Charlie McCoy

Charlie McCoy – born March 28, 1941, in Oak Hill, West Virginia – is a country music multi-instrumentalist, solo artist, and session musician best-known for his harmonica playing on many recordings by artists such as Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan Johnny Cash, and many others. and led his own successful career in country music. Born in Oak Hill, Virginia, he grew up in Miami, Florida, where he learned to play the harmonica and the guitar. After playing with several country and rock bands, he was encouraged by country singer Mel Tillis to travel to Nashville, Tennessee in 1959 to and try to find work in the music business. When that didn’t work out for him, he moved back to Miami and attended Miami University. He gave Nashville another try and worked with musicians such as John Ferguson and Stonewall Jackson. Archie Bleyer from Cadence Records heard some of Charlie McCoy’s recordings and signed him to the label. In 1961, Chet Atkins hired him as a session musician, and he played on Ann-Margret’s “I Just Don’t Understand.” Signing to Monument Records, Charlie McCoy began releasing his own solo albums as well as working as a session man for several decades for artists such as Roy Orbison, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Nancy Sinatra, Joan Baez, Johnny Cash, Gordon Lightfoot, Willie Nelson, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Kris Kristofferson, Al Kooper, Paul Simon, Ringo Starr, Ronnie Hawkins, Leon Russell, and many other artists. Charlie McCoy’s own solo career began in earnest with the album The World of Charlie McCoy (1968) and continued with The Real McCoy (1969), which featured the hit "Today I Started Loving You Again" (Number 16), Charlie McCoy (1972), Good Time Charlie (1973), The Fastest Harp in the South (1973), The Nashville Hit Man (1974), Harpin ' the Blues (1975), Play It Again Charlie (1976) and Appalachian Fever (1979). Charlie McCoy also co-founded country rock group Area Code, releasing two albums in their short career: Area Code 615 (1969) and Trip in the Country (1970). The group split up for several years but reunited in 1974 under the name Barefoot Jerry and released three more albums. Charlie McCoy continued to be a busy session musician, working on albums by Bob Seger, Olivia Newton-John, Waylon Jennings, Tanya Tucker, Dan Fogelberg, Vince Gill, Ween, Rodney Crowell, and others. On May 17, 2009, Charlie McCoy was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville. That same year, he released the studio album Over the Rainbow and the compilation Classic Country Hymns. Later albums include the holiday album Classic Country Christmas (2017).

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