12 Facts About Grady Martin

Thomas Grady Martin was an American session guitarist in country music and rockabilly.

Grady Martin is a member of the Rockabilly Hall of Fame and was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in March 2015.

Grady Martin was born in Chapel Hill, Tennessee, United States.

Grady Martin's mother played the piano and encouraged his musical talent.

At age 15, Grady Martin was invited to perform regularly on WLAC-AM in Nashville, Tennessee, and made his recording debut two years later on February 15,1946 with Curly Fox and Texas Ruby in Chicago, Illinois.

Grady Martin later joined Big Jeff Bess and the Radio Playboys followed by a stint with the Bailes Brothers Band.

Grady Martin is credited with accidentally stumbling onto the electric guitar "fuzz" effect during a recording session with Robbins at Bradley Studios in Nashville; his guitar was run through a faulty channel in a mixing console, generating the fuzz sound on "Don't Worry".

Grady Martin appeared on almost all of Cline's Decca sessions, from August 1961 to her last session in February 1962, during which time he backed her on songs such as:.

In 1978, with his studio career over, Grady Martin returned to the life of a touring musician, first with Jerry Reed and then as lead guitarist for Willie Nelson's band, appearing in Nelson's 1980 film Honeysuckle Rose.

Grady Martin was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame in 2007.

Grady Martin was married three times and had three daughters, Alisa, Angie and Julie; and seven sons, Grady Jr.

Grady Martin died from a heart attack on December 3,2001, in Lewisburg, Tennessee, and was interred at Hopper Cemetery in Marshall County, Tennessee.