“The Fuzz”: Strictly B-Side

I’m guessing that Grady Martin‘s 1961 B-side “The Fuzz” influenced Les Paul to soup up his 1963 album track “Ham ‘N Grits” with a little “fuzz bass”:

“The Fuzz”

Grady Martin (1961)

The historical consensus is that Grady Martin himself accidentally invented “fuzz bass” during a 1960 recording session for Marty Robbins — Dave Hunter recounts the incident in Guitar Effects Pedals:  The Practical Handbook:

The Fuzz-Tone connection hints that we need to look further back, and across the pond, for even earlier examples of recorded guitar distortion.  Gibson, and hence their subsidiary brand, Maestro, was given the circuit that became the Fuzz-Tone by studio engineer, Glen Snoddy.  Snoddy, in turn, had devised the transistorized fuzz-generating design to replicate a sound he’d heard while recording Marty Robbins‘ 1960 hit “Don’t Worry,” when a tube preamp in one of the mixer channels had started to fail and yield a distored tone on Grady Martin’s bass solo.  Whoever decided to stick with the track, rather than re-record it through a properly functioning channel, was on to something:  the result was Nashville’s first recorded fuzz guitar (a short-scale Danelectro bass, in fact).  Courtesy of Maestro, Snoddy’s fuzz circuit soon made the trendy new sound available to the world.

Curiously, “The Fuzz” has only been available in its home country of release as a 7-inch cut, while listeners in Australia and New Zealand can enjoy this track on 1963 LP, That Good Grady.

“The Fuzz,” however, got another shot at life when included on 3-disc early ’60s compilation, I Got a Woman:  Gems From the Decca Vaults USA 1960-1961 — a European release.

Listener Glen G. at WFMU’s Beware of the Blog (who asserts that Martin was playing a 6-string bass on “Don’t Worry”) has compiled a “spectacular country fuzz” listening list, and 1961’s “The Fuzz” is at the front of the pack, chronologically speaking.

*

Guest Lecturer!

Steve G

Grady Martin recorded (at least) six tracks featuring fuzztone guitar between 1961-1962 — Tippin’ In b/w The Fuzz (recorded on January 12, 1961 and released in January, 1961 on Decca 31211); Twist and Turn b/w Good, Good, Good (recorded on February 8, 1962 and released in April, 1962 on Decca 31381) and Ramblin’ Rose b/w Big Bad Guitar (recorded on February 8, 1962, but released in the US in July, 1965 under the name Beauregard and the Tuffs on Decca 31820).  Curiously, all six tracks were never compiled onto an album for US release (even today), but all tracks were on Side B of the Grady Martin, His Guitar, And The Slewfoot Five’s 1963 album That Good Grady which only had a release in Australia and New Zealand.

Song later made famous by The MC5

Tracks on Side A of the album were recorded in 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957 & 1959.  You might be able to find the tracks ‘Keep It Movin’‘ (7/9/1956??) and ‘All The Way’ (8/29/1957).  I can only imagine the majority of 1962 Australian/New Zealand listeners weren’t prepared to hear the distorted guitar sounds waiting for them on Side B.  In the US, despite Marty Robbins’ ‘Don’t Worry’ (1961) being a #1 country chart topping hit for 10 weeks, it doesn’t appear an audience was quite ready for Grady’s 1961-1962 fuzztone singles to repeat this chart topping success — though arrangements, songs, or marketing might have been another factor in their (assumed) limited success.

*

LINK to Fuzz Bass on Zero to 180