Ralph Mooney, who played pedal steel guitar on hit recordings by Merle Haggard and Waylon Jennings and who was a writer of “Crazy Arms," one of the most enduring shuffles in country music, died at his home in Kennedale, Tex., on Sunday. He was 82.
Working as a staff musician at Capitol Records in Hollywood during the 1950s and '60s, Mr. Mooney appeared on hit singles by the likes of the rockabilly star Wanda Jackson and the West Coast country singer Wynn Stewart. His bluesy introduction and slurring instrumental commentary lent a tragicomic note to Mr. Haggard's boozy 1966 smash, “The Bottle Let Me Down."
Mr. Mooney's cascading steel guitar runs also galvanized several of Buck Owens's early signature hits, including “Above and Beyond" and “Under Your Spell Again." The epitome of the ebullient Bakersfield sound that took root in California in the late 1950s, these recordings influenced not only future country singers like Dwight Yoakam and Jim Lauderdale but also rock 'n' roll bands like the Beatles, the Byrds and the Flying Burrito Brothers. Mr. Mooney's rippling arpeggios on Mr. Stewart's 1962 single “Another Day, Another Dollar" can currently be heard in a television commercial for the Volkswagen Jetta.
“His high G-sharp tuning made for a bright, piercing sound that really stood out," said Michael McCall, an editor at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, discussing what came to be known as the Mooney sound. “His playing cut through the noise of the honky-tonks and matched nicely with the louder beat and the louder volume of the solid-bodied Fender Telecaster guitar."
In 1970 Mr. Mooney joined Jennings's studio and touring band, with which he played for two decades. He added a crisp melodic counterpoint to the group's gritty, percussive sound, including the outlaw country anthem “Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys." That record, a duet with Willie Nelson, was No. 1 on the country charts for four weeks in 1978.
Mr. Mooney also added country shading to “I'm Not Lisa," which crossed over to the pop Top 10 for Jennings's wife, Jessi Colter, in 1975. He didn't write much material, but “Crazy Arms," composed with Chuck Seals, became a country standard when Ray Price's version spent 20 weeks at the top of the country charts in 1956.
Ralph Eugene Mooney was born on Sept. 16, 1928, in Duncan, Okla. In the 1940s he moved to California, where he learned to play steel guitar and began working in bands. He later made several recordings under his own name, including “Corn Pickin' and Slick Slidin,'" an album of instrumental duets with the guitarist James Burton, in 1968. Two years before that he was honored as steel guitarist of the year by the Academy of Country Music.
He was inducted into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame in 1983 and last year appeared on Marty Stuart's “Ghost Train: The Studio B Sessions," an album that featured an instrumental remake of “Crazy Arms."
In 1970 Mr. Mooney joined Jennings's studio and touring band, with which he played for two decades. He added a crisp melodic counterpoint to the group's gritty, percussive sound, including the outlaw country anthem “Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys." That record, a duet with Willie Nelson, was No. 1 on the country charts for four weeks in 1978.
Mr. Mooney also added country shading to “I'm Not Lisa," which crossed over to the pop Top 10 for Jennings's wife, Jessi Colter, in 1975. He didn't write much material, but “Crazy Arms," composed with Chuck Seals, became a country standard when Ray Price's version spent 20 weeks at the top of the country charts in 1956.
Ralph Eugene Mooney was born on Sept. 16, 1928, in Duncan, Okla. In the 1940s he moved to California, where he learned to play steel guitar and began working in bands. He later made several recordings under his own name, including “Corn Pickin' and Slick Slidin,'" an album of instrumental duets with the guitarist James Burton, in 1968. Two years before that he was honored as steel guitarist of the year by the Academy of Country Music.
He was inducted into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame in 1983 and last year appeared on Marty Stuart's “Ghost Train: The Studio B Sessions," an album that featured an instrumental remake of “Crazy Arms."
Complete on: http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/news.php?id=78687
Heres a little treat for you guys!. I went to see and meet Ralph Mooney this past weekend at our TSGA monthly meeting. Most of you know Ralph...he is an ICON in the business to say the least. The cute 13 yr old fiddle players name is Jade Jack. What a great job she did. you know Grandads gotta be proud!..Thats the way we do down in Texas!
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