On this day (October 27) in 1933, Floyd Cramer was born in Shreveport, Louisiana. His unique and innovative approach to the piano influenced generations of musicians. Moreover, his style became the backbone of country music’s Nashville Sound, which encompassed some of the genre’s biggest names in the 1950s and ’60s. He played on countless timeless hit songs and is a member of multiple halls of fame.
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Cramer was seemingly destined for greatness. He taught himself to play piano as a child in the small town of Huttig, Arkansas. In 1951, after finishing high school, he returned to Shreveport and took a job with The Louisiana Hayride. There, he met Elvis Presley, who hired Cramer as his pianist. However, he didn’t limit his playing to a single group or artist.
According to the Country Music Hall of Fame, Cramer began his career as a professional musician at the perfect time. Lefty Frizzell’s records, which featured classic honky tonk piano, were gaining traction. This led many artists to want a piano on their singles. However, session pianists were few and far between in Nashville. So, in 1955, Cramer moved from Shreveport to Nashville and took on a full-time job as a session pianist for Chet Atkins.
“By 1956 and ’57, I was in day and night doing sessions,” Cramer once said. He performed on records from Patsy Cline, Brenda Lee, Eddy Arnold, Don Gibson, and many more. Notably, he performed on Jim Reeves’ first No. 1 single, “Mexican Joe,” and some of Cline’s biggest hits, including “Crazy.”
Floyd Cramer Develops a Game-Changing Style
During the recording session that produced Hank Locklin’s “Please Help Me, I’m Falling,” Floyd Cramer picked up the so-called slip-note style. He heard a demo of the song on which composer Don Robertson slid from one note to the one above it on the piano. This caught Cramer’s ear, and he added it to his bag of tricks.
“It’s been done for a long time on the guitar by people like Maybelle Carter and by lots of people on the steel guitar,” Cramer said of the style. “Half-tones are very common, but the style I use mainly is a whole-tone slur which gives more of a lonesome cowboy sound,’ he explained.
To showcase the style, Cramer wrote and released “Last Date.” It peaked at No. 2 on the Hot 100. At the time, Elvis Presley was at No. 1 with “Are You Lonesome Tonight,” on which Cramer played piano.
The fact that the piano in “Last Date” sounds like what many would associate with standard country piano speaks volumes about Cramer’s lasting influence.
Floyd Cramer died on New Year’s Eve in 1997. Six years later, in 2003, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Five years later, he was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame.
Featured Image by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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