When Mark O'Connor met Sonny Garrish

[Frank Freniere]

Mark O'Connor, the great Nashville fiddler, recently posted a moving and heartfelt eulogy on FaceBook to honor a friend who just passed: recording engineer and producer Bil VornDick. As part of the tribute, Mark relates his first encounter with Sonny Garrish at his first recording session with Bil:

Sonny Garrish was on steel guitar, and to my amazement, after we finished the track, he raised his hand and asked Bil to give him another track for a double. I was going to myself, what in the heck does that mean - how long is this going to take? Sonny literally played along with all of the parts that he had just played (and improvised) on the track, perfectly in a mirrored image – bends and pedals and all—one take. I went into the control room to listen to this go down, not believing what was happening. Bil had the first steel guitar pass on one side of the speakers, and Garrish’s exact double on the other side. Noting that I had to have been impressed, a young 23-year-old session wannabe, Bil turned to me with his gentle and soft grin and said, “Welcome to the big-time.” That session is where I first found out what kind of musical talent was on Music Row.

[Dean Holman]

That’s a really neat story. I think there was a period where Sonny used to do that a lot.

[Joe Krumel]

I'm with you Dean. Man I love stories like that too.

[Brett Day]

Sonny Garrish has always been and always will be one of my favorite players! He played on a lot of my favorite country records, and Sonny is one of the guys who made me want to play steel!

[Joe Krumel]

Yes sir Brett. Sonny is such an inspiration to many of us. Golden Age player for sure,with many more licks and fills for future songs.