NASHVILLE, Tenn. | Country Music Hall of Fame guitarist Harold Bradley, who played on hundreds of popular country records including “Crazy,” ”King of the Road” and “Crying” and helped establish “The Nashville Sound” with his brother Owen, has died at the age of 93.
His daughter Beverly Bradley said he died Thursday morning in Nashville, Tennessee, where he was born.
The Bradley brothers were a major influence on Nashville during the 1950s, with Harold serving as a member of the “A Team” of session musicians and Owen leading Decca Records.
Harold was born in 1926 and switched from banjo to guitar at the urging of his brother. He was a teenager when he started playing professionally, touring with Ernest Tubb and making his debut on the “Grand Ole Opry.”
During World War II, he served in the U.S. Navy and after his discharge, he came back to Nashville to become an in-demand session player. He played on songs for Hank Williams, Eddy Arnold, Brenda Lee, the Everly Brothers, Burl Ives, Red Foley, Anita Bryant and more.
Many consider him to be one of the most recorded musicians ever, appearing on multiple Elvis Presley records. Some of the most well-known hits he played on include “Make The World Go Away,” by Arnold, “Harper Valley P.T.A.” by Jeannie C. Riley, “Stand By Your Man,” by Tammy Wynette, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” by Lee and “Battle of New Orleans” by Johnny Horton.
In the 1950s, the Bradley brothers started a recording studio on what is now Music Row, just the second studio to locate there. There was a surplus Army structure on the property called a Quonset hut that they turned into the now historic studio where they also filmed TV performances.