Biography
Harold Lee Chalker, better known during his lifetime as Curly and addressed by intimates simply as Curls, remains one of the pedal steel guitar’s most revered practitioners even after his passing. Countless country listeners recognized his unmistakable tone long before they learned his name. Eighteen years of supplying the instrument’s sound for the Hee Haw television series gave him steadier work than endless road dates or routine Nashville sessions could provide, and that employment continued until his death in the late 1990s.
His discography reaches back to early-fifties dates with Lefty Frizzell. He is the pedal steel player heard on Hank Thompson’s signature hit “Wild Side of Life.” Further credits include Charlie McCoy’s celebrated country instrumental sessions, a high-energy date led by fiddler Buddy Spicher, a foray into Cajun territory with Doug Kershaw, and the Country Porn album by the little-remembered Chinga Chavin.
Among other pedal steel players he earned the nickname “the King of Chords” for his unmatched facility with complex jazz voicings, which he inserted into backup lines with surgical precision. He could also deliver a ballad with complete sensitivity. Chalker is credited with introducing “gutting” to the instrument, a technique realized through abrupt volume swells that thrust chosen chord voicings forward.
Pop sessions occasionally sought his services without listing his name. One example appears on Marie Osmond’s “Paper Roses”; another trace of his playing lies beneath the repeated “lai-la-lai” vocals on Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Boxer.” Additional live and studio work linked him with Willie Nelson, the Gap Band, Ray Price, Leon Russell, and the original Bill Haley and the Comets.
His professional life began in the West. Based in Las Vegas, he quickly became recognized as one of the region’s finest players. In the sixties Nashville exerted a powerful pull, and he was promptly engaged for numerous recording dates. Producers responded to the percussive attack and thick chordal textures he had developed largely on his own. One impressed producer organized a project featuring Chalker as soloist with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra; the resulting album Counterpoint remained unreleased for years before finally appearing.
Chalker once came close to arrest after striking an inebriated patron with a metal leg of his instrument to stop the man from leaning on it. He died from a brain tumor associated with cancer.
His discography reaches back to early-fifties dates with Lefty Frizzell. He is the pedal steel player heard on Hank Thompson’s signature hit “Wild Side of Life.” Further credits include Charlie McCoy’s celebrated country instrumental sessions, a high-energy date led by fiddler Buddy Spicher, a foray into Cajun territory with Doug Kershaw, and the Country Porn album by the little-remembered Chinga Chavin.
Among other pedal steel players he earned the nickname “the King of Chords” for his unmatched facility with complex jazz voicings, which he inserted into backup lines with surgical precision. He could also deliver a ballad with complete sensitivity. Chalker is credited with introducing “gutting” to the instrument, a technique realized through abrupt volume swells that thrust chosen chord voicings forward.
Pop sessions occasionally sought his services without listing his name. One example appears on Marie Osmond’s “Paper Roses”; another trace of his playing lies beneath the repeated “lai-la-lai” vocals on Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Boxer.” Additional live and studio work linked him with Willie Nelson, the Gap Band, Ray Price, Leon Russell, and the original Bill Haley and the Comets.
His professional life began in the West. Based in Las Vegas, he quickly became recognized as one of the region’s finest players. In the sixties Nashville exerted a powerful pull, and he was promptly engaged for numerous recording dates. Producers responded to the percussive attack and thick chordal textures he had developed largely on his own. One impressed producer organized a project featuring Chalker as soloist with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra; the resulting album Counterpoint remained unreleased for years before finally appearing.
Chalker once came close to arrest after striking an inebriated patron with a metal leg of his instrument to stop the man from leaning on it. He died from a brain tumor associated with cancer.
Albums