Glen D. Hardin

Glen D. Hardin (sometimes spelled Glenn D. Hardin) has enjoyed a long career in rock & roll and country music, playing behind some of the most prominent music stars of the 1970s and 1980s. Born in Ropesville, Tennessee in 1939, he was in his mid-teens as country music began its transformation into rock & roll, and he got to see performers such as Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly during their early, pre-stardom days. His own interest lay more with playing than singing -- he learned guitar at a professional level but became truly proficient on the piano. Hardin's first major gig came in 1961, when he became a member of the Crickets, the Texas-spawned band founded by Buddy Holly and led by drummer Jerry Allison in the wake of Holly's death -- he played the piano on the singles "My Little Girl" and "(They Call Her) La Bamba," and on their album California Sun; additionally, after Joe B. Mauldin left the group, Hardin furnished their bass sound with a Fender Rhodes piano bass. He also wrote songs with Crickets guitarist/singer Sonny Curtis, co-authoring the group's single "Teardrops Feel Like Rain," and the songs "Count Me In," "My Heart's Symphony," and "Where Will the Word Come From," recorded by their fellow Liberty Records artists Gary Lewis & the Playboys. During the second half of the 1960s, Hardin kept busy and highly visible as a member of the Shindogs, the house band on the weekly ABC rock & roll showcase series Shindig, which had been put together by Leon Russell and included James Burton as leader and lead guitarist. He also played on records by Merle Haggard and Hamilton Camp. It was through Russell that Hardin played on records for Delaney Bramlett and, in tandem with Burton that, in 1970, he started working with Elvis Presley. Although he also played in the...