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Thread started 06/29/16 1:41am

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R.I.P. Scotty Moore

Guitarist Scotty Moore has passed. He was most noted forhis work with Elvis Presley.

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Reply #1 posted 06/29/16 7:08am

JoeBala

No way. sad I guess it just happened. RIP to one of the best.

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Reply #2 posted 06/29/16 7:19am

JoeBala

From left, Scotty Moore, Elvis Presley and Bill Black in 1957.CreditAssociated Press

Scotty Moore, a guitarist whose terse, bluesy licks on Elvis Presley’s early hits virtually created the rockabilly guitar style and established the guitar as a lead instrument in rock ’n’ roll, died on Tuesday at his home outside Nashville. He was 84.

His death was confirmed by James L. Dickerson, who was Mr. Moore’s biographer and friend.

In 1954, Mr. Moore was performing with a country group, Doug Poindexter and the Starlite Wranglers, and recording at Sun Records in Memphis when Sam Phillips, the label’s owner, asked him to audition a young singer that his secretary kept mentioning.

On July 4, Presley showed up at Mr. Moore’s house. Bill Black, the bass player for the Starlite Wranglers, arrived soon after, and the three men began running through a random selection of songs. Mr. Moore was not overly impressed but told Phillips that the young fellow had a nice voice and might be worth a try.

The next evening, at Sun studio, the trio recorded an up-tempo version of “That’s All Right,” a blues song by Arthur Crudup, known as Big Boy, that Sun released with a rockabilly version of “Blue Moon of Kentucky” on the flip side.

The record caught fire locally, and Presley was on his way, electrifying audiences with a new sound defined in large part by Mr. Moore, whose slashing chords, inserted like musical punctuation, and hard-driving solos inspired future rock guitarists around the world, including Keith Richards, George Harrison, Jeff Beck, Mark Knopfler and Chris Isaak.

“All I wanted to do in the world was to be able to play and sound like that,” Mr. Richards told Mr. Dickerson, who helped Mr. Moore write the 1997 memoir “That’s Alright, Elvis.” He added: “Everyone else wanted to be Elvis. I wanted to be Scotty.”

Mr. Moore and Mr. Black, joined by the drummer D. J. Fontana in 1955, recorded more than 300 songs with Presley for Sun and RCA, including “Heartbreak Hotel,” “Don’t Be Cruel” and “Hound Dog.” Billed as the Blue Moon Boys, they backed him on tour, and they appeared in several of his films.

“Moore’s concise, aggressive runs mixed country picking and blues phrasing into a new instrumental language,” Rolling Stone wrote in 2011, ranking Mr. Moore as No. 29 on its list of the 100 greatest guitaristsof all time. “The playing was so forceful that it’s easy to forget there was no drummer. If Moore had done nothing but the 18 Sun recordings — including ‘Mystery Train’ and ‘Good Rockin’ Tonight’ — his place in history would be assured. But he continued to play with Elvis, contributing the scorching solos to ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ and ‘Hound Dog.’”

Winfield Scott Moore III was born on Dec. 27, 1931, on a farm near Gadsden, Tenn. He started playing the guitar at 8, and over the years developed a style that incorporated country, blues and jazz. Mr. Moore was particularly fond of the guitarists Tal Farlow and George Barnes.

Photo
Scotty Moore in 2004. CreditMike Brown/Getty Images

"All I can tell you is I just stole from every guitar player I heard over the years,” Mr. Moore told the makers of the television documentary “Elvis Presley ” in 2001. “Put it in my databank. And when I played, that’s just what come out."

At 16, he enlisted in the Navy, lying about his age, and served in the Pacific. After leaving the service, he went to work as a hatter at his brother’s dry-cleaning business and organized the Starlite Wranglers, who recorded one of his songs at Sun, “My Kind of Carryin’ On,” when he and Presley crossed paths.

Presley developed a strong musical rapport with his three sidemen and was personally close to Mr. Moore, who played the role of a protective older brother. “I tried to play around the singer,” Mr. Moore told Mr. Dickerson. “If Elvis was singing a song a certain way, there was no point in me trying to top him on what he just did. The idea was to play something that went the other way — a counterpoint.”

When Presley went into the Army in 1958, Mr. Moore became a partner in Fernwood Records, which released a Top 10 hit in 1959, the teen tear-jerker “Tragedy,” by Thomas Wayne.

For a time, he supervised operations at Phillips’s studios in Memphis and Nashville, but he was fired by Phillips in 1964 after he recorded “The Guitar That Changed the World,” an album on the Epic label made up of instrumental versions of Presley hits. He later made a career as a freelance studio engineer, working with Dolly Parton, Tracy Nelson, Ringo Starr and other artists.

Like his fellow sidemen, Mr. Moore, who served as Presley’s manager until 1955, never enjoyed the financial rewards of the Presley phenomenon. The Blue Moon Boys were paid a weekly salary of $200 when they toured, and $100 week when they were idle.

All told, Mr. Moore earned a little over $30,000 from his partnership with Presley, which came to an end after the 1968 special on NBC that reintroduced Presley to a new generation of listeners and revived his career.

Mr. Moore, left out of the equation when Presley embarked on the Las Vegas phase of his career, put away his guitar and barely touched it for nearly 25 years. In the early 1990s, after a tape-recording business he established in 1976 went bankrupt, he began recording and touring again, initially with Carl Perkins, and later with performers who had been influenced by his playing.

Mr. Moore, who lived in Nashville, was married and divorced three times. He is survived by a son, Donald; four daughters, Linda, Andrea, Vikki Hein and Tasha; and several grandchildren. “Scotty and Elvis: Aboard the Mystery Train,” a revised and updated version of his 1997 memoir, was published by the University Press of Mississippi in 2013.

Throughout his life, Mr. Moore gave a modest account of the momentous Sun sessions with Presley. “We didn’t know we were trying to create something new,” he told The New York Times in 1997. “We were trying to do something with a little different angle from what was on the market.”

Elvis Presley's pioneering rock and roll guitarist Scotty Moore dies aged 84

Elvis Presley's guitarist Scotty Moore has died at the age of 84 after months of ill health.

The rock and roll pioneer died on Tuesday in Nashville, according to Memphis newspaper the Commercial Appeal.

He is most famous for backing The King during first part of his career, 1954 until the beginning of his Hollywood years.

The King's Guitar Man: Elvis Presley's pioneering rock and roll guitarist Scotty Moore died Tuesday aged 84

The King's Guitar Man: Elvis Presley's pioneering rock and roll guitarist Scotty Moore died Tuesday aged 84

Indeed he played on what are arguably Elvis' most influential records, including his first hit That's All Right, as well Heartbreak Hotel and Hound Dog.

Matt Ross-Sprang, an engineer at the Sun Studio in Memphis where the music icon recorded his beloved early tracks, said: 'We lost one of the finest people I have ever met today.

'The guitarist that changed the world ... especially mine; I hope you don't mind if I keep stealing your licks.'

Moore, who was born in Gadsen, Tennessee, and began playing the guitar at age eight, was recruited for Presley's Blue Moon Boys band by legendary producer Sam Phillips in 1954.

Influential: Scotty, here in 2002, played on Elvis' best loved records, including Heartbreak Hotel and Hound Dog

Influential: Scotty, here in 2002, played on Elvis' best loved records, including Heartbreak Hotel and Hound Dog

This was the unit, which also included bassist Bill Black and drummer DJ Fontana, that backed Elvis as he recorded the tunes that earned him the title the King of Rock 'n' Roll.

Jerry Phillips, younger son of Elvis producer and Sun founder Sam Phillips, previously said: 'Elvis Presley wouldn't have been Elvis Presley without Scotty Moore. I think my dad would agree with that.

'You gotta remember, there were only three instruments on those things. Scotty, Bill (Black) and Elvis. Scotty really just made everything work.'

Right hand man: He was part of The King's Blue Moon Boys band along with Bill Black

Right hand man: He was part of The King's Blue Moon Boys band along with Bill Black

Services were scheduled for Thursday in Humboldt, Tennessee, for Moore, who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000.

His influential career seen him showered with accolades, including being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000 and the Memphis Music Hall of Fame in 2015.

He was also ranked 29th in Rolling Stone's list of 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.

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Reply #3 posted 06/29/16 8:41am

jjhunsecker

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A great guitar player. You can practically dance to his guitar solos !

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Reply #4 posted 06/30/16 10:29pm

PeteSilas

no telling how much different elvis' music would have been without him. been meaning to get his books which look excellent when I skimmed through them.

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Reply #5 posted 06/30/16 10:30pm

PeteSilas

and he lived exactly twice as long as the King.

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Reply #6 posted 07/01/16 12:54am

thetimefan

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RIP Scotty sad shame that he and Bill didn't record more with Elvis as those guys worked really well together and much of the punch of EPs earlier records weren't the same without them driving the beat. Scotty was an integral part of Elvises sound in the beginning and really should have continued as the Kings lead guitarist with Billy on bass. With DJ Fontana on drums you got a tight unit there with Elvis on lead. Why the Colonel didn't keep that nucleus together ill never know because it would have saved on studio musicians but I guess he wanted Elvis to branch out from rock and roll, but along with Gospel I think those two genres were what the King excelled at.
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Reply #7 posted 07/01/16 1:01am

PeteSilas

the vintage elvis had scotty's guitar sound all over it. all the sun sessions and all the early rca hits were the real elvis presley. event later, james burton, presley's guitarist was only playing an updated version of what scotty did. I've learned several of his sun sessions adapted to piano, how those guys did those songs in some cases, in one or two takes is just mind boggling. those old country boys, the guys who just had such natural talent that it seeped from their fingertips, are of a bygone era.

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Reply #8 posted 07/01/16 10:05pm

HuMpThAnG

rose

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Reply #9 posted 07/01/16 10:13pm

Goddess4Real

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He was a legend RIP wilted

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Reply #10 posted 07/04/16 7:59am

JoeBala

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Reply #11 posted 07/16/16 7:09am

JoeBala

Scotty Moore: 1931-2016


image

Sam Phillips always said that Scotty may have been the most honest man he ever met. That was as high a compliment as Sam could bestow. In fact, Sam almost went on to imply, if it came down to a choice between Scotty’s version of a story and his own, choose Scotty’s! Now don’t get me wrong – Sam never actually said that. But that was how much he thought of Scotty. And he wasn’t just talking about facts – he was talking about character.

That was one of the main reasons he put Scotty together with Elvis in the first place. Elvis was nineteen, Scotty was twenty-two, and Elvis referred to him as “the Old Man” almost from the start. Scotty was always the one to provide a calming influence, even as all hell was busting loose around them in new and unpredictable ways.

But it wasn’t just a matter of temperament. His easy-going manner could not fully disguise the depth of his intellect or musical ambition. Of all the artists who found their way to Sam’s studio, Scotty was the one to whom Sam most readily revealed his vision of the future. They started meeting at Taylor’s Restaurant three or four afternoons a week, when Scotty was trying to get his own hillbilly group, the Starlite Wranglers, recorded, several months before Elvis Presley entered the picture. “By doing the record I became pretty good friends with Sam. He knew there was a crossover coming. He foresaw it, and practically every day after work [Scotty worked as a hatter at his brothers’ dry-cleaning business, which left his afternoons free] I would drift by the studio, and we would sit there over coffee at Miss Taylor’s Café and say to each other, ‘What is it? How can we do it?’”

There were times when I first met Scotty in 1976, when I wasn’t sure that he could even be lured into a conversation, let alone an interview. He was forty-four years old, and as proud as he was of his historic contributions and accomplishments, he had little interest in dwelling on them. He had his own friends, his own enthusiasms, his own tape-duplicating business, his own life. Why should he live in the past? In fact, were it not for the help of Gail Pollock, his employee at the time and devoted companion until her death in the fall of 2015, I’m not sure if he ever would have entertained the idea of doing a full-length interview, let alone a succession of them over a period of more than twenty years. But Gail persuaded him that I had a good track record (she checked) and an honest face (we soon became good friends, all three of us). And once he started to talk, once he agreed to start scrutinizing the past, he gave it his full attention, just as he did with any of the endeavors upon which he seriously embarked: his guitar playing, his engineering, his producing –well, let me take it several steps further, just the whole manner in which he conducted his life.

“Ooh, you’re making my brain hurt,” he would say when we really got into it some years later, after I had started my Elvis biography. But he never dismissed any line of inquiry, no matter how far afield it might seem (or actually be); he took every question seriously and always provided the facts as he knew them, or, upon consideration, as he came to understand them. He never exaggerated his role, he never fabricated a connection, he never answered a question when he didn’t know the answer – he just gave the matter his careful, considered attention.

I hope it doesn’t sound like I’m making Scotty out to be some kind of brooding introvert. Nothing could be further from the truth. I mean, there are introverts, and there are introverts. Someone like Sam Phillips, for example, for all of the brilliant extroversion of his work, was at heart a solitary figure. But Scotty loved to have fun – there was no question about it, there was no piety about it, there was certainly never any boastfulness about it, but there was never any doubt that Scotty in his own quiet way – sometimes with a soft chuckle where from others you might expect a loud guffaw – always had a good time. It was no different from the day we first met: Scotty valued his life, he valued his music, above all he valued his friends.

Guitar players of every generation since rock began have studied and memorized Scotty’s licks, even when Scotty himself couldn’t duplicate them afterwards. (“It was all feel,” Scotty said of the early RCA sessions. “On 'Too Much’ we just got lost, but somehow or another we finally recovered!”) He lived long enough to see himself sought out and celebrated by rock icons from Keith Richards to Bruce Springsteen to Paul McCartney. Those tributes, both genuine and personal, certainly meant a lot to him. But I’m not sure if it wasn’t the informal “thumb-picking” sessions with old friends like Chip Young and Thom Bresh (maybe with Tracy Nelson singing!) that didn’t give him the most satisfaction.

He remained to the end a deeply thoughtful, deeply modest man with a twinkling manner and a dry sense of humor (“Very dry,” Scotty would say), whose intentions were to celebrate the moment, place no faith in the business part of the music business, and always maintain the kind of informal convivialities that make life worth living. I never saw Scotty seek out a public moment, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen him happier than he was at his 80th birthday party at the Gibson Beale Street Showcase in Memphis (see accompanying photograph). There, in a packed room full of family and friends, for a moment the private became public, and despite a number of offers to see him back to his hotel room, Scotty stayed well into the early hours of the morning, when the party was finally over. That’s the way I like to remember Scotty – well, I like to remember him in so many ways – but always as a man surrounded by friends, happily enjoying not the limelight but a lifetime of shared experiences.

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