Sweet Gifts of Recall

The Ken Burns documentary Country Music was great again last evening. I noticed a couple of tidbits. In one segment concerning Patsy Cline, there was a brief snap of a recording session and down in the left corner sat Hank Garland. Yes, the legendary Hank Garland. He was a star session guitarist turned soloist who was also setting the jazz world on fire just as a tragic automobile accident disabled and silenced him Here’s one of few clips of him, here playing a song developed from a fingering exercise that he turned into “Sugarfoot Rag,” earning him the nickname Hank “Sugarfoot” Garland. Somewhere along the line, they put words to it and Red Foley turned it into a big hit.

Next, here’s a few miscellaneous scenes, including a session with a Patsy Cline. Finally a recording featuring some shots of him as an older man. They say that, late in life and years after his accident, he could play some once more. Check out Jazz Winds in a New Direction for an album that was setting the music world afire in 1961 just as his music stopped.

The other quick segment mentioned Merle Travis. I’m sure they’ll return to him. If they don’t, the whole effort will suffer. They mentioned that he was a West Coast session player. What they they didn’t mention was his stint with Gene Autry. Here’s one of my favorite bits as Merle lights up an old standard, Dixie Cannonball, (usually performed at a maddeningly slow tempo). Not here though.

You might gather that the show is causing me to remember things. Music does that. When my late mother-in-law was in the latter stages of severe dementia and couldn’t remember even how to walk, she would immediately recognize this one. What I say is … let’s have more Willie and less war.

Oh my …