A: When you toss a banjo into a dumpster and it doesn't hit the sides.
Bobby loved banjo jokes. Bobby loved all jokes. He could have an intimidating disposition (I honestly never really got entirely used to it), but tell him a good joke and he would prove the meaning of infectious laughter. Behind his tough grey beard was a lot of silliness and playfulness. I heard a lot of anecdotes of pranks pulled while sitting at the dinner table with him as I was growing up. Those anecdotes are not for me to tell here, by the way. They are not my stories. But I can't wait for some Nashville session musician to write a book about the wild goings-on during the days when Bobby Thompson, my stepdad, kicked around this town as one of the greatest banjo players ever to hit the scene.
I only saw him in the studio once. I was a teen with zero love for country music, but went along anyway probably preferring to stay home and listen to Dokken instead. I sat politely in the small room with the mixing board along with five or six other people and watched as the producer and engineer worked their magic with all of those buttons and knobs. For a young music fan, this quickly became a very fascinating place to be. They worked so fast that it all just seemed like random manipulations, but of course they knew that board so well that what they were doing was in fact purposely precise professionalism. (Alliteration unintended.)
Although I cared not at all for country music, I soon heard music that blew my young ears away. These players on the other side of the glass were out of this world as they took to their instruments. It was that night that I first heard a steel guitar as it should always be heard. I heard a man play electric guitar up close and personal that was every bit as rocking as anything I was hearing on Headbangers' Ball on MTV those days. And I heard Bobby make music with his banjo that even made the seasoned pros hush up and focus on him as if they knew just how special it was to be able to be so close to such a unimaginably stellar artist. When Bobby played and we got to watch and listen to him from such close proximity, it more than made up for all of the other great moments in music history that we had missed for one reason or another. Of course, some of the guys just knew to pay attention because if Bobby made a mistake, he'd be sure to do some pretty good cussin'. And no one wants to miss out on that.
Watching Bobby and his fellow session players that night didn't make me a country music fan. The wonderful stuff I heard pretty much got edited down to the same old 3:05 of your basic radio friendly crud. But I did feel my respect for him swell just a bit. I already respected him for basic reasons of politeness, but watching him work took that to a much more genuine level. As the years passed, he taught my brother, Matt, how to play the guitar, and I know that Matt couldn't have had a better teacher. He's a fantastic player and a wonderful person. And he's got Bobby to thank for a lot of that.
Bobby Thompson died about a year ago from complications due to multiple sclerosis. He fought it for almost half of my entire life. I watched he and my mom fight that disease so hard...so hard and so long. I am struggling now to put together a sentence that explains what they went through, but that just is not possible. Quite simply, I am humbled. As much pain as they faced as a couple dealing with his MS, it was met with equal amounts of love. It was a lot of pain and it was a lot of love. Still is, of course.
I am grateful to have known him as well as I did. He and my mom loved each other so much. Of course, she still hurts missing him. And so do the rest of Bobby's friends and family members. He was a pretty special guy. I miss him, too.
Credits
BOBBY THOMPSON, 1937 - 2005.
I said funny things during recording sessions...
not just to break the tension,
but partly to make one person laugh...Bobby Thompson.
He had a terrific laugh, and was my best audience.
Soon the whole session was like a party.
We didn't know Bobby well, except from recording,
but we loved him. We couldn't help it.
He was probably the humblest genius we've ever met.
A genuine nice person.
Lloyd Green told me this:
"Bobby is the greatest five string banjo player in the world."
I only know he's the best I ever heard.
He created a melodic style
that brought the banjo into a category with piano and fiddle.
Earl Scruggs said this about Bobby Thompson:
"He was the first one to play that style of banjo that I ever heard.
And there has never been anyone to top him."
You may not have noticed him in the background on "Hee Haw".
Bobby was content to let others have the spotlight.
He's been referred to as one of
This writing won't fix that,
but it's a start.
Bobby Thompson also played wonderful rhythm guitar,
that drives countless hit records.
For the last fifteen years of his life he couldn't play,
and was confined to a wheelchair during his last years.
He died of multiple sclerosis in 2005,
at the age of 67.
A great loss to music and to those who cared about him.
We are among his mourners.
I'm only including one link today...
a recording Bobby Thompson made with us,
featuring one of his most beautiful banjo solos:
http://tinyurl.com/37fyvl
I think you'll enjoy it.
Jack Blanchard
© 2007.
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THE JACK BLANCHARD & MISTY MORGAN HOME PAGE:
http://jackandmisty.com
OUR MYSPACE PAGE:
http://www.myspace.com/jackandmisty
OUR ONLINE CD CATALOG:
http://www.elvinsystems.com/jm/catalog.htm
chez béziat
Thursday, May 25, 2006
Q: What's The Definition Of Perfect Pitch?
Bobby Thompson, 1937-2005
It's pretty much a truism that session musicians and sidemen don't get the respect they deserve, but it's especially true in the case of Bobby Thompson, who died last month at the age of 67. A brilliant, innovative banjo player and rhythm guitarist, Thompson was a quiet craftsman and revolutionary whose work is enjoyed by millions, yet whose name is known only to the most dedicated and perceptive among them.
Always in the Background Bobby Thompson, seated at right, looks on as Roy Clark and Buck Trent get all the attention on Hee Haw. Photo Courtesy of Gaylord Program Services, Inc.
Born in Converse, S.C., in 1937, Thompson was barely past 20 when he participated in the epochal late 1950s Starday recordings of Jim & Jesse—epochal in part because they included, especially on the instrumentals "Border Ride" and ""Dixie Hoedown," the first recorded glimmerings of what would become an alternative to the foundational bluegrass banjo style of Earl Scruggs. Where Scruggs' approach more than occasionally demanded the sacrifice of melodic detail in favor of rhythmic drive, Thompson took a different line, modifying the standard three-finger "roll" of the right hand to catch more melody notes. It might sound like a modest accomplishment, but it wasn't. Rather, it opened a door—at first to a more precise rendering of fiddle tunes, and eventually to more intricate, far-reaching playing that would be seized upon by banjoists from Vic Jordan to Bela Fleck, who not only created their own music, but adorned a surprising number of country music recordings, too.
Yet, in part because Thompson was drafted into military service in the early 1960s, and in part because Bill Keith had arrived at a similar method around the same time and wound up taking a high-profile job with Bill Monroe, this powerful new approach was dubbed "Keith style" by many who were unaware of Thompson's role.
Banjo players, on the other hand—especially those around
The occasion for the piece was a benefit concert for Thompson, organized by Jesse McReynolds; at the time, the musician had been sidelined by multiple sclerosis for more than a decade and a half. By the time he was diagnosed, though, he'd not only won the respect of those who paid attention to the arcane world of banjo pioneers, he'd gone on to a second career as one of
Sidemen, especially those as modest as Thompson, know their legacies might well be unacknowledged once they've passed. Still, there needs to be a place where the contributions of Bobby Thompson to banjo playing, to bluegrass, to country music—to American music as a whole—are highlighted and honored. Until it arrives, his memory will be cherished by those who already know just how big those contributions were.
—Jon Weisberger
Bluegrass folks celebrate banjo legend Thompson
By TIM GHIANNI
Senior Writer
When compiling a list of the most influential living banjo players, acoustic music godfather Earl Scruggs would top the list. Younger banjo enthusiasts likely would mention melodic banjo jazzmaster Bela Fleck.
Both banjo geniuses would put Bobby Thompson high on that list. But the man who virtually invented the ''melodic'' playing style adopted by Fleck is largely forgotten, due to illness and his own self-deprecating demeanor. Pickers and grinners from throughout the bluegrass community are coming together Thursday in Gallatin to help Thompson with medical bills as well as to remind the public of his importance.
''It's awfully nice of them,'' says Thompson of the 11th annual McReynolds Memorial Bluegrass Music Spectacular.
He'll be there. But only to listen from his wheelchair. ''I haven't been able to play the banjo in 15 years,'' he says. ''My hands won't let me . . . I miss it, but I'm used to it now.'' Multiple sclerosis forced him into retirement near Franklin.
Choosing Thompson as beneficiary of Thursday's event wasn't a stretch for Jesse McReynolds. With his late brother Jim — Grand Ole Opry legends Jim & Jesse — McReynolds began having this annual benefit to help with the medical bills of his son, Keith, who died in 2000 from M.S.
Scruggs will be in Los Angeles for Grammy-related activities, but he has plenty of good things to say about his old friend.
''I think he has done a lot for the banjo. He was the first one to play that (melodic) style of banjo that I ever heard. And there has never been anyone to top him.''
Thompson's banjo style was incorporated into the Hee Haw theme and show as well as into groundbreaking group Area Code 615's music. As a session ace, Thompson played with such diverse artists as Elvis, The Monkees, Neil Young, Perry Como, Johnny Cash and Bill Monroe.
Fleck, who chased Thompson's melodic style into its jazziest grooves, wouldn't miss Thursday's gathering.
''Bobby sort of set the stage for modern banjo in a lot of ways. He is one of two people (along with Bill Keith) credited with inventing the melodic style.
''. . . He made a huge contribution to the moving forward of the banjo as a musical instrument.''
Thompson developed the style that gives banjo the fluidity of piano or fiddle while a young man in Spartanburg, S.C.
He brought that style with him when he joined Jim & Jesse's outfit in the early 1960s, and McReynolds recalls Thompson's banjo dancing nicely with Vassar Clements' dancing fiddle.
Getting there
The 11th annual McReynolds Memorial Bluegrass Music Spectacular will be at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Gallatin Civic Center. Tickets are $15, $5 for children ages 6-12. Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. the day of the show at the Civic Center, 210 Albert Gallatin Ave., in Gallatin. Details: 451-5911.
Tennessean music writer Peter Cooper also contributed to this story.
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Bobby Thompson Benefit Concert |
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PRESS RELEASE "HEE-HAW" CAST AND TOP MUSICIANS Gallatin, TN - In this years' 11th Annual McReynolds Memorial Concert at the Gallatin Civic Center on Thursday, February 5, one of Gallatins' residents, Grand Ole Opry star and bluegrass legend Jesse McReynolds remembers one of country music's greatest unsung heroes -- banjo picker Bobby Thompson. Thompson, a former member of Jim & Jesse's Virginia Boys band and cast member of the "Hee-Haw" TV show, was stricken with MS in 1985 and was forced to retire from music in 1987. He has carried this cross without complaint and with dignity, and it is perhaps for this reason that the man stirred such an outpouring of support from his famous friends in the music business. When "Hee-Haw" Producer Sam Lovullo got word of the benefit concert, he promptly pledged to help and round up as many of Bobby's fellow cast members as possible. "Hee-Haw" favorites who will be performing include Roni Stoneman, Mike Snider, The Hagers and LuLu Roman. In the banjo world, Thompson served as an inspiration to fellow pickers, many of whom will join in a banjo salute to Thompson, led by banjo legend Allen Shelton. Thompson's friend and famous banjoist Bela Fleck also called to volunteer his talents. Fleck, a musical genius with the ability to balance new ideas with unsurpassed taste on the banjo, will be a rare treat for one and all. Another first for this year's show will be a performance of the lovely and down to earth daughter of Hank Williams Sr., Jett Williams. It will to be an unforgettable night, with Grand Ole Opry stars the Osborne Brothers, the Larry Stephenson Band, Leroy Troy and others, among surprise guests on the bill. Thompson has a considerable musical legacy. He was in great demand as a studio musician in Nashville, recording with too many names to mention them all here, but we'll name a few: Johnny Cash, Marty Robbins, Hank Snow, Tammy Wynette, Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Loretta Lynn, Bill Monroe, Dolly Parton, Perry Como, Eddy Arnold, Les Paul, Connie Smith, Merle Haggard, Trini Lopez, the Monkees, Olivia Newton-John, Melanie, Jimmy Buffett, Dr Hook, Leon Russell, Neil Young, etc., etc… Thompson also played banjo on movie soundtracks "Coal Miners' Daughter", "Five Easy Pieces", "Smokey & the Bandit I&II", "Urban Cowboy" and others. In addition, he has played his banjo on those catchy little music "jingles" for practically every major company you can imagine. Well enough to attend the concert with the aid of his wheelchair and close friends, Thompson calls to mind the courage shown by fellow Virginia Boys band member, and person who was the inspiration for this concert -- Jesse McReynolds oldest son, Keith. Established as the Grand Ole Opry Bluegrass Spectacular, this annual event also became known as the Keith McReynolds Fund Benefit Concert in recognition and support of Jesse McReynolds' son, who died Feb. 2, 2000, at the age of 44, after a long struggle with Multiple Sclerosis. Prior to the onset of his final illness, Keith was an 18-year member of Jim & Jesse's band. This year's Memorial show is in tribute to Jesse's brother and singing partner of 55 years, Jim McReynolds, who died Jan. 31, 2003 after a long battle with cancer. This year's show promises to be a night filled with good music and good memories. The concert takes place at the Gallatin Civic Center on Thursday, February 5th at 6:30 pm. Tickets will go on sale after 10 am at the Civic Center the day of the show. There are no reserved seats. A handicapped area will be set aside near the stage for those in wheelchairs. Adult ticket price is $15.00, Children 6-12 $5.00 and under 6 years, free. The phone number for the Civic Center is (615) 451-5911. If you can't attend the show, but would like to send a donation or card to Bobby, mail it to: the Bobby Thompson Fund P.O. Box 1385, Gallatin, TN 37066. Or for more info, contact Joy McReynolds at (615) 452-7321 or e-mail Jesse & Joy McReynolds at mcre6588@bellsouth.net .
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11th Annual A special Thank you from Jesse... Special Note: Please send donations to: A Benefit for Bluegrass Great Bobby Thompson - Bela Fleck - - Mike Snider - - Roni Stoneman - - Williams & Clark Expedition - - Abrams Family - - Jesse McReynolds - and the Virginia Boys - The Osborne Brothers - - Jet Williams - - Larry Stephenson - - Leroy Troy - - Melvin Goins - - Luke McKnight - - Jimmy Bowen - - Allen Shelton.. to leading a banjo salute in honor of Bobby Thompson ... And other special guests to be announced !!!
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Bela Fleck, Matt Kinman, Bobby & Leroy Troy
Bela Fleck, Jake Landers, Vassar Clements & Bobby
Judy & Bobby
Lloyd Douglas, Bobby Hicks, Bela Fleck, Bobby, Allen Shelton, Vic Jordan & Mike Scott
Judy, Bobby & Ted Belue
Roni Stoneman, Bill & Delores Edgin, Bobby & Lulu Roman
photos by Eva Herod