Harold Bradley

Harold Bradley (born January 2, 1926, in Nashville, Tennessee) is a pop guitarist and an American country guitarist.

Harold played banjo as a child but switched to guitar on the advice of his elder brother, Owen Bradley. Owen arranged for Harold to tour with Ernest Tubb while Harold was still in high school. After graduation, Harold joined the Navy. After his discharge, he attended George Peabody College in Nashville, studying music and accompanied Eddie Arnold and Bradley Kincaid at the Grand Ole Opry. His first session was with Pee Wee King and the Golden West Cowboys in 1946.

Owen and Harold built Bradley Film and Recording Studios, later known as the Quonset Hut, which was the first music-industry related business on what is now known as Music Row, in 1954. Harold enjoyed frequent work as a session musician into the 1970s, performing on hundreds of albums by country stars such as Patsy Cline, Willie Nelson, Roy Orbison, and Elvis Presley. He also played bass guitar on records, initiating the "tic-tac" method of bass muting. According to Guitar Player Magazine, Harold is the most recorded guitar player in the world and he is a member of the Nashville A-Team, which was inducted in to the Musician's Hall of Fame in 2007.

Harold recorded three albums as a pop guitarist on Columbia Records, "Misty Guitar", "Guitar for Lovers Only", and "Bossa Nova Goes to Nashville" in the 1960s.

From 1991 - 2008, Harold served as the president of the Nashville chapter of the American Federation of Musicians(AFM). In 1999 he was elected as the AFM International Vice-President and still serves in that capacity.

Bradley was inducted in to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2006 as was his brother Owen previously.

In 2010 Harold was one recipient of the Trustees Award at the 52nd Grammy Awards.

See also

• The Nashville A-Team

References

• Harold Bradley at Allmusic
• Official Web Site for Harold Bradley