Who played bass on C.W. McCall's "Convoy"?

[jimriz]

Heard that horrible song from the mid-70's the other day, and while I blocked that song from my mind like a childhood trauma, I realized that there's some slammin' bass playing going on there. Google search revealed nothing. I was just wondering.....

[7flat5]

I looked a little and couldn't find anything. The band that recorded those records in Omaha was basically the same band as Fresh Aire, with Chip Davis producing, that made all those Christmas albums and such. But, there is also some slammin banjo on those records. Guy named Steve Hanson. He is a great player in the melodic vein of Tony Trischka or Bela Fleck. Just an excellent player who chose family over the touring life. Used to go and hear him all the time when I lived in Lincoln Nebraska in the late 70's. Very nice guy.

Damn! Just found it. Eric Hansen.

http://www.narrowgauge.org/4x4/cw_pages/html/real.html

Oops. Wait a minute. It looks like Brian Sampson played bass on that track.

http://narrowgauge.org/4x4/cw_pages/html/bbr.html

[jimriz]

Good research!! Although I haven't heard of him, there are some really nice runs being played on that tune. Thanks....

[Philbiker]

Wow I never noticed there is some tasty bass on that tune.

[nysbob]

Chip Davis's dad (Louis Davis) was my choir & theory teacher in high school. We sang some of Chip's compositions - really dense, esoteric stuff. I feel very fortunate to have had that quality of music instruction in high school.

[srxplayer]

Convoy! Man I forgot all about that song. Last time I heard that, I think I was about 10 years old. i don't even remember any instruments other than in the chorus.

[nysbob]

I may be wrong, but I believe the success of that record got Mannheim Steamroller off the ground. Chip had done very well for himself.

[7flat5]

Originally Posted by nysbob

I may be wrong, but I believe the success of that record got Mannheim Steamroller off the ground. Chip had done very well for himself.

It surely must have provided a financial boost. I have never heard anything about the founding of the whole Mannheim Steamroller/American Grammophone thing, but I always thought of the early productions as high-quality audiophile vinyl distributed somewhat exclusively through independent channels. Being at the right place at the right time, with a high-quality (of a sort) product, with no fealty owed to major record labels must have helped. I believe the original CWMcCall stuff pre-dated Mannheim Steamroller, didn't it? I certainly never associated the two until I met some of the individuals involved, after the fact.

Kind of gotten away from the bass players, haven't we?

[hubwolf]

Eric Hansen. I have the Alembic Series I he recorded it with. He toured with the various Chip Davis projects including Mannheim Steamroller for a number of years and retired from the road in the mid-90's to work as a librarian. Great guy and a great player.