MUSIC CHATTER AND MATTER

the biggest reward for learning to chunk

Posted 23 days ago


Though Pat McLaughlin may not be on the tip of the average music consumer's tongue, he, for a couple of decades, has been many a musicians' favorite musician. He's even been called the greatest rhythm guitar player on the planet. He plays rhythm — he calls it "chunking" — with some venerated bluegrassers, including Tim O'Brien and Ronnie McCoury. And McLaughlin even got a gig as a rhythm player for the last round of the American Recording sessions with Johnny Cash. "That was probably the biggest reward for learning to chunk," he says.

Besides being a revered under-the-radar artist — an anonymity he nearly escaped with a Capitol recording deal in the mid '80s — he's also a heralded songwriter with about 40 cuts. Not bad for a guy who doesn't really do the Nashville songwriting thing. Delbert McClinton and Tanya Tucker had a hit with "Tell Me About It." Steve Wariner had a #1 with "Lynda," and Texafornian Gary Allan recently took McLaughlin's "Songs About Rain" into the top five. Alan Jackson cut "It's Alright To Be a Redneck," and, just to show how deep is his soul, McLaughlin has even been covered by blues icon Taj Mahal.

The Waterloo, Iowa native credits his parents for giving him his start in the business. "I got a lot of encouragement from my parents to play music," he says. "I came from a family who liked to just sit around and sing songs."

Quality tuneage for a Friday night...

Hey Yeah

Now Look At You

Little Grass Shack

Morning Train

Comments (5)

  1. deadmandeadman says

    Yes it is fine for Friday or anytime

    Permalink posted 11/06/2009
  2. earthman says

    that is a great sound, Im going searching for that album right now, thanks for posting

    Permalink posted 11/06/2009
  3. Augusts1 says

    He reminds me ALOT of John Hiatt in his style of music, lyrics & the timbre of his voice. That's high praise in my book, since Hiatt is a formidable talent who I was a rabid fan for, for about 5 years.

    Not heard of him which is also like Hiatt, since John went for quite some time before he got a name for himself as a songwriter's songwriter. There are still plenty of people who've not heard of Hiatt either. So these two have a few parallels in their careers. Thanks for the intro.

    Permalink posted 11/06/2009
  4. Augusts1 says

    p.s. Hiatt has also been covered by numerous artists as well.

    Permalink posted 11/06/2009
  5. wizillusions says

    Well those were an enjoyable 5 miles, that passed by to quickly.

    Permalink posted 11/07/2009

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