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Harold Bradley - The World's Biggest Unknown Guitarist

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BBC Radio 2 - Harold Bradley - The World's Biggest Unknown Guitarist

A tribute to the late country star Harold Bradley, the most recorded guitarist in history

Country star Harold Bradley is the world's most recorded guitarist; after his death last week this programme pays tribute, with exclusive music from Harold, and Brad Paisley.

Country music guitarist Harold Bradley is the most recorded player in the world. On January 31st 2019 he died at the age of 93, leaving behind a legacy that will never be equalled. This programme, originally broadcast in 2014, pays tribute to one of country's music all-time legends.


 If you ask Harold Bradley how many records he's played on during his career he doesn't know. "It's over 13,000" he says, "but then there were 10 years of files that were destroyed & ten more years with no paperwork at all". 

Since 1946, Harold has been playing three sessions a day, five, six or seven days a week, with an average of three songs a session - you can do the maths!

A Nashville native, he played on every record Patsy Cline ever made, and with Elvis, the Everly Brothers, Roy Orbison, Don Gibson, Brenda Lee, Jerry Lee Lewis, Willie Nelson, JJ Cale, Buddy Holly and literally thousands more. You can hear him play on "Stand By Your Man", "King Of The Road" and "Jingle Bell Rock".

Despite all this, you've probably never heard of him, and that's exactly how he likes it.

This is his story, but also the story of an industry, of how Nashville became one of the world's pre-eminent music cities and a look at how records are made.

Harold himself is at the core of the programme, explaining his style and philosophy, recreating the session in which he recorded "Crazy" using exactly the same equipment for a spine-tingling listening experience, and reflecting on his many years as the king of the session guitarists.

Joining him to help tell the story are guests including  Brad Paisley and Steve Cropper, harmonica great Charlie McCoy, singer Mandy Barnett and many more.

The programme is presented by musician and author Sid Griffin, himself an accomplished country guitarist.

Amazing music. Played by an amazing line up.

Radio 2: Amazing music. Played by an amazing line-up. The home of great music, entertainment and documentaries

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