[Harp-L] Re: Charlie's harps

[Steve Baker <steve@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Tony wrote:

Steve. If you think you're done with this story then you are sadly
mistaken. Could you let us know:

1) How you managed get in on a  session with "The Man"?

2) What your feelings were when you found you did not have the right
instrument.

I'd met Charlie McCoy a couple of years earlier in London, when he  
was on tour with The United Steels of Europe, a band featuring 4 or 5  
top pedal steel players including my friend Nils Tuxen, whom I knew  
from numerous studio sessions in Hamburg. In the break I interviewed  
Charlie for a Hohner magazine and he told me (among other things) the  
same account of how he came upon country tuning which has been  
repeated here. A few days later he was playing in Hamburg and I went  
along to the gig. Charlie asked me if I'd like to sit in with the  
band, but I didn't have any gear with me except for an SBS harp I'd  
just given him to try out, so he stuck it in my hand and picked up a  
guitar. He played some pretty cool blues guitar and I jammed with him  
and the band.

On the occasion of the session I mentioned in my earlier post,  
Charlie was again visiting Hamburg and had been booked to play on  
some stuff for a German producer in a studio belonging to another  
friend of mine literally 200 yards from where I lived. When it turned  
out that we all knew each other, my mate rang me up and asked me to  
join the session so they could record a number with both of us. It  
was all very relaxed and friendly and when we discovered the tune  
they wanted both of us to play on was in Eb I just laughed and said I  
didn't have a harp for 2nd position but could offer 1st. Charlie  
rummaged in his case and brought out the Vest Pocket Harp in Ab and  
suggested I play that. I was most touched by his generosity, not  
least because it was his work using high tuned harps on Steve  
Miller's "Number 5" album which had turned me on to his playing in  
the first place.

We subsequently met on a few occasions and he was always  
exceptionally friendly and pleasant. He once introduced me to Johnny  
Cash's brother Tommy with the words "This dog can hunt!". It really  
made my day.

I think anyone who's ever met Charlie will testify to his kindness  
and modesty, he's a true gentleman as well as a major pioneer of  
country harmonica,

Steve