HARGUS ¨PIG ¨ROBBINS

 

Hargus Melvin Robbins (January 18, 1938 – January 30, 2022), known by his nickname "Pig", was an American session keyboard player. He played on records for many artists, including Patsy Cline, Dolly Parton, Connie Smith, Patti Page, Loretta Lynn, The Everly Brothers, Kenny Rogers, George Jones, Charlie Rich, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, J.J. Cale, John Hartford, John Stewart, Mark Knopfler, Alan Jackson, Merle Haggard, Roger Miller, Gary Stewart, David Allan Coe, Moe Bandy, George Hamilton IV, Sturgill Simpson, Conway Twitty, Ween, and Al Hirt.

Life and career

Robbins was born on January 18, 1938, in Spring City, Tennessee. When he was three years old, he accidentally poked himself in the eye with a knife and had to have the eye removed. He later lost sight in his other eye as well, rendering him blind.

He learned to play piano at age seven, while attending the Tennessee School for the Blind in Nashville. During his time there, Robbins was given the nickname "Pig" by a school supervisor due to his propensity to "sneak in through a fire escape and play when [he] wasn’t supposed to and … get dirty as a pig."

He played his first session in 1957, with his first major recording being George Jones's "White Lightning". Thereafter, he played keyboard for scores of country music artists.

Between 1963 and 1979, Robbins recorded eight studio albums: one on Time Records, three on Chart Records, and four on Elektra Records, as well as an independent live album. ] He was awarded Musician of the Year by the Country Music Association in 1976 and 2000.

His 1959 single "Save It", recorded under the name Mel Robbins, was covered by The Cramps on their 1983 album Off the Bone.

Robbins joined producers Alan Autry and Randall Franks on In the Heat of the Night's 1991 Christmas Time's A Comin' CD, appearing on several cuts and receiving feature credit on David Hart's recording of "Let it Snow".

Robbins was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in 2007 and on October 21, 2012, Robbins was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

In Robert Altman's classic, Nashville, a hippie piano player nicknamed "Frog" is fired by Henry Gibson's character (an egotistical country singer), who yells at the studio engineer: "When I ask for Pig, I want Pig!"

Robbins died on January 30, 2022, at the age of 84.