The king of the intro hook helped author the 6-string sound of Memphis soul with his classic licks, and crystallized country guitar in the ’70s and ’80s, with his trusty ’57 Strat, ’69 Tele, and Gibson ES-335.
The world lost one of the greatest session guitarists who ever lived, on Thursday, January 17: Reggie Young. Although he didn’t record an album of his own until age 80, by that time Young had been helping other artists, from Elvis Presley to Bing Crosby to Willie Nelson to Martina McBride, make records for more than half a century. Young died at his home outside of Nashville. He had suffered through surgeries in recent years and never fully recovered, and is survived by his wife, Jenny, who he met while they were both in Waylon Jennings’ touring band in 1999. Young was 82.
Reggie Young, Jr. was born in 1936 in Osceola, Arkansas. When he was 13, his family moved to Memphis. His first guitar was a National flattop that he fitted with a DeArmond pickup and ran through a Rickenbacker amp. He was soon learning the licks of Chet Atkins and fellow Memphis resident B.B King.
As a teenager, his band Eddie Bond & the Stompers had a regional hit and found themselves touring with Elvis, where Young met Presley bassist Bill Black. Black started him on his studio career and employed him in his own Bill Black’s Combo, which led to Young playing on his first national hit, the Combo’s “Smokie Part 2.” Young’s unique sound on that record was created by tuning his Gibson ES-335 down two whole-steps and tapping on the strings with a pencil.
Drafted right after the song hit the charts, the guitarist spent most of his military tour in Ethiopia, where he played a newly acquired Fender Duo-Sonic at the enlisted men’s club. Back in Memphis, Young began working at Hi Records’ Royal Studios, and again with Bill Black’s Combo. Though mostly a studio band, they made an exception to tour with the Beatles in 1964. After the first concert, George Harrison began questioning Young about gear. He told the Beatle he played through a Standel amp, and schooled Harrison on the use of an unwound third string for easier bending. The Combo also toured Europe, where Young met young Eric Clapton.
Back at Royal Studios, Young was dissatisfied with the meager pay, so when former Stax producer Chips Moman asked him to start doing sessions at his new American Sound Studio, the guitarist was happy to jump ship. There, they put together the legendary band of Tommy Cogbill, Gene Chrisman, and Bobby Emmons. The Memphis Boys, as they would come to be known, went on to record a perhaps-unparalleled string of hit records, including Elvis Presley’s “Suspicious Minds” and “In the Ghetto” (recorded with Young’s 1967 Garcia nylon acoustic), Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline,” Merrilee Rush’s “Angel of the Morning,” and Dusty Springfield’s classic Dusty in Memphis—to name but a few. Young’s iconic riff for the intro to Springfield’s “Son of a Preacher Man” was only one of many signature licks he would provide over the years to lift already great songs into the stratosphere. The Memphis Boys created the sound of the Box Tops’ hits “The Letter” and “Cry Like a Baby”—the latter showcasing Young’s first work with the electric sitar. It was at American Studios that Young met Clarence Nelson and Bobby Womack, two guitarists who would greatly influence his style.
After five years, Chips Moman moved his operation to Atlanta, Georgia. Unhappy there, Young headed back to Memphis, fatefully stopping off in Nashville. He ran into pianist David Briggs and bassist Norbert Putnam, musicians he had met doing sessions in Muscle Shoals in 1963, and who had a Nashville studio called Quadrafonic Sound. Young began working with them. He commuted back and forth from Memphis to Nashville for a while, but by the early ’70s was firmly settled in Music City. Around 1973, Putnam and Briggs used him on a session for Dobie Gray, where Young laid down the legendary guitar intro to “Drift Away.” When the song became a hit, country acts started requesting the guitarist who played the unforgettable parts on that record. Another classic identifying lick was his harmonized whole-tone intro to Billy Swann’s 1974 hit “I Can Help.” It wasn’t long before the transplant was earning double-scale and working three sessions a day.
Young was soon called to play for country legends like Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard, George Jones, and Willie Nelson. His soloing on Haggard’s “I Think I’ll Just Stay Here and Drink,” played on his 1957 Stratocaster, is a textbook for would-be country guitarists. He cut records with artists who would currently be labeled Americana, like J.J. Cale and Tony Joe White, and in the ’80s added a new generation of country legends to his list: George Strait, Reba McEntire, John Anderson, Travis Tritt, Clint Black, and Hank Williams, Jr.
That decade saw studio work falling off, even for a master of Young’s stature, so the guitarist returned to the road, backing Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson, who were known collectively as the Highwaymen, and later he toured as a member of Waylon Jennings’ Waymore Blues Band. His studio schedule slowed further, but the guitarist still turned in stellar work into the ’90s, for Martina McBride, Boz Scaggs, and others.
The upside to this downslide was that, in 2017, the octogenarian Young finally had the time and inclination to make his first solo album, Forever Young. The recording began in Muscle Shoals, with Chad Cromwell on drums, David Hood on bass, and Clayton Ivey on keyboards, and Young added horns at his home studio in Leiper’s Fork, Tennessee. Unhappy with the guitar sound from Muscle Shoals, Young rerecorded the parts at home on his black ’69 Fender Telecaster through a ’65 Fender Deluxe Reverb amp. Forever Young’s tunes are rife with the tone, taste, and time that made him the first-call guitarist for many producers, songwriters, and artists through the decades. And fortunately, Young lived long enough to enjoy the plaudits of peers and acolytes, who welcomed this recorded distillation of his brilliance.
As long as the talent of session guitarists is required, generation after generation will study the work of Reggie Young as a how-to template. But on a larger scale, everyone—musicians and non-musicians alike—who hears “Son of a Preacher Man,” “In the Ghetto,” “Hooked on a Feeling,” and “Drift Away” will be instantly drawn into those songs through the art of Young’s intros, and he will live on in his brilliant music.
YouTube It
Re-experience the classic Memphis guitar sound that Reggie Young played a major role in developing at the American Sound and Royal studios in the Bluff City, in this tribute to the era, “Memphis Grease,” from his lone solo album, 2017’s Forever Young.
A premium brand unveils a new model with an accessible price of entry.
Clip 1: Bridge pickup only, slight bass boost, tone dial almost off.
Clip 2: Neck pickup only, tone almost off.
Clip 3: Both pickups engaged. Passive mode, then active mode.
RatingsPros:Lightweight, rock-solid construction, versatile electronics, and approachable price. Cons: None. Street: $1,975 Sadowsky MetroExpress sadowsky.com
| Tones:  Playability:  Build/Design: Value: |
Three months before I moved to Nashville, in 1999, I ordered a Sadowsky bass. I knew Sadowsky’s 5-string basses were an industry standard in the studios and on the major tours there, and I had high hopes for work in both. It was the main bass I used to pay all my bills for the next several years, so given my long history with the brand, I couldn’t wait to check out the new MetroExpress. Built in Tokyo through a partnership with Japanese luthier Yoshi Kikuchi, the MetroExpress is the first factory-made model to carry the Sadowsky name.
First Impressives
When I first grabbed the bass out of its case, I could tell right away I was holding something incredibly solid and well built. I was also surprised with how light and balanced the 8 1/2-pound instrument felt. The curb appeal is there, too, with its visually striking sunburst, and the action was set perfectly. Available options for the MetroExpress are limited to keep the price affordable. The model is offered with an alder body and morado fretboard, or an ash body with a maple fretboard, like our test bass. Six different colors are available.
Upon closer inspection, I was also thrilled with the height of the pickup pole pieces, which followed the string radius properly. I’ve encountered quite a few 5-string J-style basses where I felt the foundation of the third string was not quite as strong as the others due to flatter pole pieces. This bass did not have that issue.
The MetroExpress comes equipped with the same Sadowsky preamp that’s used for the handbuilt basses from his New York shop. I’m in the camp that prefers basses in passive mode almost exclusively, but the Sadowsky preamp is one of the few active systems I’ll occasionally engage. The center points of the frequencies boosted are well chosen, and the passive tone control—which allows a player to cut top end from the active tone—makes the preamp a lot more user-friendly for those of us who generally prefer passive tones.
Express Train to Tone
When I pulled the MetroExpress out of my gig bag at a rehearsal space, I got a question from a non-bassist regarding neck size. Since the Sadowsky body is downsized slightly from a traditional J-style body, the appearance is somewhat deceiving as it makes the fretboard (1 7/8" at the nut) appear wider to someone who has spent a lot of time looking at Fenders. I found the MetroExpress to be a delight for slapping and popping thanks to its string spacing and maple neck.
Later in the week, after playing a set at Hollywood’s Viper Room through a Gallien-Krueger Fusion 550 and 8x10 cabinet, I had several people come up to me mesmerized by my bass tone. I explained to the curious audience members that it was simply a new, affordable Sadowsky with a new set of strings—no extra pedals or tricks. During that gig and most of the testing period, I kept the onboard preamp engaged with a slight bump on the bass boost and a little cut on the passive tone control. It’s a versatile setting that fits in most musical situations by providing Fender-style vintage warmth when played softly. And when played with a little more authority, it also invokes the tone Sadowsky is known for by showing off a solid low B and lots of personality in the upper mids.
During another rehearsal, when I played through an Ampeg V-4B and an Ampeg SVT-610HLF cabinet, I compared the MetroExpress against my almost 20-year-old Sadowsky Vintage 5. I found that I preferred the punchier, brighter tone of the MetroExpress for most up-tempo songs. My original Sadowsky has a pau ferro fretboard and alder body, so some of the tonal differences were typical to the characteristics of the woods, but in the end, I was in awe of just how competitive this new model is.
The Verdict
These really are parting thoughts, because I didn’t want to let this bass go. The look and feel of the MetroExpress instantly seemed like home, and even though my reviewer brain kept reminding me to focus on technical tidbits and gather information about the instrument, I found myself playing and noodling away for the sheer joy of it, and losing track of time. The feeling of familiarity with other J-style instruments is there, but also a feeling that this one plays a little easier and has a personality all its own. Roger Sadowsky may have created a bit of a monster, since players can now own something that feels and sounds like a Sadowsky for a fraction of the cost of one built in his NYC shop. In fact, if “MetroExpress” were not on the headstock, I don’t think a lot of bassists could tell it apart from a handmade model.
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An inexpensive, sturdy silicon Fuzzrite hits the biker-fuzz bull’s-eye.
Rhythm track features bridge pickup with fuzz at maximum and volume at 50%. Lead track features neck pickup with fuzz at maximum and volume at 50%.
RatingsPros:Throaty, substantial, and authentically buzzing ’60s fuzz voice. Loud for a Fuzzrite. Clean and sturdy build. Cons: None. Street: $113 Blackbird Savoy ananashead.com
| Tones: Ease of Use: Build/Design: Value: |
The Mosrite Fuzzrite might be the punkiest garage-punk fuzz. It’s famously associated with biker-fuzz godfather Davie Allan and Iron Butterfly’s “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida,” Some speculate that the early Stooges and Buffalo Springfield were adopters. What’s beyond doubt is that a good Fuzzrite or clone delivers the buzzing spirit of ’66 with ease and attitude. And the Barcelona-built and super affordable Ananashead Effects Meteorite is most certainly a top-flight silicon Fuzzrite clone.
For starters, it’s beautifully built. A handful of components are tidily hand-populated on a through-hole circuit board the size of a couple postage stamps. Jacks and switches are chassis mounted. It’s a sturdy little pedal.
The sounds are robust, too, thanks to an extra gain stage that boosts the Meteorite to louder-than-your-average-’Rite levels without sacrificing the reedy, focused heat that defines the type. Though the range of fuzz colors isn’t wide, there are cool, if subtle, variations to explore. Maximum gain settings add a layer of sizzle on top of a perfectly balanced and substantial foundation of throaty low-mids and white-hot high-midrange. Less gain gives you more contoured and concise takes on the same recipe that are killer for choogling rhythm moves. At around 110 bucks, it’s a steal, too.
Test gear: Fender Telecaster Deluxe with Curtis Novak Widerange humbuckers, Fender Jazzmaster, ’68 Fender Bassman, Fender Vibro Champ