Photo: Hargus “Pig” Robbins (Courtesy of the Country Music Hall of Fame) By Chris Wilman, Variety | Hargus “Pig” Robbins, a Country Music Hall of Fame member who played piano on thousands of Nashville sessions and was renowned to Bob Dylan fans for his work on “Blonde on Blonde,” has died at age 84.
Robbins’ family posted a message on his Facebook page saying that he died in his sleep early Sunday morning after having been hospitalized twice recently for heal issues that included a bacterial infection, kidney disease and heart disease. “It all became too much for his body to handle. But he had a strong mind til the end,” said the family statement. “He had a great life and was loved by many. His musical legacy will live on.”
Robbins’ first major hit as a session man had him playing on George Jones’ classic “White Lightning,” and from there he moved on to providing the piano parts on Patsy Cline’s “I Fall to Pieces,” “Crazy” and “Back in Baby’s Arms.” Smashes of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s that included his distinctive piano parts included Charlie Rich’s “Behind Closed Doors” and “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World,” Crystal Gayle’s “Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue,” Loretta Lynn’s “You’re Looking at Country” and “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” Lynn and Conway Twitty’s “After the Fire is Gone,” Jones’ “She Thinks I Still Care” and “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” Dolly Parton’s “Coat of Many Colors,” Roger Miller’s “King of the Road” and “Dang Me,” Kenny Rogers’ “The Gambler,” Porter Wagoner’s “Green, Green Grass of Home,” Tammy Wynette’s “D-I-V-O-R-C-E” and Tanya Tucker’s “Delta Dawn.”
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Born in Spring City, Tennessee in 1938, Robbins was 3 years old when he lost his sight. “I stuck a knife in one eye,” he explained, and when a doctor decided the eye needed to be surgically removed, “the other one went out from sympathetic infection.” He attended the Tennessee School for the Blind, and at about age 7, took up the offer given to students to take piano lessons, although, as a fan of Roy Acuff and other country stars, as well as boogie-woogie, he chafed at the requirements that he only learn classical music. “They had these practice rooms and I’d get as far away from the teacher as I could,” he said.
Robbins got his nickname from constantly playing around the fire escapes at the school. “When I’d come out and be real dirty from all that soot, the supervisor would know exactly where I’d been, and she said ‘You’re as dirty as a little pig.’” The other students picked up on it. Did the moniker bother him? Not at all, he said.
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The pianist was voted the Country Music Association’s Instrumentalist of the Year in 1976 and 2000. Proud of that first honor, he began a three-album run with Elektra in the late ’70s with an album he actually titled “Country Instrumentalist of the Year.“
Charlie McCoy, another session player who was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, sang Robbins’ praises: “He’s the best session player I’ve ever worked with. When he’s on a session, everybody else plays better.”
Go here to read more about this fabulously talented musician that we’re going to miss:
https://variety.com/2022/music/obituaries-people-news/hargus-pig-robbins-dead-nashville-country-hall-famer-bob-dylan-1235167182/
[Thanks to Board Member Jamie Krutz for alerting us to this news. http://www.jamiekrutz.com]
Hargus ‘Pig’ Robbins, Country Hall of Famer Who Played Piano on Bob Dylan, Patsy Cline and George Jones Classics, Dies at 84
