On this day (November 3) in 1926, Ray Quarles Edenton was born in Mineral, Virginia. A member of Nashville’s highly acclaimed “A-Team” session musicians, Edenton’s innovative rhythm guitar playing featured on more than 10,000 recordings in Nashville during his five-decade career. His resume includes numerous hits by Webb Pierce, Patsy Cline, the Everly Brothers’ “Bye Bye Love” and “Wake Up Little Susie”, Marty Robbins’ “Singing the Blues”, and Roger Miller’s “King of the Road”.
On September 21, 2022, Ray Edenton died at age 95 at his home in Goodlettsville, Tennessee.
In a statement issued after his death, Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum CEO Kyle Young declared him “one of the many hidden heroes of Music City.”
“Nashville’s musical legacy is elevated by Ray Edenton’s rock-solid, highly inventive rhythm guitar. He developed new guitar tunings to create sounds that had not been heard before… and the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum was always eager to shine a light on his virtuosity and ingenuity,” Young said.
Today, we’re also shining a light on the remarkable career of Ray Edenton in honor of his 100th birthday.
Early Life
Born into a musical family, Ray Edenton was entertaining guests at local square dances alongside his two brothers and cousins by age six. He mastered the guitar, bass, and mandolin.
Edenton served in the U.S. Army during World War II. Following his 1946 discharge, he played bass in a band called the Korn Krackers at the WRVA Old Dominion Barn Dance in Richmond.
Three years later, he moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, to work at WNOX. However, a particularly nasty bout of tuberculosis would sideline him for the next two years.
After a full recovery, moved to Nashville in 1952 and started playing acoustic rhythm guitar at the Grand Ole Opry.
Ray Edenton Left His Mark on Nashville
When Ray Edenton arrived in Nashville, very few records included drummers. So he emulated a snare-drum rhythm with his guitar, enhancing the Kitty Wells–Red Foley hit duet “One by One.”
Word spread, and Edenton quickly became a highly sought-after session musician. Over the course of his career, he accompanied artists including Julie Andrews, the Beach Boys, Gary Burton, Sammy Davis Jr., Reba McEntire, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Leon Russell, and Neil Young.
The A-Team
After a tragic car crash ended A-Team rhythm guitarist Hank Garland’s musical career in 1961, Ray Edenton stepped up to the plate. He became an integral member of the vaunted trio of session guitarists alongside Harold Bradley and Grady Martin.
When he officially retired from music in 1991, Edenton had more than 12,000 recording sessions under his belt.
In 2007, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum honored him as a “Nashville Cat,” a designation that celebrates musicians who have played important roles in the industry.
“There was Ray playin’ rhythm, and there was everybody else,” fellow A-Team guitarist and former Mercury Records Nashville producer Jerry Kennedy told Vintage Guitar magazine after Edenton’s death in 2022. “I hated to do a session without him. Unfortunately, he played in a situation where (rhythm guitar) was not noticed as much as everything else, but boy, was it felt!”
Featured image courtesy of the Country Music Hall of Fame via Vintage Guitar magazine
The post Born 100 Years Ago Today in Virginia, the “Hidden Hero of Music City” Who Played on Hits for Patsy Cline and the Everly Brothers appeared first on American Songwriter.