Pig Robbins

[MAJUSCULE]

I've learned about many great session players here, but somehow I don't think I've ever seen Pig Robbins mentioned. After a quick svengle it looks like his name has come up a few times over the years, but certainly not nearly as much as a player with his kind of credit list should.

 

So, what are you favourite Pig Robbins tunes, videos, stories (I'm sure some of you know him), etc?

[montunoman]

Also, could someone compare and contrast Pig Robbins to Floyd Crammer?

[MAJUSCULE]

This is Ken's analysis from a September '03 post, I found it useful:

 

In actual Nashville sessions one tends to hear three kinds of country piano played: Pig Robbins, who tends to keep his voicings within the lower octaves and does signature licks below middle C (single-note, pentatonic lines with grace notes), Bruce Hornsby (not actually him, but using his rolling "The Way It Is" style), and Floyd Cramer (play fourths and resolve the lower note up to a third-- C on top, play C and the fourth lower G together, resolve the G to an A. Listen to a recording of "Last Date" for the real stuff.)

 

You don't hear the Cramer stuff so much anymore. It's dated and sounds it. Even the Hornsby stuff is getting a little long in the tooth. Lately I've been playing more like Nashville session guy John Jarvis, who incorporates a little gospel along with his barrelhouse style. Lots of fun.

 

Matt Rollings is an amazing player but the local producers tend to hire Steve Nathan or Jarvis. The parts they play sit in a track better for most popular country needs. Lyle Lovett, on the other hand, needs that beautiful stride that Rollings does.

 

If you're playing classic country, Pig Robbins and Floyd Cramer are the way to go. If you're doing pop country, check out Steve Nathan's or John Jarvis' work on just about anything recorded in the last 7-10 years.

 

k.

 

Still just grasping the influence Pig has had. John Jarvis is another guy I'll have to dig into eventually.

 

Certainly some great knowledge already shared in other threads, but I'd encourage anyone who wants to add or simply rewrite their thoughts a few years later to join in

[ksoper]

Here's a great intro to Pig's style as demonstrated by Chip Bricker, piano player for the amazing Gene Watson.

 

[video:youtube]

[pinkfloydcramer]

When I started playing country in the 90's, I had to learn alot of his parts, thanks to Alan Jackson, Travis Tritt and others' using him on their records. These included Pig showing his chops on some ferocious blues and Southern rock, something he is not generally known for.

 

Also I learned in an Country Piano article in Keyboard, that Steve Nathan is a huge Pig acolyte. Not saying anymore about that in the hope that Mr. Nathan will speak for himself, here.

[Steve Nathan]

Every Country piano player since owes a ton to Pig. Here are just two of my favorites.

 

[video:youtube]

 

[video:youtube]

[TommyRude]

Here's a great intro to Pig's style as demonstrated by Chip Bricker, piano player for the amazing Gene Watson.

Enjoyed that very much, thank you!

[Mr. Nightime]

I remember reading somewhere that the Hammer-on style that Floyd Kramer was famous for was pioneered by Pig Robbins.

 

If you get a chance, locate The Nashville Superpickers Live at Austin City Limits. Featured the best session players of the time, including Pig Robbins

[pinkfloydcramer]

I believe the story behind the hammer-on technique, is that an obscure piano player employed it on the demo to Hank Locklin's "Please Help Me I'm Falling". It caught the producer's attention and he specifically told Floyd to emulate it. That's not insider Nashville folklore, it's just something I recall from a book.

 

My favorite example of it is Floyd's 70's uptempo instrumental "On the Rebound", a minor hit. Many more are familiar with the solo on Bob Seger's "Against the Wind".

[mynameisdanno]

Pig did some great playing on Darrell Scott's "Long Ride Home" album. Dennis Crouch and Kenny Malone just chugging along. Sounds like it was made in somebody's living room. One of my favorite albums.

[SamuelBLupowitz]

Man I love digging into stuff like this. There's "what does it sound like they're playing on that record" and "here's what they're really playing that makes everything fit together so well." Sometimes it's tiny details you can't fully appreciate in the full arrangement that make everything click.

[Steve Nathan]

Sounds like it was made in somebody's living room.

 

It probably was. When I played on "Theater of the Unheard" we cut in Darrell's living room. His record with Tim Obrien (a huge favorite of mine) was also cut there. He uses DP BTW, if anyone's interested.

[montunoman]

Great examples. I"m familiar with a lot Floyd Cranmers playing so now it"s time to dive into Pig ! More please!

[MAJUSCULE]

Thanks for chiming in Steve & Ken, just the people I was hoping for. Not surprised to hear from Danno either.

 

The Mark Knopfler tune is just beautiful, such an amazing sense of time and melody. Checked out that Darrell Scott record today too, fantastic stuff. And those clips from Chip Bricker are fantastic too, definitely the best video tutorials on Pig style I've seen in the last couple days.

 

I've just been getting into Travis Tritt recently, although I don't think I've listened to any of the records with Pig, so that bodes well.

 

A few further questions for y'all:

 

It seems Floyd Cramer really hit on more mainstream notoriety (or at least longer lasting). Is that solely based on Crazy? Or did his solo records do better? I have a few of his LPs and have heard his name mentioned much more frequently. I might also be projecting my own impressions here. It's interesting because when people (myself included) talk about Floyd, it's "You know, the guy who played on Crazy", and then you sing the intro. But in this clip here, they talk about the tune and don't even mention Floyd, almost as if Pig had played on it. I'm sure it's just that they all played on so many sessions, etc. but I found it interesting.

 

[video:youtube]

 

The interviewer here isn't all that great to be honest, but at least we get to hear directly from the man himself.

 

[video:youtube]

 

He mentions here that he played organ on Jerry Lee's sessions, which was actually one of my follow-ups. Most sessions I see him credited on is solely piano, with any other keys handled by someone else. His own records have a few more keyboard timbres, especially the 70s stuff I've found. Just curious if it's one of those things where he just plays the dang piano so well that there's not much point calling him for anything else, especially if you were still cutting tracks live. Obviously he can play other stuff but did he spend most sessions at the piano and only the piano?

[MAJUSCULE]

Alright, so after going through these threads and most of these threads, I made a Country Piano 101 Spotify playlist, if anyone is interested. (I know, Spotify...)

 

One curio is that since Mark Knopfler's Golden Heart isn't on Spotify, I discovered Randy Travis's version. It looks like pretty similar personnel and sounds similar in many ways and came out about six months later, wondering if Randy & co just brought it over and softened it up a bit for radio? It feels like that doesn't really happen anymore nowadays.

 

One obvious benefit of looking into Pig is that I'm also discovering other fantastic players that have come since. Found Gary "Bud" Smith's solo records yesterday, fantastic stuff. First heard him on Lee Ann Womack's debut, which Steve features heavily on. Gordon Mote, of course, from the other thread, plus Moon Mullican, Charlie Rich, Jim "Moose" Brown, getting deeper into Steve and Matt and John Jarvis... but I'm always open to other suggestions if anyone wants to throw anything else out there.

 

Lot of licks to shed lol.

[Steve Nathan]

I discovered Randy Travis's version. It looks like pretty similar personnel and sounds similar in many ways and came out about six months later, wondering if Randy & co just brought it over and softened it up a bit for radio?

 

Kyle Lehning produced the Randy cover and used several of the same players (different drummer, bass and guitar players). Pig played piano and having played the Hammond on Knoffler's cut, I overdubbed organ.

Knoffler is very "particular", and Kyle tried to stay as close to his recording as possible. When he played it for Mark, Mark's only comment was that there was a "note" different in the bass part.

[MAJUSCULE]

Lol, love it, thanks Steve. Yeah, as soon as Pig comes in it's pretty clear it's him on both cuts (now that I know who he is!)

[pinkfloydcramer]

One obvious benefit of looking into Pig is that I'm also discovering other fantastic players that have come since. Found Gary "Bud" Smith's solo records yesterday, fantastic stuff. First heard him on Lee Ann Womack's debut, which Steve features heavily on. Gordon Mote, of course, from the other thread, plus Moon Mullican, Charlie Rich, Jim "Moose" Brown, getting deeper into Steve and Matt and John Jarvis... but I'm always open to other suggestions if anyone wants to throw anything else out there.

 

Lot of licks to shed lol.

 

I've recently gotten into Bobby Wood, who recorded the iconic piano part to The Dance (others scoff, but I think there was a George Winston influence there). Love his playing on Willie Nelson and the Boys "Willie's Stash vol. 2". All the playing on it is stellar, you could tell the musicians benefitted from the great vibe. Check out Move It On Over and Moving On for uptempo trad country, Your Cold, Cold Heart and others.