Not to be confused with Nat King Cole's bass player in the '50s, this Charlie Harris is a Texas music legend who has been active in genres such as Western swing and country western for at least half a century. One of Harris' biggest fans is country icon Willie Nelson. The red-headed stranger took time in a 1974 written tribute to Bob Wills to also lavish praise on a group known as the Texas Top Hands. This is one of at least two legendary Texas music outfits that this guitarist has played with; another is Ray Price the Cherokee Cowboys Band.

With Price, Harris took on the important responsibility as frontman, stepping forward at the start of the show to warm up the audience and set the stage for the arrival of the headliner. He also took on this role with country star Stonewall Jackson. Fiddlers Johnny Bush and Buck Buchanan were also members of the Texas Top Hands who continued to be Harris' associates in the Price outfit. The magnificent Johnny Bush -- one of the only people with this surname that Texans are really enthusiastic about -- actually played drums in the Texas Top Hands before he switched to fiddle. (Bush and Jimmy Day played together in 1997 in the Offenders, a Texas superband project that also involved Nelson and many others.) In the much dimmer past, Harris also worked in Western swing combos led by Adolph Hofner.

While largely a sideman, Harris also stepped forward to host his own television show out of Corpus Christi, an endeavor that managed a secure broadcast spot for a surprisingly long time. Recordings Harris cut on his own include the superb No Shoes Boogie; titles such as this have become increasingly available on regional compilations as well as outfits such as Cherokee, an online record label that allows listeners to assemble their own compilation discs from the company's catalog. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, Rovi