RICHARD "HACKSAW "HARNEY

   RICHARD HACKSAW HARNEY ( a la derecha de la imagén ) con HOUSTON STACKHOUSE , fotografía tomada en un Dinner de Memphis en el año 1969. 

Un músico polifacético , con un estilo delicioso de tocar y cantar , muy sensible ( no en vano le valió el sobrenombre además de Hacksaw ( Sierra ) Sweet Man , de hecho sacó un disco al mercado con este título y que no obtuvo reconicimiento alguno , o escaso durante el período que se dedicó profesionalmente a cantar y tocar con notable habilidad , guitarra, piano, etc., tuvo que ser a través de una donación que Richard "Hacksaw " Harney, fué reconocido ragtime superlativo guitarrista de blues y pianista de la Era de Oro, recibirá el reconocimiento póstumo de su gran talento con el descubrimiento de una lápida sencilla, pero apropiada. en el condado de Hinds cementerio en Raymond, . El cementerio está situado junto a la autopista 18 West como resulta del Sur, cerca de los límites de ciudad del este de Raymond.

Mr.  Harney murió el día de Navidad de 1973, y de acuerdo con su certificado de defunción, fue enterrado en una fosa común en el Raymond, Mississippi. Raymond se encuentra cerca de Jackson, la capital del estado. Sólo a través de la investigación llevada a cabo por Jackson Marcia Weaver, y la asistencia del teniente Dan Smith, de la oficina del sheriff local fue la ubicación exacta determinada.

Richard "sierra" Harney, tambien conocido como Sweet Man era un hombre amable  con una abundancia de talento musical, y espero que este evento ayudará a corregir un descuido de valoración. 

                             

          



                                




                             

Ive been listening to blues for the last 20 years. Ive heard all the greats, and there are some real genius's out there. People like Blind Blake, Robert Johnnson... you know the ones. But this man, Richard "Hacksaw" Harney, in my mind just pops his head up slightly above the rest. Ive read somewhere that he is the man who taught Robert Johnnson How to play the guitar?? is that true? it could be. This tune is called "Hacksaws Down South Blues" and this is my personal all time favourite blues tune ever, im lost for words on just how brilliant this piece of music is. 

Its taken me a long time to find this tune, but i finally got my hands on it and just have to share it with you. Now i have it, ill try and work out how to play it.

Guitar: Richard "Hacksaw" Harney

Bass: Dewey Corley

                              


Richard 'Hacksaw' Harney - Can Can (Cow Cow)
rec. October 1969 in Memphis, TN by Gene Rosenthal; Richard 'Hacksaw' Harney, piano; Dewey Corley, b; cover drawing by Dick Bangham
... this recording originally released and taken from Adelphi LP AD 1010 (US 1971) "The Memphis Blues Again Vol. 2" - never released on CD

sources of photos:
1. Sing Out! vol. 23 # 4 (1974); photographer: David Gahr 
2. "Houston Stackhouse and Hacksaw Harney at Memphis Diner in '69. Hacksaw never left home without his repair kit (at left)"; source: http://www.adelphirecords.com/blues/9... photographer's name not given

'Hacksaw' Harney discography at http://www.wirz.de/harney.htm
Dewey Corley discography at http://www.wirz.de/corley.htm
Adelphi Records discography at http://www.wirz.de/adelphi.htm

Adelphi Records homepage at http://www.adelphirecords.com

From THE BLUES TRAIL 

Richard "Hacksaw" Harney was, ostensibly, a piano tuner and repair man based in and around Memphis, Tennessee. If you believe the endorsements of his musical peers, and there is no reason not to, he was also one of the greatest blues guitarists to come from the Mississippi delta area, and a major influence on a generation of artists that included Robert Johnson. Born in Money, Mississippi, in 1902, he was also a gifted piano player, spending his life as an itinerant piano tuner primarily in Mississippi, Arkansas and Tennessee, but also travelling as far as St Louis and Chicago. His nickname came from the hacksaw he carried in his toolkit (not from a early boxing career as erroneously cited elsewhere) and with which he would fashion replacement parts for pianos. When he was in his early 20's he and an elder brother worked for tips and as backing musicians in Memphis but after his brother was murdered in a juke joint, Harney took up piano tuning. Robert Lockwood Jr. claimed that Harney was well acquainted with Robert Johnson and was a major influence on him, being the only musician that could compete with him (Johnson).  

Harney spent most of his life in relative musical obscurity but in the late 1960's he was traced by folklorists to Memphis and in 1972 he recorded 10 tracks for Adelphi Records. In presenting their Sweet Man CD Adelphi wrote, "....... is pleased to present this ten song collection demonstrating the guitar wizardry of Richard Hacksaw Harney, the musician's musician from the motherland of American Music. Hacksaw was sought out by blues researchers in the 1960's because of the high esteem with which his contemporaries regarded him, many of whom were still awed by recollections of his occasional, impromptu appearances in Delta jukes or on the legendary King Biscuit Time radio show in Helena, Arkansas. In 1969, Adelphi's traveling studio followed the Harney reputation from Chicago to Jackson and back to Memphis, where Hacksaw was finally located, with the assistance of a posse of aging but enthusiastic blues musicians. Their persistence was amply rewarded by his sparkling and complex finger-picking playing".

In the recordings Harney plays Piedmont fingerstyle blues, merging ragtime with blues rather like Blind Blake. Most of the numbers are up-tempo instrumentals, all in a swinging style intended for dancing. Sadly one year after the recordings, in 1973, Richard Harney passed away in Jackson, Mississippi.

Willie Morris, Richard 'Hacksaw' Harney, Sam Chatmon & Eugene Powell, Washington, D.C., 1972 source of right part of the photo: Living Blues 43 (summer ...1979 )