Jerry Glenn Kennedy, a 13-year-old who recorded for RCA Victor as “Jerry Glenn,” acquired the shock of his younger life when he walked right into a Nashville recording studio in September of 1953. • There, among the many studio band employed to accompany him, was his final guitar idol – Chet Atkins. “Once I noticed him, I froze up,” he laughs.

Eight years later, Kennedy started making his personal historical past as a member of Nashville’s A-Group, its elite squad of first-call session musicians. Over the following three many years, his electrical guitar and Dobro graced numerous rock, nation, and R&B information, alongside the best way serving to quite a lot of attain #1.

Enjoying classes, nevertheless, was solely a part of his story. As Mercury Information’ head Nashville producer from 1962 to ’84, Kennedy crafted a few of Nashville’s most-enduring recordings by everybody from Roger Miller to Charlie Wealthy, Jerry Lee Lewis to Reba McEntire.

Marty Stuart, a longtime admirer and nation historian, agrees.

“Jerry is really one of many lead architects within the creation of the Nashville sound. He performed the hound-dog dobro on Jeannie C. Riley’s ‘Harper Valley PTA’ and on a lot of Tom T. Corridor’s most-iconic songs, and he someway navigated Jerry Lee Lewis by a decade of classes that resulted in a number of the biggest nation music that has ever been made. And that’s simply the tip of the iceberg.

“There’s nobody else on earth who can boast of such issues. Any of these feats qualifies him for any and all Halls of Fame.”

Shreveport, Louisiana, was the place to begin. Born there in 1940, Kennedy grew up in a musical melting pot the place nation, blues, R&B and Cajun sounds blended freely. His mother, Essie, was a rustic fan, his dad, Gordon, a deputy sheriff, sang at funerals and weddings.

Shreveport’s KWKH radio additionally formed his future. At 4, Kennedy found his first musical hero – the station’s nation singer, Harmie Smith. “I liked the sound of his guitar,” he remembers. A number of years later, his mother and father purchased a Silvertone guitar he calls, “…an actual piece of junk hangin’ round my neck, but it surely was sufficient to get me .” A Concord Gene Autry mannequin quickly adopted.

In 1948, KWKH debuted the Saturday night time “Louisiana Hayride” present, modeled on the Grand Ole Opry. Later nicknamed “Cradle of the Stars,” it launched the careers of Hank Williams, Elvis, Johnny Money, Jim Reeves, Webb Pierce, Faron Younger, and James Burton.

One Friday in June, 1950, Gordon Kennedy took nine-year-old Jerry to his first guitar lesson with Tillman Franks, bassist and guitarist on the “The Hayride.” Gordon died unexpectedly the next Monday, and Franks grew to become a surrogate father/mentor whereas educating the teen to play and sing easy three-chord nation songs. His progress was swift and inside six months Franks had Kennedy (utilizing a Martin 00-18 his mom purchased for him) educating a few of his college students.

Kennedy took Franks’ recommendation to hearken to “The Hayride” and go to when he may. At 12, he gained a expertise contest emulating “Hayride” singer Jimmy Lee Fautheree, who performed guitar behind his head. Afterward, Franks, whose connections stretched past Shreveport, contacted RCA nation producer Steve Sholes (who found Atkins and later signed Elvis) about recording the child as a singer and guitar participant (although he wasn’t attempting to be a vocalist).

Les Paul and George Barnes have been amongst his different guitar heroes, and he listened to plenty of guitar-oriented materials. “R&B issues and rock and roll lit an enormous fireplace beneath me,” he says.

On “Hayride” visits, Kennedy typically witnessed historical past within the making. In late 1952, he noticed one in every of Hank Williams’ closing performances, and whereas sitting within the balcony in October, 1954, Scotty Moore caught his consideration as Elvis Presley carried out his debut single “That’s All Proper.” The reminiscence stands out.

“Scotty begins playin’, Elvis begins dancin’…” The Hayride viewers erupted. “We by no means heard a notice that Scotty performed!” he laughs.

On different visits, he noticed Lefty Frizzell and Hank Thompson; the solidbody utilized by Frizzell’s guitarist left a deep impression.

“That was the primary time I put eyes on a Telecaster,” he mentioned. “I heard it and thought, ‘I’ve gotta have a kind of!’ I begged my mother for a yr, and I don’t understand how – she was not a rich girl in any respect – she was working, promoting cookies, and he or she purchased me one.”
To plug in, Kennedy bought a selfmade amp.

Straight out of highschool in Might, 1958, Kennedy walked right into a job. Franks, by then working “Hayride,” added him to the home band. He swapped the Tele for a Les Paul Customary he purchased at Shreveport’s J&S Music. Franks had him file a teen ballad in Nashville, backed by the A-Group together with guitarists Hank Garland, Grady Martin, and Harold Bradley.

When the present closed in 1960, Kennedy (by then married to former “Hayride” singer Linda Brannon) started freelancing. He swapped the Les Paul to his buddy, future Nashville session guitarist Billy Sanford, for a ’54 Strat that Sanford had painted orange.

“My again was starting to hassle me, and the Strat was lighter,” he explains. “Three hours with it was nothing.”

Often, he labored with Shreveport star Johnny Horton, world-famous for his hit single “The Battle of New Orleans.” Franks, who was Horton’s supervisor, performed bass, and Horton’s guitarist was Gerald “Tommy” Tomlinson.

By then, Kennedy had a second native mentor in Mercury Information promotion man Shelby Singleton. Impressed by Singleton’s uncanny knack for choosing hits, Mercury employed him in 1960 as head producer in Nashville, regardless of the very fact he performed no devices.

Seeing the sturdy gross sales of Chet Atkins’ instrumental LPs, Singleton signed Kennedy and Tomlinson, and on October 28 and 29, 1960, the duo recorded Guitar’s Best Hits, a mixture of nation, pop, and easy-listening favorites backed by A-Group heavy hitters. Billed as Tom and Jerry, Kennedy used his Strat, Tomlinson his Gretsch 6120.

One second significantly amused Kennedy.

“Are you able to think about a 20-year-old child sittin’ in a chair 10 toes from Hank Garland, attempting to play [Garland’s signature instrumental] ‘Sugarfoot Rag?’” (laughs)

Kennedy’s feelings concerning the file are blended.

“It may have been so significantly better,“ he says. “So many individuals inform me, ‘I’m a guitar participant and I realized the right way to play by listening to that album.’”

It might be their solely collaboration, as a result of simply days after the session, Tomlinson misplaced a leg in a automotive crash that killed Horton and injured Franks.

“It was years earlier than I might hearken to that mission,” Kennedy mirrored. “It bothered me that a lot.”

Mercury launched three subsequent Tom and Jerry instrumental albums with Kennedy and different session gamers.

Kennedy began making common journeys to Nashville to translate Singleton’s musical concepts to the musicians on his classes. When it grew to become a full-time job, he moved his household there in March, 1961.

“Shelby let me go in (the studio) and give you stuff that was totally different,” he remembers. His abilities impressed different producers, together with Atkins, who was RCA’s high nation producer on the time, in addition to Decca’s Owen Bradley, and Don Regulation at Columbia, all of whom employed him for classes.

Wanting a brand new work guitar, Kennedy bought a brand new Gibson ES-335 at Hewgley Music. His A-Group standing got here rapidly the place most gamers step by step labored into these hallowed ranks. Singleton was the important thing.

“God bless him, man,” Kennedy says. “I had an in that plenty of gamers didn’t have.”

Enjoying electrical alongside Hank Garland on Leroy Van Dyke’s hit “Stroll On By” Kennedy unleashed his hotter facet on Presley’s 1962 hit “Good Luck Allure.” The Bradley brothers grew to become mates and mentors; Harold, thought of the Dean of Nashville session pickers was, “…like an enormous brother once I got here to city.”

Enjoying guitar on Bradley’s productions was particular. He known as the classes, “…a number of the most-learning experiences I had so far as producing information. To listen to what we did within the studio and listen to it on the radio was two completely various things. Quite a bit occurred in that management room that we didn’t learn about.”

With extra pop and rock acts recording in Nashville, Kennedy, Bradley, and A-Group legend Martin collectively bought specialty devices any of them may use for a particular date. One was a round-neck Dobro resonator. “I performed it on ‘Harper Valley PTA,’ the Statler Brothers’, and Tom T. Corridor’s stuff. Grady ended up playin’ it on a few of Loretta Lynn’s information,” Kennedy mentioned. “It feels like no Dobro that got here alongside after.

“I used to be bending these strings, not playin’ slide. It was tuned like a guitar, and that’s the best way I performed.” Kennedy later acquired sole custody after Bradley bought his share to Martin.

“Grady gave it to me in the future. He mentioned, ‘You’ll be able to have the rattling factor. I don’t need it anymore.’ He gave me a bit of paper that granted possession.”

After listening to the outstanding 12-string acoustics on the Rooftop Singers’ 1963 people hit “Stroll Proper In,” Kennedy and Bradley purchased a Gibson B-25-12. The instrument might be difficult, as Jerry found whereas utilizing it on Bobby Naked’s hit “500 Miles Away From House.”

“The neck was vast as a two-by-four,” he laughs. “My hand was cramping.”
Hank Williams, Jr. later bought him a ’46 Martin D-18.

“Harold talked me into that. He mentioned, ‘You want a Martin in your assortment.’ I had a Gibson (acoustic) I wasn’t playin’ a lot. Each time I used to be known as, it was normally to do electrical,” for which he typically used the 335 or borrowed Bradley’s Jazzmaster.

“He gave that to me one yr. I’d say, ‘You prepared for it again?’ and he’d inform me, ‘Aw, maintain it. I don’t want it but!’ Between that and the 335, I acquired what I wanted, and I additionally had a Danelectro six-string bass that Harold helped me get.”

Whereas Kennedy typically used no matter amps have been within the studio, he initially owned two Gibsons – a GA-77 RVT Vanguard and an Invader earlier than he and Bradley grew to become long-distance patrons of Manny’s, in Manhattan. Throughout every week of New York classes in July, 1962, they paid a go to.

“We walked in and the man mentioned, ‘Can I assist you to?’ I mentioned, ‘Hello, I’m Jerry Kennedy,’ and he mentioned, ‘You’re Jerry Kennedy?’He began yelling, ‘Come meet these guys we ship all that stuff to!’”

Guitar results gained recognition in Nashville, however Kennedy caught with only one – his amplifier’s built-in tremolo. “[Epic Records producer Billy Sherrill] mentioned, ‘Put that low rumble on there.’ On some information it’s a bottom-y factor. I used the low-end on the amp, and quick tremolo.”

One other change got here later that yr when he had luthier Dean Porter set up palm pedals on the 335.

Working classes for Sherrill in Columbia’s Studio B – a transformed metallic shed – allowed him to get pleasure from one other amp.

“There was a Twin Reverb there that, had I been the improper type of man, would have disappeared with me in the future (laughs). I liked that amp a lot that I actually regarded ahead to Billy’s dates.”

After a unique New York go to, he plugged into a brand new Ampeg at Manny’s.

“I performed it a bit, and it sounded nice. So, I mentioned, ‘I’ll take it,’” and although he can’t recall the mannequin, he says it was, “My favourite amp within the studio, aside from that Fender.” The one different amp he owned was a Standel given to him by Atkins.

When Jerry Kennedy wasn’t producing hits at Mercury Nashville, he was free to imagine his function as a high “A-Group” guitarist.

That was his mission as he walked into Fred Foster’s Monument Information studio on seventeenth Avenue North on August 1, 1964, toting his amp and ’61 335.

Kennedy discovered a piece of A-Teamers establishing, together with Roy Orbison and Foster, the label’s head producer. Guitarist Wayne Moss had performed in A-Teamer Charlie McCoy’s Nashville rock band, the Escorts, Buddy Harman was on the drums. Whereas Henry Strzelecki performed bass, McCoy, who typically performed harmonica on Orbison classes, had no instrument assigned. Boots Randolph introduced his tenor and baritone saxes.

Additionally current have been two members of Orbison’s touring band, the Sweet Males – drummer Paul Garrison and Billy Sanford, Kennedy’s Shreveport guitar-picking buddy. Orbison sat strumming a 12-string.

They have been set to file “Oh Fairly Girl,” a rocker written by Orbison and his songwriting associate/concord singer, Invoice Dees. They’d been enjoying it on the highway.

Sanford and Orbison had mentioned the very fact a lot of his greatest hits had easy “Nashville sound” manufacturing full with string, songs the guitar-driven Sweet Males couldn’t faithfully reproduce onstage. Orbison wished a more-basic sound on his information.

“I instructed, ‘Why don’t you write one thing that may make use of the devices we have now within the band?’ Which was three electrical guitars, bass, drums, and piano.”

Orbison then known as Kennedy, telling him, ‘Hey, come over so I can present you what I wish to do.’ Kennedy, Sanford, and Moss stood by as Orbison plucked the bass line to the Little Richard hit “Lucille.”

Sanford knew the rating; backstage or on the tour bus, he and Orbison would choose riffs collectively, together with “Lucille” and the Everly Brothers’ cowl model.

“We have been enjoying that riff one time and ended up attempting it one notice off – the F#. It was type of an accident and we had amusing about it.”

However that lick – F# and all – grew to become the spine of the “Fairly Girl” association.

“The riff got here alongside earlier than the music did,” Sanford says. “The music should have been within the mill for 2 or three months earlier than we recorded it.”

Sanford explains how the riff advanced.

“The opposite guitar participant within the band was John Rainey Adkins. After we performed it dwell, Roy would kick it off, then I might are available, then John Rainey would are available the place Boots and Charlie got here in (on the file), being the eight-bar intro that it was. Roy and I had it fairly labored out, and we caught with it.”

On the session, Orbison and the musicians labored out a fuller association. Orbison kicked off with the 12-string. Kennedy, enjoying his 335, Sanford, utilizing the Gibson ES-125 he performed with the band and Moss would be part of.

“On the file, in the event you hear actual shut, you’ll hear that 12-string,” Kennedy explains.

The saxes lent heft earlier than Orbison started to sing. Randolph performed tenor and McCoy, the A-Group’s multi-instrumental grasp, blew the baritone.

In 2010, McCoy informed VG the way it occurred.

“I used to be sittin’ over there with Boots and he mentioned, ‘Hey, I acquired my (baritone sax) right here. Why don’t you seize it?’ “I didn’t play the entire riff, simply two notes, in order that riff was not solely three guitar gamers and the bass, (however) the tenor sax and the baritone. That’s what made it so highly effective.”

A landmark rock-guitar riff – sax and all – was born.

The recording left Sanford, who finally grew to become an A-Group guitarist, amply glad.

“The factor I favored was we had talked about making a file with the devices within the band, with out ready for the massive string part to come back in.”

Whereas Kennedy mentioned he favored the file, he admits he didn’t initially see something significantly endearing concerning the lick or the music. However he remembers Foster having a way of its potential.

“Fred and I have been good mates, and he known as me every week or so later and mentioned he had been enjoying (the one) for some individuals.”

Launched weeks later, “Oh, Fairly Girl” reached #1 in America and a number of other different international locations and stands at the moment as one in every of Orbison’s biggest hits, his intense vocal, the hypnotic lyrics, and that highly effective, percussive riff making it irresistible.

This text initially appeared in VG’s December 2023 challenge. All copyrights are by the writer and Classic Guitar journal. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.