Fort Myers' harmonica legend Charlie McCoy played with George Jones, Bob Dylan, many more
Charles Runnells
He’s played harmonica and other instruments on some of the most famous songs in country- and rock-music history.
That’s him on George Jones’ “He Stopped Loving Her Today.” And Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Boxer.” And Roy Orbison’s “Pretty Woman.” And Tanya Tucker’s “Delta Dawn.” And Bob Dylan’s “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35.”
And the list goes on and on.
Still, you’ve probably never heard of Fort Myers winter resident Charlie McCoy. That’s because he’s worked behind the scenes most of his career as a Nashville session man, making the stars shine in the recording studio without drawing too much attention to himself.
He’s just fine with that, too. After six decades in the business — and his own modest solo career — McCoy says he loves his place in Nashville (where he still lives part-time and does almost 50 recording sessions a year).
“I’m perfectly happy to be anonymous doing sessions,” he says. “When I decided I was going to be a studio musician, I knew that was part of it — and I didn’t care.”
The West Virginia native still remembers watching a recording session with singer Brenda Lee in 1959.
That moment changed everything for him.
“When they played that first playback, it was magic," he says. "Then they did one more take, and that was the record. … It came together so quick, and I couldn’t believe it.”
“What I saw going on was so creative and so good. And I thought, ‘Boy, I want to be a part of something like this, to play with amazing musicians, you know."
Fans can see McCoy’s talents for themselves when he plays a free concert Thursday, Feb. 6, for the monthly Songwriters at Sunset concert at Lovers Key State Park in Fort Myers Beach. He’ll perform with singer-songwriters Roy Schneider and Kim Mayfield, including his original song “Lover’s Key.”
Like many people, concert organizer Bob Williams admits he’d never heard of McCoy until recently. Then he looked him up online and found thousands of songs McCoy had recorded with some of the most famous people in music history.
“I Googled him,” Williams says. “You go through it, and it’s absolutely unbelievable.”
Still, more people might recognize McCoy now than they did just a decade ago. He got inducted into Nashville’s Country Music Hall of Fame in 2009. And then, last year, he was featured prominently in the Ken Burns documentary “Country Music,” which appeared on PBS stations nationwide.
McCoy, 78, says he was thrilled to be a part of the documentary — and even he was impressed by its wealth of information about country music.
“You know, I thought I knew all that stuff,” he says. “But boy, I learned a lot!”
The harmonica player deserves his place alongside the other big names in “Country Music,” says John Rumble, a historian for Nashville's Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. McCoy — who also plays guitar, trumpet, saxophone and more — is one of the most important musicians in Nashville history.
McCoy had a few modest solo hits in the late '60s and early '70s — including his Grammy Award-winning 1972 album “The Real McCoy” — but he's best known for making his unforgettable mark on other people's songs.
“He, more than anybody, set the benchmark for the harmonica in the recent history of country music,” Rumble says. “You think of harmonica, you think of Charlie McCoy.
“Charlie is the ultimate session player. He’s extremely versatile. He’s played thousands of sessions with hundreds of different artists.”
McCoy has come a long way since he was 8 years old and ordered his first harmonica out of a comic book. He paid for it with 50 cents and a box top.
When the harmonica arrived, he didn't know what to do with the thing. He'd blow, but only noise came out. "I found out that cats and dogs don't like the sound of the harmonica," McCoy told The News-Press in 2009.
He got better, of course. And his love of music eventually led him to music college and performing in Miami bars. That’s where country legend and Florida native Mel Tillis — who died in 2017 in Ocala at age 85 — discovered McCoy in Miami's Club 17 and urged him to go to Nashville.
"There was this little band playing," Tillis told The News-Press in 2009. "And they were real good. But there was this one kid, he played every single instrument up there.
"He played the trumpet. He played the saxophone. He played lead. He played drums. And I said, 'Man, he's good.'"
McCoy eventually showed up in Music City with a pillowcase full of harmonicas, Tillis recalled, and he played for talent agent and song publisher Jim Denny. "And the next thing I knew, he was doing sessions."
That first week in 1961, McCoy played on two songs that eventually became hits. That's his harmonica all over Roy Orbison's "Candy Man." And that's him on Ann-Margret's "I Just Don't Understand."
After that, McCoy played on Tanya Tucker's "Delta Dawn," George Jones' "He Stopped Loving Her Today," Johnny Paycheck's "Take This Job and Shove It," Simon and Garfunkel's "The Boxer." And many, many more.
McCoy's New York session with Dylan led the folk-rock superstar to come to Nashville and record many of his most famous '60s albums, including “Blonde On Blonde" and “Nashville Skyline.” That exposure, in turn, helped open the floodgates for other rock and pop musicians to record in Music City.
It’s hard to imagine many of those hit songs without McCoy’s harmonica parts, Rumble says. As a session player, McCoy never showed off during recording sessions. Instead, he played to enhance the song and the artist.
“You feel the emotion of the song in his playing,” Rumble says. “He has a superb, unfailing instinct to play the right thing at the right time.”
McCoy says his favorite sessions include working with Elvis Presley on seven of The King's movie soundtracks.
“Recording with Elvis was something really special, because he was such a nice, great guy,” McCoy says. “At that point in time, he was so famous he could hardly walk out on the streets.
"But in the studio, it was his safe place. He was there with people he respected and liked. And he was so much fun in there.”
Then there’s George Jones’ iconic song “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” featuring McCoy on the harmonica for its second verse — but, notably, not the first. The producer forgot McCoy was supposed to be playing on the session and, after a break, told him to come in on the second verse.
“It was the least I’ve ever played on a record, and probably the best,” McCoy says and laughs. “There’s four little things, and that’s it. But I’m real proud of that.”
At the height of McCoy’s career in the 1960s and '70s, he did about 400 sessions a year. He estimates he's done more than 12,000 sessions.
These days, McCoy doesn’t do anywhere near as many — about 46 last year, all with lesser-known acts. But he has no plans to completely retire from the Nashville music scene.
He loves it too much to quit.
"This is what I do," he says. "My head and my heart need it. ... And as long as the man in the mirror is proud of what I do, I’ll keep doin’ it.
"Every day that goes by, I think of how blessed I am to have done this and to keep doing this, you know?”
If you go
What: Songwriters At Sunset concert
When: 4:15 to 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 6
Where: The large beach gazebo at Lovers Key State Park, 8700 Estero Blvd., Fort Myers Beach
Admission: Free admission with park entry fee of $4-$8 per vehicle.
Info:americanacma.org
Bio Box
Who: Charlie McCoy
Age: 78
Job: Nashville session player
Birthplace: Oak Hill, West Virginia
Home: Nashville and Fort Myers, where's he's lived since 1998
Other accomplishments: McCoy was music director for TV show "Hee-Haw" in the '70s and '80s. He had a modest country hit with the 1972 instrumental "Today I Started Loving You Again." He won a Grammy Award that year for his album "The Real McCoy."
The Nashville Number System: McCoy helped popularize this musical shorthand in Nashville. The Nashville Number System is a method of assigning numbers to chord patterns, making it easier for session players to quickly learn a piece of music.
Info: Learn more about McCoy at charliemccoy.com
McCoy has played in thousands of Nashville recording sessions, including many hits. Here's a sampling of his best-known work:
Harmonica
- "Candy Man" and "Blue Bayou" (Roy Orbison)
- "The Boxer" (Simon & Garfunkel)
- "Dream on Little Dreamer" (Perry Como)
- "When the Tingle Becomes a Chill" (Loretta Lynn)
- "Joshua" and "My Tennessee Mountain Home" (Dolly Parton)
- "I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool" (Barbara Mandrell and George Jones)
- "Take This Job & Shove It" (Johnny Paycheck)
- "Delta Dawn" (Tanya Tucker)
- "Orange Blossom Special" and “It Ain’t Me Babe” (Johnny Cash)
- "Love For Sale" (Manhattan Transfer)
- "The Streak" (Ray Stevens)
- “Obviously Five Believers” (Bob Dylan)
Bass guitar
- The albums "John Wesley Harding," "Nashville Skyline" and "Self Portrait" (Bob Dylan)
- "Songs from a Room" (Leonard Cohen)
Trumpet
- "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" (Bob Dylan)
Saxophone
- "Pretty Woman" (Roy Orbison, saxophone)
Percussion
- "Blue Velvet" (Bobby Vinton)