid studio musicians about $3,000. None of them had any interest to tour or support the album so it had a band and I had an album but then 3 months later my weak pussy bandmates left me cuz I got in a fight with an asshole club promoter who was pushing me around and I pushed back. I have a box full of 950 CDs here if anybody wants one... it's a complicated business it seems like at least two of us in the thread are trying to explain it from actual real world experience. I'm very proud of my album my name is Fred Kresge the album is Varuna. All of my music has been stolen and is on TH-cam, Spotify as well as iTunes I believe... true story if I want a lawyer up it'll be about 3 Grand.
So I'm going to make a new album do proper copyright protect myself and if they steal my next album I will probably Sue or take whatever recourse I have to but usually they respond to cease and desist orders first cuz they don't want to get sued and if you do see you have to prove monetary losses and if you're shitty getting played you don't have any monetary losses even though I put 20 grand in the album...
They didn't sign up for royalties so they don't deserve them.
Next topic.
You don't understand how capitalism works. In America we get paid for a days work or we take a chance and maybe get royalties someday. Take made a choice to get paid hourly instead of possibly never getting paid.
The original “A team”. Fantastic. Sooo much talent there. 👍 Grady Martin was The man.
R.I.P The Legendary Iconic Bass Player - Bob Moore
Vince Gill said it best! I aspire to be more like those session players than anyone else!!!🙏🙏🙏
I was speaking with other long-time session and hired-gun players the other day, and we all agreed that beyond our own personal abilities to impress and such, the one thing that we did best was to make whoever we were playing with sound their best - in the studio or live, and maybe especially live because we had the ability to read the room or the crowd and play in such a way to fill in the gaps (or not) and let the artist shine. Sometimes this meant to turn on the charm and stand out a bit, or fall back and find that gentle pocket, depending on the other players' ways, the artist's strengths and weaknesses, the overall feel of the production, or of course a producer's directions.
My point being - it was all about LISTENING, and then playing to suit the situation. Might seem obvious, but we all thought this was a bit of a special talent beyond the obvious chops required for the gig. You can see some players just banging out their parts, making little effort to adapt to the gel of cohesion. Just a thought...
You are spot on! I’m a drummer, and I’ve gotten a lot of nice compliments over the years. It’s not because I’m technically that good. (I’m not - I know just enough “to be dangerous” across a variety of genres). It’s because I play to the music I’m hearing and not over it. I’ve sat in with different players over the years and the first thing most other musicians say is “Thank you! We can’t normally hear what we’re doing when our usual drummer plays!” A big part of that is I long ago stopped playing with the telephone pole sticks of my youth, and now play with nylon-tipped 7A’s so I can play with more finesse and dynamics.
That makes all the sense in the world SciFiArtMan!
Grady Martin speaking on camera? This is rarer than rare. Hell any interview of Martin is rare.
1st time I was in the studio in Nashville, Pig was there, a great man, mentor, boy was I glad he was there. I wouldn't have made it thru the session without his help!
Mark Yeary did you get to play and meet eh late Floyd Cramer loved that man loved Charlie Rich and Johnny Horton too + Johnny Gimble
Creators of masterpieces that still stand tall and always will.
Should have monuments erected to them.
Rest in peace Bobby Moore.
Loved it! And these guys don't get royalties? That''s a crime!
If you did not write it or have any publishing you only got paid for the session
Charlie McCoy was responsible for me loving and learning how to play the harmonica.. Man can he BEND a note!!
Missing from the Nashville A Team video-Harold Bradley..love all of these guys!! They are all awesome!
It 's those session men that makes the artists sound good. I don't care if the song is Mary Had A Little Lamb. It's that session man that makes the artists sound good. I have done session work myself.
Im in awe to think of just how many lives these good ol boys touched. So much talent So much history
The groove from 6:56 out is just tooooooo much. That's music, and they knew how to make the place rock or cry.
That's the Memphis Boys, Gene Chrisman (drums), Mike Leech (bass), Reggie Young (guitar), Bobby Emmons (keys) and Bobby Wood (keys). Look them up... tons of hits and yes, laid down some of the tightest and sweetest grooves in the studio OR live. They were the default band in Chips Moman's American Sound Studios.
Immediately just cookin!
@@micksypickxen2386 And the LA crew with Glen Campbell, Joe Osborn, Hal Blaine, Don Randi. And the boys in Muscle Shoals - Jimmy Johnson, Barry Beckett, Roger Hawkins, Pete Carr. And Earl Palmer, Carol Kaye, and others I have missed. And Nashville, of course. The cream of the crop all the way around.
Mind they’re strictly rhythm, don’t wanna make it cry or sing.
Oh also muscle shoals rhythm section. Roger Hawkins especially. You’ve got Booker T and MG’s on Stax Records. I would say Al Jackson, Jr and Donald “Duck” Dunn may be the best rhythm section ever if it weren’t for Motown Records Funk bros who had Benny Benjamin and James Jamerson, two geniuses who both happened to have basically the same first and last names. But yeah Buddy Harman is amazing. Also back before you had session musicians as we now know it, there was SP Leary , Sam Lay, and other blues players whose names currently escape me. I think the best way to learn music is to learn from the session musicians. Even in Jazz, don’t get me started on that, lol.
If you love this music like I do, then you've got to appreciate these behind the scenes looks at how our favorites were made, right?!
When the drummer did the pickup lick
I new immediately that he’s the man!
Just went to the CM hall of fame and saw a little exhibit on these guys.. so glad you uploaded this video. I will defiantly be sharing this.
True musicians. Lots of respect.
Brenda Lee is an absolute DIVA.
...and a dream to work with.
The sound behind the singers. This is what gave it the rise along with The Jordanaires and Anita Kerr Singers it was a whole sound. Brilliant!
Love that funky little instrumental at the end of this video.
Hank Garland was definitely part of the A team in Nashville.
loved Buddy Harmon their old time drummer., and the late Floyd Crammer
Kramer.
I can totally appreciate what these men have contributed I only hope the future generations will keep it going music is a lot like I don't know I just know how I feel
Some of my musical heroes!
Great teamwork and talent with respect
Nowadays music is done on computers it's a synthetic form it saddens me music has a soul I only hope it isn't dying
Man, listening to Patsy sing "Crazy", you didn't need a loud noise or a lot of busy in the background--the musicians just let her go and her incredible voice just saturates the entire studio. You know there's music backing her up, but they were wise to let it slowly, quietly marinate so as not to upstage her in any way. That's being a pro. Her voice just MELTS you.
Thank you very much! Legendary musicians. Even Bob Dylan came here to record. Although he's from a very different place. He did many songs with Johnny Cash. But only one reached the final album. Girl from the north country.
Gil Baker is the coolest. He recognized the shameful injustice dealt these brilliant musicians before the musicians themselves realized what had happened.
+Kittra Moore Thanks, Kittra. Your husband, Bob Moore was among the most brilliant. Bob knew precisely what note, and exactly how to play it. 40,000 sessions. Hundreds of hits. Genius.
The out credits video includes Memphis, Muscle Shoals and LA stalwarts as well.
A time past and gone forever.
RESPECT.
Los Angeles: The Wrecking Crew.
Motown: The Funk Brothers.
Nashville: The A Team.
Muscle Shoals: The Swampers.
Am I missing anyone?
Yes, Memphis American Sound Studio.
Stax Studio Band - Booker T. and the M.G.'s plus Isaac Hayes, David Porter, as well as the Memphis Horns (see below) Also, the studio band at Hi Records - The Hodges Brothers (Charles, organ; Leroy, bass; Mabon "Teenie", guitar), Howard Grimes or Al Jackson, drums, plus the Memphis Horns - Andrew Love (saxophone) and Wayne Jackson (trumpet). Also, you have the boys down at American Studios and the Dixie Flyers as well.
There was a London scene too with cats like Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, Bobby Graham, John McLaughlin, Big Jim Sullivan, Nicky Hopkins, to name a few.
Atlanta Rhythm Section
The Meters !
My Mom worked for Dinah Shore for a long while off and on and I remember when those 'Nashville Cats' showed up. People set up in their chairs.
Loved the jam at the end.
LOVE.
HI,
i am not a musician but i love watching this stuff! nice to get behind the scenes!
Epic
What would these artists sound like without great session musicianship?...shit, that what they would sound like.
These are the Men! WooF!!
Such good team work too!
Nothing beats a good team!
Hey guys! I know this is kinda late but my great grandmother was Johnny MacRae’s wife Marge Barton and she wrote a many songs with Both. She was great friends with George Jones and I met him as a child. I was born in ‘91 and learned about all these greats growing up until she passed in 2002. PLEASE do a small cover on her. Thanks
I agree about royalties, not always fair. Tommy Tedesco spoke of getting royalties, and that's because he was associated with the Musician's Union in LA, who had a strong presence in the area. I believe that was more for his TV/film work than his Wrecking Crew sessions. Betting that was Union scale, like in Nashville.
Magic happens when these guys are in front of their microphones..
Great video of THE legends of recording. One thing I’ve never understood is why unionization got intermingled with creating art. The industry worked those guys like plow mules…whilst they just wanted to play.
When watching Carson I would pay close attention to The NBC Orchestra. Quite often, "Here's the music" and they would play that one set.
Buddy Rich, Don Lanphere, Reggie Young....
So many I'm leaving out.
I saw Brenda Lee in one of those really cheesy Rock & Roll movies around 57' or 58'. Which put her at 13, and me around.6 or 7 years old. I fell in love with the "older woman". Lol! I.mean, we were the same height....... 😅😅😀
..... Peace.
..
"Walkin' After Midnight" the film stopped before it got to the great Hank Garland. No mention of Hank Garland because he was so good he pissed off all the others.
Owen Bradley invented the Nashville sound. Listen to Cocaine and Rhinestones!
Owen Bradley was also a respectable musician, and a very underrated keyboardist. According to the AFM session logs, Owen Bradley played the piano on Patsy Cline's "Walkin' After Midnight", and played the organ on "Crazy" (Floyd Cramer played piano part on that song) also by Patsy Cline.
Plus Chet Atkins, RCA.
The hero's in the background
Can't believe these musicians were payed hourly. They were the reason the songs existed and became hits! Hell they should've been paid royalties. Hell just a penny wouldve made them rich. I mean its insane to think about everyone gets royalties except the guys that actually make the song listenable. Just absolutely crazy! I hope this gets straightened out and their paid substantially better now. I mean what would happen if they all went on strike and no musician would play unless they got royalties and hourly wage? There would be no music. Obviously the bands that play their own music would make money because they all get royalties. But these session guys are huge and some of them become actual artists. But man I'm so mad that they don't get their due.
Great video, but I’m not sure why there was footage of LA’s Wrecking Crew in a video about Nashville’s A-team.
RIP-Glen Campbell.
Just listen to Little Sister, Witchcraft & I Feel So Bad by Elvis and Poetry in Motion by Johnny Tillotson to hear how these guys made records with unmatched power and swing....nobody played like these greats!
SERVE THE SONG!
RIP Bob Moore ! Is there a full length interview of this Nashville A-team somewhere ?
I've always loved music. If I could hit reset on my life I would have taken music and band more seriously. But alas, I'm no virtuoso like these guys. I did notice when I bought my first electric guitar (and got introduced to a good friend that coupled pot with jamming on guitars) an entire world unfolded for me. Getting good and stoned seems to open the floodgates musically.
Nashville had more than 1 A-Team
Starday had Floyd Cramer, Billy Linneman, DJ Fontana, Tommy Williams, Jimmy Day, Bobby Caldwell, and others who played for Webb Pierce, Red Sovine, George Jones, Goldy Hill, and Dotty West.
Pete Drake.
Any and all studio musicians should get royalties as well as the artist , without them , you have no artist !!
That is not true. The flesh out the artist but many true artists can play stripped down w/o them. Dylan, Paul Simon etc. And how many records do they play on that go nowhere? If they were just given royalties they'd go hungry hunting for that hit. If they didn't like the setup they'd be solo artists too.
In Canada, we have neighboring rights...and musicians do get royalties.
Greed, Pay'n 15 bucks/hour. These guys shoulda got together on their own why people don't think like this.????
Grady actually had his own band and recorded for Decca, so i think he might have had a little more material freedom
Great stuff! What was the play out tune (just a little chord progression jam?). Did Billy Sanford come into the studio to record Pretty Woman? I really enjoyed his work with Don Williams in the later years.
If this is all about the Nashville "A-Team", why towards the end are there interspersed clips of the Westcoast's "Wrecking Crew" Glenn Campbell and Carol Kaye are the dead giveaway playing together...
Another great video. If I could vote I would vote that musicians (the very foundation that the singer stands on) should get royalties.
She got the gold mine, they get the shaft.
This is how it's SUPPOSED to be ya'll! Been there---done that---with the best!! Nashville sucks today.
What's the name of this documentary and is it available on TH-cam?Thanks for any information.
What about Lloyd Green he is left out as well. Most recorded steel player on session's.
I was going to say that too. From Paul Mcartney, to a few of his own albums. Reggie Young too.
Bob and Buddy with James Burton and Kenny Lovelace backing Jerry Lee Lewis in 1984 live. The best concert I've ever seen. They were so tight and Jerry had NO set list!
Now in Nashville we’ve got 20 people that can knock it out, so if you can’t make it on guitar, I’ll call Brent Mason lol or ask Gary Prim to line them up or Kelly Back.?
Criminal they never got royalties.
is that the rightest band in the universe? Which only could be matched by Motown's Funk Brothers?
Sneaking in some closing video of Chips Moman’s Memphis Boys under a Nashville banner! Shame. 🤣 Although Reggie did find a home in Nashville.
How about Henry Strzelecki on bass? He was left out... played with all these side men.
Henry played on 64 tour of norway sweden with Jim Reeves .
@@michaelterry4394With Kenny Buttrey on drums.
Right on the money ! A historian well versed .
Pete Drake was part of the A team.
Pete's a great pedal steel player. The A Team was a rhythm section. Don't know whether Pete would have considered himself a rhythm section player, or s specialist who did a ton of overdubs and solos on huge records.
Just wondered why he wasn't mentioned.
Because the musicians in the film mostly talked about their own work with major artists and producers, and not the work of other studio musicians.
Fair enough, but they did mention players who weren't present. I just thought I'd mention Pete Drake who probably did more sessions than all the other pedal steel players put together in the 60s.
These are great videos, good to hear the great musicians talking like this.
Was the A-Team and the Wrecking Crew the same or 2 different units using the same musicians?
They don’t because they got screwed. They all loved playing so much 😎 would have almost paid to play. ⚓️
It's a shame they left out Hank Garland.
+jebesi - yes and Nashville sound without Chet Atkins? something is being left out here. mosrite60
Hank was to sick to be interviewed when Session Men was shot in 1997.
Chet was "too busy" to be interviewed for Session Men.
And Billy Grammer.
was hank strzelecki too sick? whoops dead? i mean too busy being dead to be mentioned. sorry my bad.
So basically my favorite songs were all the same musicians either the A team or the swampers
Was Carol Kaye in this group?
She was in "The Wrecking Crew". Bob Moore was the principal bassist for "The Nashville A-Team". Fellow Wrecking Crew bassist Joe Osborn later joined the A-Team, and while *not* technically members of the A-Team, Norbert Putnam and Michael Rhodes were very popular session bassists in the Nashville recording scene.
@@kevingavigan7883 These stories fascinate me, the production stories that led to these great songs.
what exactly are these clips from? is this available, id there a title?
who played that lead on pretty woman?
Billy Sanford.
I can't believe that musicians don't receive royalties in the United States or England. Smaller, poorer, capitalist countries pay royalties to their musicians. It's called performance royalties and you just go to the organization with a record that has your name in the credits.
what about Hank Garland ?????
sadly studeo bands don't get the money or the recognition they deserve ps did Buddy play on the Johnny Horton sessions?
Yes
@@connorm955 ok thanks
One has performance rights if your performance is documented or recorded and you should copyright them. But, an employee of the label has few rights.
i heard the LA session people earnt heaps for there work
The Session Men (and women) in LA were compensated as well, or better than, the players in other places. Union stewards in LA, NY and Nashville protected the musicians by keeping good records, and an eye on the clock. But in Memphis and Muscle Shoals, the players could spend all day perfecting one track, and receive only a single session fee - of roughly $65.
I did many sessions in L.A....most were 4 song s in 3 hr. sessions...and scale.. once in a while ..double scale....I always had lots of respect for the 'Nashville players..'!
Some really great musicians (artists). I think if you play on a record, you should get a royalty if it makes money, just like the singer and the songwriter. Seems only fair.
Some get paid very very well. Better than the artist if the song doesn't sell. Its work for hire.
Ha!
Aptly named.
Wasn't Billy Grammer in there?
Hank Garland....
I think I subconsciously learned more about music from listening to Dylan'' " Nashville Skyline Rag " album before I even began to play all the instruments I mastered. How simply and tastefully they backed the songs up. Unfortunately it's not how good you play it's how well you fit in and be an " ass-kisser ". Otherwise I'd of been rich and famous 40 years ago. Arts got nothing to do with the music world. It's run by the Mafia and the Drug Cartels. It always has been and always will be.
The album is called 'Nashville Skyline' not sure where the rag comes from.
Can someone tell me the song at 1:27 ?
That was Patsy Cline - Break it to me gently
@@irisheyes5890 No, that's Brenda Lee.
For the amount of money that the executives stole, I mean made off of these musicians, there should be something in their Christmas stockings for years to come.
the players were the real talent and should have been paid accordingly. It's all moot now, not a lot of recording anymore
Re: royalties. The artist/singer gets nothing if the record doesn't sell. The session players always get paid. Choose royalties or take home pay.
Agree.
But in the off-chance a song becomes a major hit the royalties would probably add up to more than an entire year of 'take home' pay.
Oh bullshit
I guess studio time is too expensive to have the actual band wasting time trying to get it right. Get in get it done get out. Thank you boys here's $300.
And 16,000 X $300.00=4,800,000. May not be star money but back in the 50s, 60s, 70s, that was a he'll of a lot of money.
Musicians don’t get royalties?! WTF 🤬 was that statement....Anyone know if that’s still true?
Yes it’s still true. A great example is Jonny Hiland as well as Brent mason. Even though they are endorsed now, but when they are in the studio recording for another artist it is still union scale. Absolutely ridiculous if you ask me.