Here we have a man who is a king even among Nashville session royalty. has made as many records as a hat store has, well, caps. He seems to have a particular touch with acoustic guitar, and is known not only for jumpy solos but for concocting simple bits of riff business that help set up a song, one example among many being the introduction to ' "The Gambler." While a scan at some session players' discography provokes yawns and feelings of sympathy for what the player must have had to put up with, seems to really have had it pretty good in his endeavors picking behind a wonderful cross-section of country & western artists. One should expect nothing less, since makes all the short lists of players responsible for building country arches of triumph such as the Nashville sound and the Opry sound. One writer narrowed his list down to three key session players, pianist , steel guitarist , and . When a frugal 1968 Opry manager decided to trim the list of nearly two dozen pickers ambling off and on-stage, of course made the cut along with great players such as Harold Weakley, Spider Wilson, , and . is also likely to make lists of great country guitar pickers, regardless of Opry affiliation, in the company of , , and . "He assembled a group of Nashville's finest session players, then put in charge of the whole thing," is a liner note detail chosen as evidence of his importance even amongst his talented peers. won Nashville's Golden R.O.P.E. award for musician of the year in 2001.

' recording ventures demonstrate not only his allegiance to quality country but his ability to stay in demand among new performers in the genre; he has cut with as well as , for example. The recordings of are certainly among the best-selling to feature , usually playing in tandem with the fine . Pop performers that have put on their studio hat rack include , , and . The latter artist was fond of acoustic interaction with and featured the Nashville pro on most of his recordings. also had great moments on 's album, while fans of serious honky onkin' may want to check out the albums that appears on. The young at heart or rodent-obsessed are free to thrill to ' picking behind on the Urban Chipmunk project. ~ Eugene Chadbourne

Jimmy Capps

Top Tracks