Hank Garland
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Walter 'Hank' Garland (November 11, 1930 – December 27, 2004) was a legendary Nashville studio musician.
Born in Cowpens, South Carolina, Garland began playing the guitar at the age of 6 and had a million-selling hit at 19 with Sugar Foot Rag. He is probably best known for his work on the early Elvis Presley recordings such as Little Sister and Big Hunk of Love. However, Garland also worked with many of the country music stars of the late 1950s and early 1960s including Brenda Lee, Mel Tillis, Marty Robbins, Everly Brothers, Boots Randolph, Roy Orbison, Conway Twitty and Hank Williams Sr.. He also played with jazz greats like George Shearing and Charlie Parker.
He played with Elvis from 1957 to 1961 but a car crash left him in a coma for months. He eventually recovered but had lost most of his memory. While he did learn to walk, talk and play the guitar again, he was never able to go back to performing.
Garland died on December 27, 2004 of a staph infection in Orange Park, Florida.
