Charlie McCoy

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Charlie McCoy
Background information
Birth name	Charles Ray McCoy
Born	March 28, 1941 (1941-03-28) (age 68)
Origin	Oak Hill, West Virginia, USA
Genre(s)	Country
Occupation(s)	Singer
Instrument(s)	Vocals, harmonica, guitar, bass guitar
Years active	1961-present?
Label(s)	Monument, Step One, Koch
Associated acts	Bob Dylan, Area Code 615, Barefoot Jerry, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash

Charles "Charlie" Ray McCoy (born March 28, 1941 in Oak Hill, West Virginia) is an American musician noted for his harmonica playing. In his career, McCoy has backed several notable musicians including Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley. He has also recorded eighteen studio albums, including fourteen for Monument Records. Thirteen of his singles have entered the Billboard country charts. He was a member of Area Code 615 and Barefoot Jerry.

Biography

Born Charles Ray McCoy, his family left West Virginia when he was a boy to live in Miami, Florida. At age eight, he began playing the harmonica, developing his skills to where he decided to pursue a career in music. In 1959, the eighteen-year-old McCoy moved to Nashville, Tennessee. When he could not find work as a musician, he returned to his hometown and took vocal lessons. His first cut as a haromica player was on Roy Orbison's 1961 song "Candy Man". From there, he went on to play harmonica for other acts, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Paul Simon, Ringo Starr, Barefoot Jerry and Ween. ^[1]

He also played guitar on Dylan's "Desolation Row", from the album Highway 61 Revisited, and "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands", from the album Blonde on Blonde,) bass guitar (on all the tracks from Bob Dylan's John Wesley Harding,) keyboards, and drums plus on several wind and brass instruments. For 19 years McCoy worked as music director for the popular television show, Hee Haw, and was a member of the Million Dollar Band. In 1973 he won the Grammy Award for Best Country Instrumental Performance for his album "Charlie McCoy/The Real McCoy."^[2] His solo career also produced several chart singles, including "Today I Started Loving You Again", a #16 on the Billboard country charts.^[1]

On February 4, 2009, it was announced that Charlie will be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame along with Roy Clark and Barbara Mandrell.^[3]

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

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