• Papa Charlie McCoy

Charles “Papa Charlie” McCoy (May 26, 1909, Jackson, Mississippi - July 26, 1950, Chicago, Illinois) was an African American delta blues musician and songwriter.

Born Charles Ray McCoy, his family left West Virginia when he was a boy to live in Miami, Florida. At age eight, he began playing the harmonica, developing his skills to where he decided to pursue a career in music. In 1959, the eighteen-year-old McCoy moved to Nashville, Tennessee. When he could not find work as a musician, he returned to his hometown and took vocal lessons. His first cut as a haromica player was on Roy Orbison's 1961 song "Candy Man". From there, he went on to play harmonica for other acts, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Paul Simon, Ringo Starr, Barefoot Jerry and Ween.

He also played guitar on Dylan's "Desolation Row", from the album Highway 61 Revisited, and "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands", from the album Blonde on Blonde,) bass guitar (on all the tracks from Bob Dylan's John Wesley Harding,) keyboards, and drums plus on several wind and brass instruments. For 19 years McCoy worked as music director for the popular television show, Hee Haw, and was a member of the Million Dollar Band. In 1973 he won the Grammy Award for Best Country Instrumental Performance for his album "Charlie McCoy/The Real McCoy." His solo career also produced several chart singles, including "Today I Started Loving You Again", a #16 on the Billboard country charts.

On February 4, 2009, it was announced that Charlie will be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame along with Roy Clark and Barbara Mandrell.

Career

He was best-known by the nickname "Papa Charlie", McCoy became one of the major blues accompanists of his time. A guitarist and mandolin player, he played in the Mississippi area with his band, The Mississippi Hot Footers.
McCoy recorded several sides with Bo Carter as the 'Mississippi Mud Steppers'. Among the tracks recorded with Carter were two variations of Cow Cow Davenport's "Cow Cow Blues" . The first, an instrumental, was released as "The Jackson Stomp". The second, with lyrics and vocals by McCoy, as "The Lonesome Train, That Took My Girl From Town". They also wrote and recorded "The Vicksburg Stomp" which was resurrected and recorded by Mike Compton, of O Brother, Where Art Thou? fame.
His nimble, sensitive guitar work enriched recordings from performers including Tommy Johnson and Ishman Bracey. He also recorded regularly in the late 1920s, often alongside Walter Vincson; he also sat in with the Mississippi Sheiks, Rubin Lacy, Son Spand and the many other Delta bluesmen who passed through the Jackson area in the years that followed. He also backed his then sister-in-law, Memphis Minnie in the mid 1930s.
As a slide guitarist, McCoy recorded as under the name of Tampa Kid, and released "Keep On Trying".
McCoy also joined and performed with his brother (Kansas Joe McCoy) for many years, and they released records under the title of "The McCoy Brothers".
He eventually migrated to Chicago where he organized two bands, "Papa Charlie's Boys" and with his older brother Kansas Joe McCoy, the Harlem Hamfats, that performed and recorded during the second half of the 1930s. However, service with the United States Army during World War II cut short McCoy’s career.
In poor health, McCoy never returned to music after the war, and he died in Chicago in 1950 from paralytic brain disease, only a few months after his brother had died. They are both buried in the Restvale Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois.
McCoy's composition, "Too Long" was recorded several times by both black and white artists.

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