Norm Stephens |
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Today Merle Haggard
is onto his latest release, "Roots, Volume 1," released in November
(Anti), featuring covers of songs made famous by Lefty Frizzell and Hanks
Williams and Thompson plus three new Haggard originals that somehow manage
to slip in seamlessly between the older numbers.
Prominently featured on the new album is the distinctive
lead guitar work of Norman Stephens, who also played lead guitar on two
of Lefty Frizzell's first recording sessions. In fact, "Roots, Volume
1" marks Stephen's first appearance on record in five decades. Norm
now travels on the road and plays guitar for Merle Haggard. |
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"It was an effort to try to
recapture some of that great music that was made by Hank Williams, Lefty
Frizzell, Hank Thompson and people like that; the kind of music that (transitioned)
from the big bands into Elvis," says Haggard from his home in Redding,
Cal. "Norm Stephens had all the necessary electronic information
(and) knowledge. He was there when it happened. He was such a valuable
find. Not only to me, but to the public." Dispensing with modern
multitracking techniques, Haggard decided to record the band live in the
studio; straight to tape without any effects or overdubs added later.
Norm's experience lended to this great old sound.
"That was part of the emulation of that period of time," says Haggard. "We hadn't come so far that we lost everything in reverb. I think that kind of started with rockabilly and Elvis. Prior to that, music was done pretty much straight into the microphone. We didn't do any overdubs or anything. There's some bass mistakes in there and a couple of bad notes on my part, and me and (bassist) Eddie (Curtis) will just have to live with those. But we did pretty good for trying to capture that old sound." Stephens says, "(Merle) wanted to try and make it sound as original as possible. Of course, Jim Beck's studio was pretty popular back in those days when Lefty was recording. Merle decided to quit using the gadgetry that they have nowadays and just record it as naturally as we could. So, he set up a little room in his own house and set up a sound engineer there with a little machine that he had and everybody just played live. So, it was kind of like we did in the old days." Stephens' discography might not be extensive - eight songs recorded with Frizzell in 1950 and 1951 (a mid-'50's stint with Hank Thompson went unrecorded) - but considering that four of those songs went to the top of the charts, he was heard by millions nonetheless, influencing thousands of future country guitarists - including Merle Haggard - with his fluid style. Ironically, Haggard and Stephens had practically lived within a stone's throw of one another for years. Though Stephens had long known that Haggard lived nearby, he never attempted to contact him. "I didn't want to bother him because he's always getting someone coming up saying, 'I knew your grand- mother,' or some such thing as that," says Stephens, 70. For his part, Haggard had no idea that Stephens was even still alive, much less living nearby. Stephens is mentioned only twice in Daniel Cooper's 1995 biography of Frizzell. Since Stephens' recording career had ended so early, little was known about him. And though friends with Frizzell in his later years, Haggard never got around to asking the late singer about Stephens' whereabouts. Oddly enough, Haggard now recalls a fiddle player who worked with him about 10 years ago asking about a Norm Stephens who lived nearby, but at the time Haggard didn't make the connection in his own mind. "I just ran into him by accident," says Haggard, 64. "He lives about 12 miles from me, and I didn't know it. Over the years, he's been one of the people I've admired the most on guitar. My piano player (Doug Colosio) asked me if I'd ever heard of a guitar player named Norman Stephens, and I said, 'Yeah, he was on Lefty Frizzell's first records.' He said, 'Well, he's got an ad in the paper.' So, he called him, and I asked him, 'Are you the guy that played on 'If You've Got the Money I've Got the Time?', and he said 'Yeah.' So, I said, 'Why don't we get together?' So, within 48 hours, we were making this album." "When I retired, my wife asked me why I didn't get back into playing a little bit," continues Stephens. "So, I started calling a few people around town and asked them if they wanted to do charity work because I didn't think we'd be able to book a band of any size. It turns out that a couple of these folks that I called knew Merle's piano player. Somehow my name got mentioned, (and) that got to Merle." "I was kind of flattered that he wanted me to come out and do some work with him. I walked into his house, and he shook my hand and said, 'So, you're Norm Stephens?' He said he'd been an admirer of mine for most of his life, and I had no idea that that was the case. He said he's been listening to my guitar work on Lefty's records for a long time and tried to pattern some of his own stuff on what I'd done. That was kind of a surprise and a compliment to me, of course." "It so happened that he had been thinking about
doing a tribute to Lefty Frizzell. Since I was on Lefty's original records,
he thought it'd be appropriate for me to be on the tribute." Although
Stephens hadn't played much over the past decade, he says that it didn't
take him long to recover his technique. |
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