Behind every great solo or group musical act, there is a band of airtight backing musicians laying the grooves and turning up the heat on your favorite records in virtual anonymity. Audiophiles, music history buffs, and fellow players are likely to learn the names of the instrumentalists and backing vocalists on prominent records.
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But for the most part, these musicians remain behind the scenes, leaving us to associate the music with whoever’s name is on the front of the record. Headline billing or not, these backing musicians made some of the best records of all time, well, the best records of all time.
Grady Martin
If you heard a hot guitar lick on a record from the late 1950s through the mid-1960s, there’s a decent chance you were listening to Grady Martin. The prolific member of the Nashville A-Team played on classic cuts like Marty Robbins’ “El Paso,” Roy Orbison’s “Oh, Pretty Woman,” and Patsy Cline’s “Crazy.” His resumé is lengthy and certainly impressive, helping solidify the Nashville sound with lightning-fast riffs that managed never to step on the toes of the headlining performer. The Country Music Hall of Fame inducted Martin posthumously in 2015.
Carol Kaye
Carol Kaye’s grooving bass lines carried some of the greatest hits of the 1960s and ‘70s. Kaye, who still maintains an active online presence to this day, was a member of the famed Wrecking Crew, a group of Los Angeles session musicians who played on albums by the Mamas and the Papas, Sonny & Cher, the Byrds, and the Beach Boys. Indeed, this backing musician contributed to some of the best records of the mid-20th century, despite being relatively anonymous when one compares them to the musical acts for whom she played.
Earl Palmer
Some musicians earned a name for themselves after they joined the Wrecking Crew. Drummer Earl Palmer, however, already had one. Palmer was a highly sought-after session drummer in New Orleans starting in the late 1940s, playing on “Tutti Frutti” by Little Richard, “I’m Walkin’” by Fats Domino, and more. His decades-long career also led him to the West Coast, where he began playing with Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, Frank Sinatra, Dick Dale, and countless others. The heartbeat of American pop music continued to work into the late 1990s.
Merry Clayton
Fewer people know Merry Clayton than they do popular bands like the Rolling Stones or Lynyrd Skynyrd, but this backing musician contributed to some of these groups’ best records. The backup vocalist is the prominent soloist on the Stones’ “Gimme Shelter” as well as Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama.” The power she imbued in these songs was seemingly effortless, especially considering iconic tracks like “Gimme Shelter” were recorded in the middle of the night while she was still in pajamas with rollers in her hair.
Photo by GAB Archive/Redferns
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