Floyd Cramer - The Old Piano Roll Blues

[fonrims32]

Thank You all for great comments. I'm very happy to see you like mr.Piano!

[treadhead105]

Beautiful. :)

[codiesvw74]

I enjoyed listening to this song! thank you for posting!

[HalfFastChevy]

Schmaltzy? A joke? Neither one. A great tune by a gifted player. This was one of my favorites then, and it stands the test of time - still to this day a great melody.

[franklindavid]

His style of playing has always amazed me. We will never hear of another pianist with talent like this, he was one of a kind..

[bellini7verdi]

fatastica combinacion.

[zeppy13131]

Wow---I wonder why he was so careful to avoid any swing at all? All straight eighths... Yikes. I know he was considered an important player and all, but listening to this ultra-stiff kind of treatment makes me nervous. (Unless it was supposed to be a joke...?)

[MarkinDC]

@zeppy13131 Playing "straight eights" vs. to "swing" (to me, anyway) depends on the tempo and rhythm. Listen to the drummer, strictly straight rhythm used a lot in the early 60's (about when this was recorded), especially for R&R and the twist. Floyd is playing along with the rhythm here, doing a syncopated/swing rhythm would have been out of sync, and thrown the arrangement off. Not necessarily "ultra-stiff", just how it was arranged. Nice recording though, schmaltzy, but still upbeat.

[King689]

@zeppy13131 That style just happened to fit this song. Floyd Cramer could play with some soul when it was appropriate. Listen to Elvis Presley's Heartbreak Hotel. That bluesy piano playing in the background is none other then Mr. Cramer.

[kjetin99]

Does anyone know how much Floyd C. was smoking? He was my hero when I was young?

[Jewel1937]

Maybelle was great, too, wasn't she? She married into my Carter Family. I live about 15 miles from the "Carter Fold" where we can go listen to music every weekend.

[PhasmataJ]

God I've always appreciated Floyd's style. I remember digging my mother's old records out from under her bed and sneaking them into my room to play on my childhood record player. I used to sit at the piano and pretend I was him playing. At that time, the only thing I could muster was the bang of the rythmn. But god, how fun it was!

[cobalt100]

Actually, it's not a slip note. It's just a 64th note played before the principle note. Or it could be called an appoggiatura which is simply a grace note before the principle note.

[lgcrooks]

Ahhh. Remember when it was cool to have a butt hanging out of your mouth? (The second image on this compilation). If only we knew then....

Oh, by the way, great piano!!

[dexterb4]

Cool. Thanks, BarnicleBillsBastard (very curious about the origin of your screen name!). It's always great to get a new insight into something that I always had just assumed was one way or the other. Thanks again, I just always assumed it was an adaptation of a pedal steel style. (I'm assuming that you are also a fan of what is clearly Floyd Cramer's signature lick, regardless of where it came from.) My best to all fans of the early southern country sound.

.

[SaFanFan]

Merci à Suva1987 pour m'avoir répondu dans ma langue. J'ai fort bien compris car votre français se lit et se comprend très bien. I too often write in another language which of course is English but I thought why not write in French because Floyd Cramer's music reached a lot of people and not only in the States. Merci encore et....bonne écoute!

[SaFanFan]

J'adore cette chanson!!! Cela me rappelle la musique que mes parents aimaient! Ils dansaient sur cette musique toutes les fois qu'ils en avaient la chance et c'était ...souvent! et moi! je continue de danser en pensant à eux et à tous ces bons moments!

[Suva1987]

Moi, J'aime cette musique aussie. Monsieur Cramer a été un de mellieure musicien americain. Il joué des chansons au piano. Avec Chet Atkins Monsieur Cramer a faire partir de Nashville club. Excusez moi francais, mais ma englais et alemand sont mellieure.

[dexterb4]

In my youth growing up in Tennessee I idolized Floyd, Chet and Boots. Floyd's unique contribution to piano styling was in adapting a pedal steel guitar lick to the piano (I think an earlier poster called it a slip chord). He made a career out of that lick. I listened to "Last Date" enough to be able to play it note for note on the piano. It was always a hit at family gatherings. Floyd left a mark in a lot of people's heart. He was a true gentleman.

[BarnacleBillsBastard]

Well, there's some debate over whether he came up with it, or another piano player in the Nashville Sound camp of studio musicians (trying to think of the guys name) that gave him some music with the notes slipped from one key to the next. I heard that he (Cramer) said that he was trying to imitate Maybelle Carter's technique of guitar playing.

[btpolitic]

piano man 1812, Sorry I love floyd but Liberace as flaming homo as he was , smokes floyd all day long in technique, flash, color, ideas and more... Liberace doesnt truly get the props he deserves for his Chops.

[lightrays]

You are right; Floyd could not do what Liberace could do. A lot of people would rather listen to Floyd, but that does not make him the best.

[parrotman1940]

Teriffic. We've lost way too many good artists from smoking. Floyd, Jerry Reed, Nat Stuckey, Del Reeves. Porter, just to name a few

[Coppillie]

Great

[gfrancesat]

I loved floyd cramers solo work and his compositions when first heard them in '60s. had a great solo piano book of his, but loaned it and lost it. any ideas where I could get ahold of these great tunes again? scored as advanced, "on the rebound, fancy pants, last date"....I've had no luck searching online.

[bluewingtip]

Floyd Cramer, king of the slip chord. (Whenever I hear a slip chord I alway think of him.)

[fingerscarr]

what's a slip chord ?

[ratpackman1]

damm cigarettes !!

[pianoman1812]

you know i have read liberaci is the igest paid muscian in historoy but yet i cans plainly see that floyd cramer is alot better bye all acounts better and he was not gay but he made a stupid choice bye smokin 10 pack of ciggerates a day:(

[compton357]

so what if he wasnt gay, whats that got to do with being a musician?

[steveh5757]

Have wanted to hear this track for so long!

Thanks to Youtube contributors for this and whole bunch of other discoveries (testcard stuff especially) in just the last week. Keep them coming.

[Cromlamesh]

Outch, la classe! Je vous vois d'ici mimer les accords sur un piano imaginaire face à votre écran. Eh oui vous ne révez pas, c'est bien la petite Peggy en bas résilles qui vous fait de l'œil, continuez, elle s'approche!

[guypaintball]

my grand father did this in 1950 do u happen to know if he was the first fyi he is cliff steward and the san Fransisco boys

[cohibastars]

great!

[idasynco]

I wonder if there is sheet music for this piano roll blues, I love it! thanx for posting!

[badbrian1]

find that music on ebay, I did

[allendale62]

Next to myself Floyd was my Dad's favorite pianist. Like Del Wood, Jo Ann Castle and so many others he had a unique gift at the piano! Sincerely, Allen Dale.

[benvye]

Floyd did a lot of great recordings for PianoDisc, the player systems for pianos.

[eddieflashes17]

I wanna hear it again...

[rfguitars]

Floyd played the cleanest I have ever heard and his timing was awesome.Thanks for this video

[eddieflashes17]

This is the true sound of the 1960s... the whole sound and beat!

[bessgirl22011]

floyd cramer was my dads first cousin.its fun to finally see something about him.

[kayt15]

This is SWEET!! I love this type of music!!

[arizonaranger]

No wonder I said to my Piano Teacher at 13 - "But Mrs Smith; I don't want to play Classical - I just want to play like Floyd Cramer!"

[STEPcoach]

STILL the best! The sound of my youth. I can still see my mom (now passed on) snapping her fingers and rockin' with Floyd! Thanks for sharing the memories!