Scotty Moore

Winfield Scott " Scotty" Moore III (* December 27, 1931 in Tennessee ) is an American musician and guitarist. Moore was known to a wide audience as the guitarist of Elvis Presley.

Life

Born on an isolated farm between the towns of Gadsden and Humboldt ( Tennessee) as the youngest of four children, Moore learned to play the guitar at the age of eight. Moore's earliest influences were doing jazz and country; Model was the Country guitarist Chet Atkins. After Moore returned from military service in 1952, he founded with bassist Bill Black, a country band called The Starlite Wranglers, which under the leadership of Sam Phillips had his first shots at the record label Sun Records.

In the summer of 1954, Moore was recommended by Marion Keisker, a secretary of Sam Phillips, the young singer Elvis Presley. In July 1954 Moore and Black made ​​the first recordings with Presley, where among other things the song That's All Right Mama was taken; a piece of black singer Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup. Elvis, Black and Moore then founded with drummer DJ Fontana, the band Blue Moon Boys. Moore took over temporarily the management of Presley and the Blue Moon Boys began touring through the southern United States. With the increasing success of the name Blue Moon Boys entered in favor of the name Elvis Presley in the background.

During the following years, Moore worked with on many recordings by Presley. His guitar playing can be heard among other things, Good Rockin 'Tonight, Baby Let's Play House Heartbreak Hotel, Mystery Train, Hound Dog, Too Much and Jailhouse Rock. Next Moore can be seen in many television shows and movies in addition to Presley. The last appearance with Presley took place on the NBC television network in 1968 with the TV show Elvis NBC TV Special.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Moore worked as a guitarist and producer for various artists. Thus produced Moore 1970 Ringo Starr's solo album Beaucoup of Blues, played in 1975 with the Rock ' n ' Roller Carl Perkins on his plate EP Express and produced until the end of the 1980s music for television shows by and with artists such as Dolly Parton, Bob Hope, Perry Como, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis.

In 1992, Moore returned as an active musician for Sun Records and now produces concerts where famous artists often give small cameos. So Moore was accompanied, among others, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards and Lee Rocker ( Stray Cats ). Next Moore is active on numerous tribute concerts in honor of Elvis Presley.

In 2000, Moore was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2003, Moore was elected number 44 by the American Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 most influential guitarists.

Music

Similar to Presley's singing a bridge between the "white" country and the "black " blues beat, Moore developed a guitar style which combined the clear sound of country guitar with the soulful melodies of blues and jazz. This sound, electrically amplified by electric guitar and spread by Presley records worldwide, was style icon for rock ' n' roll music. In addition to the traditional function of the accompanying guitar Moore was already playing on early recordings strong melodies and distinctive rhythms, which were later taken up and developed by many guitarists in their works. Even today, mention many well-known guitarists such as Keith Richards and Eric Clapton Moore as a model. Moore is a finger picker, that is, he plays the guitar with a thumb pick, he also love to use as a pick, he plays single notes or octaves. Some of other guitarists that influenced Moore, guitarist Merle Travis were, in turn, also influenced Chet Atkins, and the jazz guitarist Barney Kessel, who played on four albums ( soundtracks from the 1960s ) of Elvis Presley guitar.

As a manager, guitarist and friend Moore Presley taught various guitar techniques. Presley, who initially had a relatively primitive, rough guitar style, developed, according to fellow musicians under the influence of Moore for a reasonable rhythm guitarist. It is also known that Moore and Presley, the instruments often exchanged with each other, so that particularly in the early stages of many instruments that played Presley on stage, once owned by Moore.

Equipment

Scotty Moore is his life hollowbody electric guitars ( archtops ) remained loyal to the brand Gibson. While he recorded the earliest hits of the "King" on the model of Gibson ES -295, he moved in 1955 to the model Gibson L-5 and two years later moved to Gibson Super 400 as a guitar amp he used at the beginning of the model Fender " Tweed " Champ. This was soon replaced by an echo Sonic. This amp has a built-in tape echo, thus ensuring the sought on rock ' n' roll recordings " slap " sound. An acoustic guitar features Moore the Gibson J-200 Jumbo Acoustic, but this was mostly played by Elvis.

End of the 1980s gave him his Gibson Chet Atkins signature model, the Moore from then on played mainly. For his comeback, he had revived his old Echo Sonic, next he uses a Fender Dual Professional.

Discography (selection)

Note: Due to the large number of publications related to Elvis Presley, especially in the 1950s, a final Discography gears are difficult to.

With Elvis Presley

With Jerry Lee Lewis

With Carl Perkins

With members of the Bill Black Combo, D. J. Fontana, Keith Richards, Ron Wood and Others

With other artists

• Lee Rocker - Big Blue ( 1994)
• Steve Ripley & The Tractors - Farmers in a Changing World ( Arista, 1998)
• Ron Wood - Not for Beginners (2002)
• Alvin Lee - In Tennessee (2004)