Hargus "Pig" Robbins

Hargus "Pig" Robbins
Birth name Hargus Melvin Robbins
Born (1938-01-18) January 18, 1938
Origin Spring City, Tennessee, U.S.
Genres Country
Occupation(s) Session musician
Instruments Piano, keyboards, organ
Years active 1957–present
Labels Time, Chart, Elektra
Associated acts George Jones

Hargus Melvin "Pig" Robbins (born January 18, 1938, in Spring City, Tennessee[1]) is an American session keyboard, and piano player. Having played on records for artists such as Dolly Parton, Connie Smith, Patti Page, Loretta Lynn, Kenny Rogers, George Jones,Charlie Rich, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Mark Knopfler, John Hartford, Ween, Alan Jackson, Merle Haggard, Roger Miller, David Allan Coe, Moe Bandy, George Hamilton IV, Sturgill Simpson and Conway Twitty,[2] he played on Roger Miller's Grammy Award-winning "Dang Me" in 1964. He is blind, having lost his sight at age four due to an accident involving his father's knife.[1]

Robbins learned to play piano at age seven, while attending the Nashville School for the Blind. He played his first session in 1957, with his first major recording being George Jones's "White Lightning".[3] Since then, he has played piano and keyboards for scores of country music artists.

Between 1963 and 1979, Robbins also recorded eight studio albums: one on Time Records, three on Chart Records, and four on Elektra Records, as well as an independent live album.[3] He was awarded Musician of the Year by the Country Music Association in 1976 and 2000.[4]

His 1959 single "Save It", recorded under the name Mel Robbins, was covered by The Cramps on their 1983 album Off the Bone.

Robbins joined producers Alan Autry and Randall Franks on the In the Heat of the Night 1991 Christmas Time's A Comin' CD appearing on several cuts but receiving feature credit on series star David Hart's recording of "Let it Snow".

On October 21, 2012, Robbins was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.[5]

In Robert Altman's classic, Nashville, a hippie piano player nicknamed "Frog" is fired by Henry Gibson's character (an egotistical country singer), who yells at the studio engineer: "When I ask for Pig, I want Pig!"

Discography

Albums

Year Album US Country
1962 Hully Gully to The Hits as Mel "Pigue" Robbins —
1963 A Bit of Country Piano —
1968 Play It Again, Hargus —
1969 Hargus Robbins —
One More Time —
1977 Country Instrumentalist of the Year 46
1978 A Pig in a Poke —
1979 Alive from Austin City Limits —
Unbreakable Hearts —

Singles

Year Song US Country[4]
1979 "Chunky People" 83
"Unbreakable Hearts" 92

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Huey, Steve. "Hargus "Pig" Robbins biography". Allmusic. Retrieved May 21, 2008.
  2. ↑ "Profile". Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Backyard Saturday Night Country. Retrieved March 2, 2008.
  3. 1 2 "Hargus "Pig" Robbins Highlights Country Music Hall of Fame Programs". Cybergrass. April 19, 2007. Archived from the original on January 16, 2011. Retrieved May 21, 2008.
  4. 1 2 Whitburn, Joel (2008). Hot Country Songs 1944 to 2008. Record Research, Inc. p. 354. ISBN 0-89820-177-2.
  5. ↑ "Garth Brooks, Connie Smith, Hargus “Pig” Robbins join Country Music Hall of Fame", The Tennessean, March 6, 2012. Accessed March 6, 2012.
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