Ernie Newton (bass player)

Probably the most widely used bass player in country music from the late 1940s and throughout the 1950s – Ernest Darius “Ernie” Newton was born in Hartford, Connecticut on 7 November 1909. By the age of five he had been orphaned and lived in several children's homes until the age of 15, when he ran away to appear across the US in various Minstrel shows. He worked as a musician on WLS Radio in the Chicago area, recording with “The Hill Toppers” before becoming a regular bassist for Fred Waring’s Pennsylvanians in 1935. It was whilst he was working for Waring that he met up initially with Les Paul, becoming an original member of the famed Les Paul Trio along with Jim Atkins (Chet Atkins' brother).[1]

Ernie eventually became acquainted with singer Red Foley and travelled south to Nashville in 1946 as bass player in Foley’s band “The Foggy River Boys” when Foley was engaged to host the "Prince Albert" segment of the WSM Grand Ole Opry. In Nashville, Newton's reputation for versatility and professionalism landed him a spot as the Opry's "house" bass player and he featured on numerous recording sessions at leading Nashville studios.

At a time when drums were effectively taboo in country music, Newton was the first Nashville bassist to develop and master the technique of mounting a drum head to the bass for rhythmic effect when between plucking the strings he would hit the drum head with a brush held in his right hand.[2] As a session man, Newton was prolific and can be heard on many of the most popular country songs of the late 1940s through to the mid 1950s such as I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry (Hank Williams), Making Believe (Kitty Wells) I'm Moving On (Hank Snow), There Stands the Glass (Webb Pierce), I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know (The Davis Sisters), Blue Moon Of Kentucky (Bill Monroe 1954) and Man of Constant Sorrow (The Stanley Brothers).

Ernie Newton also memorably introduced maracas into Country music when he suggested to Johnnie Wright and Jack Anglin (Country duo “ Johnnie and Jack” ) that they should differentiate themselves from other similar groups by introducing the instrument into their 1951 song Poison Love. The result was a massive hit for the duo and a great feat of technical skill from Newton who played the bass and maracas simultaneously on the recording.[3]

Outside of music, Ernie Newton was a talented golfer – so much so that he curtailed his musical career in the late 1950s and became a golf professional at a country club in the Nashville area.

Ernie Newton died in Nashville, Tennessee on 17 October 1976.

References

  1. ↑ Kingsbury, Paul (2012). The Encyclopedia Of Country Music (Second ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 364.
  2. ↑ countrymusichalloffame.org/OralHistoryCollection/OralDetailHistory/ernie-newton
  3. ↑ Friskics- Warren, Bill (27 September 2011). "Johnnie Wright 97 ,Singer and Country Bandleader Is Dead". New York Times.