Grady Martin
Musician · b. 1929 · Chapel Hill, Tennessee
Best known for
Guitar
Grady Martin was a cornerstone of the Nashville A-Team session corps from the late 1950s through the 1970s, the guitarist behind some of country and rockabilly's most familiar records and the accidental inventor of the fuzz-guitar tone.
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- Born January 17, 1929 in Chapel Hill, Tennessee.
- Played the Spanish-style nylon-string acoustic on Marty Robbins' 1959 hit "El Paso" and the lead on Robbins' "Don't Worry" (1961).
- Credited with the accidental discovery of the fuzz guitar tone on "Don't Worry" when a faulty mixing-console channel distorted his six-string bass.
- Session credits include Roy Orbison's "Oh, Pretty Woman," Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Johnny Burnette, Brenda Lee, and Joan Baez.
- Led his own combo, Grady Martin and the Slew Foot Five, recording instrumental albums for Decca.
- Toured and recorded with Willie Nelson's band starting in 1978.
- Died of a heart attack in Lewisburg, Tennessee on December 3, 2001; buried at Hopper Cemetery in Marshall County.
- Inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame (2007), the Rockabilly Hall of Fame, and elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2015.
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Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass BoysPlayed on recordings with Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys
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The Osborne BrothersPlayed on recordings with The Osborne Brothers
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Flatt & ScruggsPlayed on recordings with Flatt & Scruggs
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Hylo BrownPlayed on recordings with Hylo Brown
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Jimmy Martin and the Sunny Mountain BoysPlayed on recordings with Jimmy Martin and the Sunny Mountain Boys
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Jim & JessePlayed on recordings with Jim & Jesse
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Doc WatsonPlayed on recording with Doc Watson
