Hank Garland

Hank "Sugarfoot" Garland

Born November 11, 1930 Walter Louis "Hank" Garland played country and western music with a jazz tone and phrasing style.  Was a part of the legendary A-Team in the Nashville studio scene.  Some notable acts Hank recorded with are Patsy Cline {I Fall To Pieces}, Roy Orbison {Only the Lonely}, Elvis Presley{Little Sister}, Don Gibson {Lonesome Me}, and The Everly Brothers {Bye Bye Love}.  

On TV with Patsy Cline also featuring Grady Martin on guitar playing his double neck bigsby guitar 

Good times with Eddy Arnold

Cool Solo on When The Saints Go Marching In with the Jordanaires

Hank along with Billy Byrd {Ernest Tubb} help Gibson design the Byrdland guitar.  The Byrdland had some unique features including a thiner body 2.25 inches deep and a short scale neck 23.5 inch.  The thinner body made the guitar more comfortable to play, a standard gibson hollow body is 3 inches.  The short scale neck made complicated chords and soloing much easier to fret.

Hank playing his Brydland onstage with Elvis in Hawaii circa 1960 or 61

Hank on TV with Don Gibson playing Look Who's Blue & Gonna Give Myself a Party He is Playing his first Gibson Byrdland prototype with a white Charlie Christian pickup

He also released several singles under his own name {Sugarfoot Rag & Sentimental Journey} and Albums {The Unforgettable Guitar of Hank Garland, Velvet Guitar, Jazz Winds From a New Direction and After the Riot at Newport}.

Hank also recorded a version of Sugarfoot Rag with vocals sung by Red Foley

On September 8 1961 Hank had a serious car accident that left him in a coma for weeks.  When he awoke he was unable to play at the same level that he was known for.  Hank did not play on stage until 1975 at the Opry old-timers show where he played Sugarfoot Rag.

Hank's 1959 Chevy Nomad after the accident  

Hank Garland interview from Guitar Player in January 1981

By Toy Caldwell

Hank, why don 't we begin with your telling me about your first guitar.

Well, my dad bought it for me. It cost about $4 or something, and I just decided I wanted to play the thing. There was a man living down at the end of River Street in Cowpens who knew how to play, so I went down to his house and said "Tune this thing up for me and show me how to play it." He tuned it up and started giving me lessons on the thing. I went on to play whatever I could think of and hear. Whatever I heard on the radio, I tried to copy,

After you left home at age 14 to play with Paul Howard, what else did you do in the way of session work in Nashville?

After I left home and got to Nashville, I found it tough to get good record sessions, but I had a job working with Paul on the Grand Ole Opry and I had a salary coming in from that so I ended up taking various odd jobs.

How difficult was it for you to break into the Nashville recording scene in the 40s?

I got lucky and found out that Owen Bradley was a nice person to know. He played the piano, and he built the first recording studio there. His was the first biggy and he did record sessions for Decca, RCA and just about everybody else too. Finally, RCA said "We're doing so much work we can't get Owen's place because there's so much already going on there. Owen said, "Don't worry I'll do something about that" So he went up the street about a block, from where he, was located and looked at a big, empty lot and said "That, would be a good, place for a studio". Well, he had one built - a big metal building which had -all the machinery and everything in it. Then he sold it to RCA.

You, played, on a number of sessions for, Elvis Presley. How was he to work with?

Real nice. He never got upset about anything. You hear a lot of people talk about him, saying "Elvis did this" and "Elvis did bad" in record sessions, but that's all junk! He never did. He ran in and sang what he was supposed to sing, and afterwards he shook hands with everybody and said thanks,

Who was in the rhythm section with you when you did the Presley sessions?

The people were about the same, Buddy Harmon played drums, Bob Moore played bass, and Floyd Cramer played piano, I did a lot of sessions with Floyd later on, but all I can remember about them is that every one was really work.

How did you and Billy Byrd first get involved with helping design the Gibson Byrdland guitar?

There was a disc jockey convention in Nashville in 1955 where all the disc jockeys from all over the United States came in and celebrated. And they had music people come in too, like Gibson and Fender land Gretsch. This particular year they had Gibson in there showing all their guitars, mandolins, and amplifiers. Bill Byrd and I were in the hotel where they were doing it. We sat around and played for a while, and one of the Gibson guys, [former sales manager] Clarence Havenga, came over to us and asked, "What would you like in a guitar that we don't already have?" We sat down with him and said we'd like an instrument like an L-5, but with a thinner body and a bunch of other stuff. He wrote it all down on a piece of paper, and after he went back to Kalamazoo, Michigan, to the Gibson factory, they made the guitar and sent us one.

Besides the thinner body, what else did you suggest to Mr. Havenga?

We wanted a shorter scale length-23.5" as opposed to. say, the 25" or 25.5" that most of their jazz guitars have. It was done because with the frets closer together, it would be easier to play, I guess that over the years it has become very popular and very expensive too. One day some guy asked me, "Would you like a new Byrdland?" I said it would be nice, but what do they cost? "When he told me, I just smiled and said, "No thanks." But I really like them, and mine's my favourite guitar. It has #2 stamped on it; Gibson has #1 at the factory.

Hank, you're known for your incredible picking style, Are there any patterns or progressions you favour over others?

I've found that over the years what I like to play are a lot of quarter note triplets. I'll double time two bars, then slow things down for effect sometimes, too.

You were pretty much self taught on the guitar. What advice would you give to young musicians coming up?

My first thought is for them to find somebody who can teach guitar and teach it right. You've got to start off on the right foot so, you know what direction to go in, no matter what style you choose to play.

Hank Playing on Al Terry's Song Watch dog. I wonder if Junior Brown has ever heard this song my bet is yes

Some Tabs And Sheet Music

Live version he must have just gotten his echo box

There are lots of tab and sheet music books available on the internet just google and you will find more or you can purchase them have fun learning!

Some Of Hanks Gear

Note the Bigsby Customized pick-guard and pickups also Hank upgraded the Frequensator tailpiece to have to long ends they come stock like the picture below

Standard Frequensator tailpiece

Hank's 1957 Gibson L-7 with single Charlie Christian Pickup and same short scale length {23.5 inch} as his signature Byrdland Model.  Hank used this guitar extensively and is on a few of his album covers.

A certificate of authenticity 

Hank Playing the L-7 on Three Four The Blues Listen to that tone!

Hank's Standel 25-L-15 custom covered in cow hide.  This amp is 25 watts with a JBL D-130 Speaker 

Two Reissue Standel 25-L-15 amps in Cowhide Covering

Hanks Ecco-Fonic used in the studio on Patsy Cline's I fall To Pieces can be heard in the intro and the fills between the vocal breaks

Hank's Echo can be heard in the intro and the fills between the vocal breaks

Hank's Stromberg archtop made by Elmer Stromberg is short scale and was used to record Roy Orbison's Only The Lonely.  Stromberg guitars were made in Boston Massachusetts and are considered some of the best arch top guitars ever made.  they are also incredibly valuable one is for sale in Nashville for 30,000 dollars

Hnak playing at the Carousel Club in Nashville Tennessee in 1959 Boyce Hawkins on piano and Grady Martin on the Double Bass

A highly fictionalized account of hanks life is portrayed in the movie Crazy directed by Rick Bieber and Waylon Payne Plays Hank. A cool thing about the movie Crazy is they used Hank's actual guitars in the movie. 

The scene where Hank walks in on a Wes Montgomery set is also pretty cool

Wes Montgomery is portrayed by Tony MacAlpine who is a talented guitarist in real life 

Left to Right Charlie Byrd, Tal Farlow, Hank Garland And Barney Kessel

An Older Garland with his old Byrdland

Hank Garland died on December 27, 2004 of a staph infection in Orange Park, Florida. The Epitaph on Hank's tombstone reads "The Greatest Guitar Player That Ever Walked The Planet Earth".  In an interview guitarist Chet Atkins was once asked who he thought was the best guitar player to come to Nashville he said Hank Garland, that is a complement to be proud of in my book.