Charlie McCoy

Charlie McCoy
Background information
Birth name	Charles Ray McCoy
Born	March 28, 1941 (1941-03-28) (age 68)
Origin	Oak Hill, West Virginia, USA
Genres	Country
Occupations	Singer
Instruments	Vocals, harmonica, guitar, bass guitar
Years active	1961-present?
Labels	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 moved to nearby Fayetteville when he was a boy and then to Miami, Florida. At age eight, he began playing the harmonica and the guitar and later, in his teens, he also learned to play the bass and trumpet. In high school in Miami his skills had developed to such an extent that he decided to pursue a career in music. He joined a local rock and roll band as guitarist and singer. When he was sixteen years old he reluctantly accompanied a friend to visit a country barn dance radio show in Miami called the "Old South Jamboree". Upon their arrival, McCoy's friend left him in the crowd and went to talk to Happy Harold, the host of the show, with the intention of coaxing McCoy up on stage to sing. McCoy's performance that night, along with the positive response from the show's audience, led to him and his rock band being signed to the Old South Jamboree. His band consisted of Donny Young, later known as Johnny Paycheck, on bass; Bill Johnson on steel-guitar; Charlie Justice on guitar; and Bill Phillips, vocal. About this time the band took part in a local rock and roll contest winning first prize. Following an invitation from Mel Tillis, the eighteen-year-old McCoy went to Nashville, Tennessee for a week's stay in 1959. During his stay in Nashville he visited numerous producers and record companies but all to no avail. Since his efforts to start a musical career in Nashville had failed he went back to Miami. He enrolled at the Miami University majoring in musical education. His goal was now to become a teacher. Meanwhile he continued to perform on the "Jamboree". When Miami faculty members discovered that he was playing rock and roll for a square dance they warned him to continue with this "lower forms of music". McCoy replied that he was willing to quit his work at the barn dance if they would give him a scholarship. The faculty rejected his request.^[1]

McCoy, who still wanted to make a career in music, applied for the vacant job as guitarist in John Ferguson's band. But when he arrived in Nashville, due to some misunderstanding, his job was already taken by guitarist Vance Bullock. After a short discussion Ferguson decided to hire McCoy as a drummer instead. McCoy bought a drum set and joined the band. John Ferguson's band was unsuccessful and shortly they disbanded.^[2] After a month of unemployment he joined Stonewall Jackson as a drummer. The job came to an end in the autumn that year. Then he received a call from the booking agent Jim Denney who informed him that Archie Bleyer of Cadence Records had listened to McCoy's tapes and wanted to sign him. McCoy cut his first single for the Cadence label and "Cherri Berri Wine" reached #99 in the Billboard chart. In Nashville, Denney gave him the advice to do demo sessions and to concentrate on the harmonica. Next, McCoy joined Wayne Moss as a bass player performing at Fort Campbell in Kentucky.^[3]

Chet Atkins heard one of McCoy's demo tapes and immediately hired him in May 1961. Thus, his first recording as a harmonica player was on a song, "I Just Don't Understand", by Ann-Margaret for RCA.^[4] Fred Foster of Monument Records also heard about McCoy and hired him as harmonica player on Roy Orbison's song "Candy Man". It became a million-seller. McCoy's reputation as harmonica player and studio musician increased. McCoy continued to record for the Monument label without a written contract. Although some of his singles and albums at this time did not sell, Foster believed in McCoy's music.^[5] Tex Davis, the promotion manager of Monument Records, was persuaded by Charlie Dillard of WPFA to release "Today I Started Loving You Again" as a single. It had previously been released on McCoy's second LP. When the single came out in 1972 it sold 750 000 copies.^[6] The single went to #16 in the Billboard country charts.^[7] For his next album, "The Real McCoy", he won a grammy from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. His album "Good Time Charlie" reached #1 in the Billboard country chart. In the 1970s, McCoy, as a studio musician, took part in more than 400 sessions a year.^[8]

From there, he went on to play harmonica for other acts, Elvis Presley, Perry Como, Joan Baez, Johnny Cash, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Kris Kristofferson, Paul Simon, Ringo Starr, Barefoot Jerry and Ween.^[7] 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.

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.^[9]

Discography

Albums

Singles

• ^APeaked at #1 on Bubbling Under Hot 100.

Footnotes

References

• Kosser, Michael (2006), How Nashville Became Music City U.S.A: 50 Years of Music Row, Hal Leonard Corp.