Guit-picking Treat with Emmylou

Jon Light · From: Saugerties, NY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzhLojTaX9w

If someone said 'listen to the hot guitar picking with the Hot Band' I'd say 'which Albert Lee cut'?

Nope.

Couple of notes --
-- I don't know that I've ever heard Emmylou so hyper and growling so hard. I love it.
-- Frank Reckard is doing such a great job of seamlessly playing hot guitar licks and B-Bending. If he weren't so good I'd get little bent about how much steel territory he covers. Instead, it's just deep, solid hot dog AND musical picking.

Never saw this clip before although I would not be a bit surprised to learn that it has been posted here before, multiple times.

John De Maille · From: On a Mountain in Upstate Halcottsville, N.Y.

I used to play like that.... NOT !!!!!!!
Unbelievable guitar player! Right up there with all the greats!

Brooks Montgomery · From: Idaho, USA

Where is Frank Reckard these days? Holy smokes, what a picker!
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A banjo, like a pet monkey, seems like a good idea at first.

Jerry Overstreet · From: Louisville Ky

Hot Stuff! I've seen a few of old TV shows with Frank Reckard not really being aware of him, but no matter, he more than gets it done!

John Larson · From: Pennsyltucky, USA

That's Steve Fishell on steel in this vid right?

Last Date is one of my very favorite country live albums. The Hot Band was on fire there as well.

All the incarnations of the Hot band were just filled with spectacular talent. It's not easy to follow in the footsteps of James Burton and Albert Lee but Frank shows here he totally deserved that gig.

The Hot Band backed up Roseanne Cash on some of her early 80s albums as well including the massive hit "Seven Year Ache".

Here's more live Hot Band from the early 80 Austin City Limits

We will forever be indebted to Gram Parsons for discovering Emmylou.
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Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous; praise is meet for the upright. Give praise to the Lord with the harp, chant unto Him with the ten-stringed psaltery. Sing unto Him a new song, chant well unto Him with jubilation. For the word of the Lord is true, and all His works are in faithfulness. The Lord loveth mercy and judgement; the earth is full of the mercy of the Lord.
- Psalm 33:1-5

K Maul · From: Hadley, NY/Hobe Sound, FL

Dave Mudgett · From: Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee

Frank is certainly tearing it up on that double-cut Les Paul Junior with what looks like a Glaser B-Bender, in TV Yellow no less. Lots of cool musical quotes embedded. Great player indeed. I always took a double-take on that Junior - just proves you only really need one pickup, and a P90 works jes' fine for chicken pickin' if you know how. A pretty far cry from Leslie West on Mississippi Queen.

BTW - Frank and this clip got some exposure in this Guitar Player article a few years ago - https://www.guitarplayer.com/players/unsung-guitar-greats-the-twangy-mastery-of-frank-reckard

Frank went to law school and practiced law in water rights in New Mexico - his wikipedia bio is here - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Reckard

John Larson · From: Pennsyltucky, USA

FRANK RECKARD of Emmylou's Hot Band - Ask Zac 82

Stumbled across this thanks to the YouTube algorithm.
_________________
Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous; praise is meet for the upright. Give praise to the Lord with the harp, chant unto Him with the ten-stringed psaltery. Sing unto Him a new song, chant well unto Him with jubilation. For the word of the Lord is true, and all His works are in faithfulness. The Lord loveth mercy and judgement; the earth is full of the mercy of the Lord.
- Psalm 33:1-5

Larry Dering · From: Missouri, USA

That's some wicked good playing. What a band.

Andre Dardeau · From: Louisiana, USA

The best part about Last Date is that Emmylou bought a pink paisley tele like James Burton and learned the head to Buckaroo note for note on the bus because she wanted to play it on the record.

Bob Carlucci · From: Candor, New York, USA

Frank was/is a great player that kind of flew under the radar when great players were discussed..Kind of gets lost in the conversation when guys like James Burton,Ray Flacke and Albert Lee were his contemporaries, but he stands toe to toe with all of those guys..I see he was using a TV Yellow DC but it looks like some sort of 1 P90 pickup model that I am not familiar with. Most of those were LP Specials with 2 P90's, and thats what I thought he used.. Great tone for country for guys in the know.. lots of single coil twang, but much easier to control the high end than a tele, and more growl and punch.... bob
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I'm over the hill and hittin'rocks on the way down!

no gear list for me.. you don't have the time......

Dave Mudgett · From: Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee

Bob, it's just a late-50s (mainly '58-60, with some carryover into '61) double-cutaway TV Yellow Les Paul Junior. They made both Juniors (1 P90) and Specials (2 P90s) in TV Yellow throughout the run, both single and double-cut.

The neck pickup position on the double-cut Special was practically abutting the end of the neck, which left less wood at the neck joint and weakened it. So later DC specials moved the neck pickup away from the neck somewhat to strengthen the neck joint. This makes it a bit easier to get a rough date visually - e.g., 58 or early 59 vs. later. Juniors had no such distinction - it could have been any of those years. Of course, a serial number or pot date code (if original) could be used to get a better idea of year.

I agree that P90 Les Pauls can have plenty of twang. I seriously thought about getting a '58 TV Yellow Les Paul Special with a Bigsby at the Indiana Guitar Show last year. I wasn't absolutely sure about the originality of the Bigsby, but a friend (himself a fine luthier with lots of connections) was able to authenticate that on the spot, and bought it himself. It's killer. I'm not complaining, as I wound up with an original early '68 LP Gold Top - the original issue with one-piece neck and P90s - which I dearly love. Again, no problem in the twang department, but also amazing for blues, rock and roll, or jazz. P90 Les Pauls have, somehow, been typecast as a purely rock and roll machine. I disagree. Of course, those of us who were able to witness Leslie West in his prime in Mountain know full well that they are certainly one of the premier rock and roll machines. But I think ya' can play pretty much anything on a P90 Goldtop or Special. I love Juniors, and for what Frank's doing here, it's absolutely perfect. Me, myself, I have ultimately concluded that I really hafta have a neck pickup for some things.

Listening again, the stream of steady 16th notes at around 145 BPM with occasional 32nd note flourishes, is pretty ear-popping. But I agree with Jon's original point about how genuinely musical this all is. This is not just a bunch of flash.

Bob Carlucci · From: Candor, New York, USA

Dave , I just haven't seen many original TV yellow Juniors with double cutaway.. Lots of Specials, not Juniors, and the vast majority of Juniors I have seen over the years were single cut... Modern day, I see millions of single cut P90 equipped MIC DC's, selling for peanuts, and some are actually good players...The DC body seems more popular today than it did "back in the day".. I do know the necks are more stable on SC Les pauls from that era... bob
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I'm over the hill and hittin'rocks on the way down!

no gear list for me.. you don't have the time......

Gary Spaeth · From: Wisconsin, USA

Lee Rider · From: Fort Bragg, California, USA

Dave Mudgett: "I agree that P90 Les Pauls can have plenty of twang. I seriously thought about getting a '58 TV Yellow Les Paul Special with a Bigsby at the Indiana Guitar Show last year. I wasn't absolutely sure about the originality of the Bigsby, but a friend (himself a fine luthier with lots of connections) was able to authenticate that on the spot, and bought it himself. It's killer. I'm not complaining, as I wound up with an original early '68 LP Gold Top - the original issue with one-piece neck and P90s - which I dearly love. Again, no problem in the twang department, but also amazing for blues, rock and roll, or jazz. P90 Les Pauls have, somehow, been typecast as a purely rock and roll machine. I disagree. Of course, those of us who were able to witness Leslie West in his prime in Mountain know full well that they are certainly one of the premier rock and roll machines. But I think ya' can play pretty much anything on a P90 Goldtop or Special. I love Juniors, and for what Frank's doing here, it's absolutely perfect. Me, myself, I have ultimately concluded that I really hafta have a neck pickup for some things."

I had a '69 Goldtop with a Parsons/White bender. What a great guitar. I would not have done the bender if it did not have a repaired headstock, but I got the guitar for $800 in about 1998 or so. It now resides with Jonas Holmberg in Sweden:

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Bowman SD10 push pull 3x5, Modified Hudson PedalBro, Sarno Tonic preamp, Evans FET 500. with Altec 418B, Standel Custom 15, '67 Showman with D-130F in cabinet, Ganz Straight Ahead, custom Wolfe 6 string dobro, '52 Gibson Century 6.

Dave Mudgett · From: Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee

Lee, that's wicked cool. Yup, with the headstock repair, that's a perfect candidate for a Parsons bender. Let's just say, I won't be doing that with my '68, lol.

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