Think Horns Don’t Belong in Country? Then You Don’t Know Don Markham
Oh, so you think you know it all about country music, don’t you? And horns? Yeah, that some jazzy, R&B garbage that has no place in By God country music dammit. And don’t get you started about Sturgill Simpson and his latest record.
But the truth of the matter is horns have been in country music nearly from the beginning. Any of you ever heard of Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys? How about any of the other Western Swinging cowboys that carried horn sections around with them in old touring cars with the tuba strapped to the top, playing honky tonks and dance halls from Tallahassee to California? Forget about Lyle Lovett’s Large Band. Or how about just look at the house band of Dale Watson’s recent Ameripolitan Awards in Austin, TX—a bastion for the die-hard and tightly-defined traditional country crowd. And yep, there was a horn section.
Let’s face it though, Western Swing is only one small facet of country music, and what the hell does “Ameripolitan” mean anyway? And who is going to trust Lyle Lovett as some country music authority with that hair? Horns don’t really have any place in country music, do they? Well try to tell that to the apostles of Don Markham.
Unless you’re a serious country music fan, and a fan of Merle Haggard specifically, you may not recognize the name. Even if you are a Haggard fan, it still may fly over your head, and that’s okay. Don Markham was never much for making a fuss about his role in country music, even though he played an important one, and one that was integral to keeping one of the most important traditions of country music alive—that being the inclusion of the occasional horn solo to keep the spirit of Western Swing in the music.
For 40 years, Don Markham was the horn player in Merle Haggard’s backing band, The Strangers. In fact he outlasted every other permanent member in the band, and aside from a few hiatuses throughout the years, was the only constant member. He also played on every single Merle Haggard release since 1974, though you may have not noticed him, on stage or in the studio. Saxophone, trumpet, and even bass, piano, or keyboards here and there, Don Markham was Merle Haggard’s one man musical auxiliary, which suit him well since Markham liked to blend into the background, and set up at the very back of the stage out of the spotlight. If you recall many of those great Merle Haggard songs, many feature a saxophone solo, though you may not notice them until someone points them out to you. That’s because they comes across so natural, which was Don’s style.
It’s remarkable how Don Markham even got hooked up with Merle Haggard in the first place. The story of how he started in The Strangers is like something out of fiction. Don was actually driving a tour bus for Johnny Paycheck in 1972 when he pulled the bus up right beside Merle Haggard’s rig at a stop in New Mexico. Tired of all the bickering and infighting on the Paycheck crew, Markham boarded Merle’s bus and asked if he could join the band. Merle obliged, seeing it as an opportunity to put a little bit of that Bob Wills magic behind his music, and a friendship was born.
In fact beyond all of Don Markham’s contributions to The Strangers as a musician, he was known by Merle better as one of his best friends. Markham lived in a trailer part in Oildale, California, just outside of Bakersfield for 50 years with his wife Wanda. In about 2013, Markham gave up the touring life for good due to health reasons, including issues with his teeth that affected his horn playing. But according to the Haggard crew, Merle would insist every time they pulled through Bakersfield to stop and see Don.
Markham was a pillar of Bakersfield music even before he joined The Strangers. He played will Bill Woods, Fuzzy Owens, and when Bakersfield country king Buck Owens was putting together the legendary Bakersfield Brass horn section (you still think horns don’t belong in country?), that’s right, Don Markham was in the band.
But like so many of the traditions of country music, horns slowly faded away. Don Markham was one of the few last living links to the Western Swing sound in country music’s origins.
Don Markham died last Friday (2-24) due to natural causes. He was 85-years-old.
So the next time you see a country band with horns and think, what gives? Think of Don Markham. Think of those iconic sax solos in “I Think I’ll Just Stay Here and Drink,” “It’s All in the Movies,” and “Rainbow Stew.” Horns don’t belong in country? Maybe they don’t, or maybe like so many of country music’s traditions they slowly faded out of favor over time due to a lack of love. And that’s not the horns’ fault. That’s ours.
Chad Perry
February 28, 2017 @ 9:40 am
People who complain that horns don’t belong in country music obviously haven’t heard Ring of Fire…
Jt
February 28, 2017 @ 9:40 am
Great write up. Thank you for music history lesson.
Horns make every kind of music better:)
Janice Brooks
February 28, 2017 @ 9:44 am
Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Star
Brian
February 28, 2017 @ 9:45 am
Can we trade the synthesizers and drum loops for more horns in country music? Please?
And as a side note, Jason Boland replaced the sax solo on “Rainbow Stew” with steel guitar on his Live in the Rockies album, and that’s just as fantastic. Wouldn’t be surprised to hear Sturgill do a cover and use both.
kapam
March 1, 2017 @ 6:47 pm
Oh, I am so with you on that one! I mean, any sound (if used intelligently) can arguably compliment the country music style. But I come to Country as somewhat of a refugee from the plethora of digital, machine-made, synthesised sounds that completely dominate modern pop music.
As a drummer myself (though admittedly not a particularly good one), I am all for human beat-makers, rather than soulless machines. In my view, record companies simply use machines to cut costs and deal with fewer creative egos; while controlling the output of their chosen solo star-of-the-day/week/year.
Benjamin
February 28, 2017 @ 9:52 am
Trigger, you should listen to and/or write an article about the Dustbowl Revival band. They’re a bluegrass Band with a trombone and a trumpet and they’re amazing. It’s interesting to hear horns in bluegrass, not just country.
Trigger
February 28, 2017 @ 12:43 pm
There are actually a ton of string band busking-style bands out there right now featuring horns of some sort. I’d make a list of them but I’m afraid who I would forget or overlook.
Gena R.
February 28, 2017 @ 10:08 am
RIP Don. 🙁
Seak05
February 28, 2017 @ 10:29 am
Horns are an integral part of blues music, blues from the late 1800’s heavily influenced country music. In truth any time you talk about southern culture it will be heavily influenced by African-American culture. The banjo is a similar story. R&B and country come from the same place & then evolved in different directions & included different influences (for example the fiddle, which comes from European culture & is a part of country/blue grass but not r&b).
albert
February 28, 2017 @ 11:02 am
Horns are as organic a sound as a fiddle or a dobro or an accordion . They all work to support a song by helping to evoke an emotional response to the narrative or the rhythm . Most any REAL instrument could find an acceptable place in COUNTRY music if it is played by a REAL player expressing a REAL emotion or musical idea ..IF you are STARTING with a country song .
RIP Mr Markham …and thank you for your gift .
Trigger
February 28, 2017 @ 12:48 pm
Sturgill Simpson’s “A Sailor’s Guide to Earth” is still more country music than it is anything else, but it’s also not a very country record compared his previous two or other country projects. But the horns are not the only reason for that. I don’t think it’s only coincidence that Sturgill was so close to Merle near the end, and Sturgill also decided to put horns on his latest album. I think Sturgill was a student of Merle’s music, and saw horns as something he could use to enhance the sound, just like Merle did when Markham stepped onto his bus in New Mexico.
Therealbobcephus
February 28, 2017 @ 2:45 pm
I would like to disagree and say that the album was more soul music than it was country, but I’m out of my realm in trying to categorize something that doesn’t fall neatly into the country realm. All around you feels like a doo-op song out of the fifties, and it would be difficult to classify a song like between the lines as country. This is however a fruitless debate. I think it’s prescient that sturgill said he’ll always be considered country and then goes and wins a Grammy for his least country album yet. People are gonna try to put him into country music box that he probably doesn’t truly fit, expecially given that he picks like a bluegrass musician a lot.
Mule
February 28, 2017 @ 9:08 pm
You do know “the real Bocephus” used horns all the time, right? 🙂
Therealbobcephus
February 28, 2017 @ 9:58 pm
I did not even mention horns in my comment
Jim Cayon
September 2, 2022 @ 7:07 am
…..a little LATE with this observation – but, I’d point out that the country & souls genres have NEVER been separated by MUCH stylistically (aside from arrangements) – as both Dobie Gray & The Commodores demonstrate WELL…..
Marilyn Markham
March 3, 2017 @ 10:30 am
Just wanted to thank you for your wonderful article about our Dad.
Marilyn, Wayne & Carla
Corncaster
February 28, 2017 @ 11:22 am
There are horns, and then there are horns. Country music has been music from the countryside. They had string instruments because they could build them. Horns are metal and require a different tech.
(I like the question of why flutes and tin whistles didn’t really make it across from Ireland. Different vibe, I guess.)
Country music has been predominantly string music; there’s just no getting around it. So when, like Cash, you bring in a trumpet, it’s for color. And when Merle brings in sax, it’s for friendship and Freddy’s affection for jazz. Note that “It’s All in the Movies” has unusual chord changes for country music, it’s a jazz vamp mostly, and the sax sounds natural in that setting. Sax would just sound silly in, say, bluegrass — though I’m sure some wunderkind will show up to prove that it could “work.” But beyond a novelty? Hard to imagine.
Cultures are the result of cultivation. Country music has not cultivated horn culture. It has cultivated string playing to a very, very high degree. However long their usage, horns will always be sideshows in country music because their culture has been cultivated to a very, very high degree in jazz and r&b.
So you’re all “correct,” in a way. Sorry if that sounds reductive.
Benjamin
February 28, 2017 @ 1:27 pm
You said it’s hard to imagine a saxophone in a bluegrass song with it simply being a novelty, but listen to the song “Forty Days” by the Devil Makes Three, its got a sax and it’s not just for novelty or giggles, it adds to the song and makes it more appealing and real. I do agree that most country music is comprised of mainly stringed instruments, and I understand why people get the notion that horns don’t belong in country. Listen to the Zac Brown Bands live album that came out a couple years back, although they’re not a 100% country band, the horn section doesn’t sound out of place with their fiddle player or steel
SR
February 28, 2017 @ 3:14 pm
I love the Devil Makes Three, but they are not bluegrass.
Benjamin
February 28, 2017 @ 3:25 pm
How are they not bluegrass? Unconventional, yes, but no doubt they are folk/bluegrass. They use a lot of fiddle and banjo and almost all of their songs are acoustic guitar and stand up bass driven. I would just like to know why in the world they wouldn’t be considered bluegrass
Corncaster
March 1, 2017 @ 8:53 am
Because they’re playing Tin Pan Alley music, Ben. You might like the ragtime era.
Trainwreck92
March 3, 2017 @ 4:28 pm
TDM3 may use instruments that are ubiquitous in bluegrass, but their playing style doesn’t really resemble bluegrass all that much. They’d be better described as rag time, old-time, or just folk music.
Robert St
February 28, 2017 @ 11:33 am
Since trumpet was my instrument of choice, I’ve always liked the horns. A few more great examples :
Alison Krauss – ” It’s Goodbye And So Long To You ” from her new album
Chris Stapleton & Justin Timberlake collaboration
Vince Gill & Chris Botti collaboration on Vince’s last solo album.
These are all elite professionals who know what the hell they’re doing.
I know a lot of your audience here despises anything “mainstream,” but The Hag and all the others I mentioned not only incorporated horns, but did so in a way that one can still hear the vocals very clearly.
R2D2
February 28, 2017 @ 11:57 am
RIP Mr. Markham
Great article Trigger, very informative. Merle is my favorite especially his albums from the 80’s that always featured horns! I guess I am partial to horns because I love the Western Swing side of country music too!
Kevin Smith
February 28, 2017 @ 12:18 pm
I personally have grown to love Western Swing music ala Bob Wills and Asleep at The Wheel. In fact there are several bands in Nashville playing western swing nowadays although they don’t all use horns. Loooove. the Hag as well. So I’m ok with horns. In fact I like horns in rock and rI’ll quite a bit and retro soul , Dap Kings yes!
Now for my counterpoint. It would appear that Trigger wishes to enlighten the folks who think ASGTE isn’t a country album. As I said in the last post it’s all opinion. The presence of actual horns on a record doesn’t necessarily make it country, soul, jazz or rock n roll. It’s the overall stylistic vibe that I think dictates the genre. Song structure is part of it, arrangement is part of it, lyricAL style part of it, instruments a little part of it and vocal style part of it. Defining what is or isnt country is admittedly very subjective and as such often times prone to causing dissension and disagreement. Many of us use a rather unscientific method in gauging a songs genre, that is we use our ears and go with gut feeling.
I doubt this article changes people’s opinions on ASTGE.
Trigger
February 28, 2017 @ 12:51 pm
“The presence of actual horns on a record doesn’t necessarily make it country, soul, jazz or rock n roll. It’s the overall stylistic vibe that I think dictates the genre.”
I agree.
The point of this post was to honor Mr. Markham’s contributions to country. But I also felt like it was a good opportunity to point out that horns do have a history in country music way before Sturgill or any other modern artist. They may not make a project country, but they also don’t exclude a project from being considered country either just by their presence.
Warthog
February 28, 2017 @ 1:33 pm
I don’t remember the exact quote, but Waylon said something in his autobiography about how he loved horns in country music and thought they sounded beautiful.
Don’t know about everyone else, but I certainly wouldn’t want to tell Waylon that his view on country music is wrong.
J. Burke
February 28, 2017 @ 1:45 pm
Thanks Trigger for the sad news about Mr. Markham. Was surprised to hear that he was in the band longer than Norm Hamlet.
DJ
February 28, 2017 @ 3:40 pm
I’m surprised by that as well.
TwangBob
March 1, 2017 @ 7:06 am
Me too. I thought Norm Hamlet was the longest serving musician in Merle’s band, the Strangers. He has played dobro and steel guitar in the Strangers since 1960. From da wiki:
Norm Hamlet is an American steel guitarist and a member of Merle Haggard’s The Strangers band for the past 43 years. Hamlet was born on February 27, 1935 in Woodville, California. He began playing guitar in his teens and played throughout North Central California for a number of years with several groups, before going to Bakersfield, California in 1965 where he became an influential part of the Bakersfield sound. He has won many awards, including induction into the Western Swing Society hall of fame in Sacramento, California and the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame. In 2005 Hamlet had quadruple heart bypass surgery and recovered well at his home in Bakersfield, California. As of October 18, 2015, Hamlet continued to tour with Merle Haggard until Haggard’s death in April 2016.
Trigger
March 1, 2017 @ 10:38 am
The notion that Don Markham was Merle’s longest-serving Stranger comes from Merle himself. Perhaps that’s taking into account that Markham did more actual service time over those 40 years, or was closer to Merle than Norm was, I really don’t know. No offense to Norm whatsoever. He deserves recognition for his service time as well.
Harpo
February 28, 2017 @ 3:44 pm
I was lucky enough to meet Don, a couple of times. He was very humble, and you could tell on stage
how close he was to Merle. Thanks for the great music, Don.
Corncaster
February 28, 2017 @ 4:11 pm
God bless these guys, really.
They lived a wonderful era, set a benchmark, and got it on wax.
It’s great to see how loyal Haggard and his friends were to each other.
Mike2
February 28, 2017 @ 4:32 pm
Sorry to hear of his passing. His saxophone work was one my favorite parts of Merle Haggard’s sound. The first time I saw Merle Haggard live was in the fall of 2013. No sax player then, so I’m guessing he must have had recently retired.
Kevin C.
February 28, 2017 @ 7:08 pm
Merle’s song “Are the Good Times Really over” is a great example of horns belonging in country music.
Kevin C.
February 28, 2017 @ 7:22 pm
On the song Remember Me (I’m The One Who Loves You) Merle says “Now we’ll just have to sit back and listen to ol’ Don Play.” . Think I’ll listen to The Way I Am tonight in honor of Mr. Markham.
Todd Villars
February 28, 2017 @ 7:45 pm
I met Norm Hamlett 2 weeks ago back stage after Noel & Ben did there set at the Brighton Seminole Reservation and he told me he has been in the Strangers since 1967. Which I think would make him the longest tenured but who cares, 40 years is a longtime. By the way Norm said he is still learning something new every day about the Steel Guitar and Ben & Noel were awesome by the way.
BEH
March 1, 2017 @ 12:42 am
Toby Keith has had a horn section for years in his live shows. Toby really looked up to Haggard and Merle respected Toby enough to have him fill in on some dates during his last days. Last time I saw Zac Brown he also had a horn section.
rusty beltway
March 1, 2017 @ 7:13 am
Another good one Trigger. Thanks. I got a Merle Travis record called “That Fat Girl of Mine” that has Dixieland clarinet on it. I was watching some Wanda Jackson from the 50’s from that California jamboree. (Town Hall Country?) The one that had Joe Maphis and Fiddlin’ Kate in the band. There was a trumpet or sax guy in the band. That show was actually done in Compton if you (and Ice Cube) can believe that.
blockman
March 1, 2017 @ 8:43 am
Cool article. But even if Sturgill dropped the horns it still wouldnt be a country record. Its odd that the two biggest records in ‘country’ (Chris and Sturgill’s) arent even country music but more of a r & b/soul with 90s radio rock or lillith fair vibe. I am aware horns, blues, r & b and pop etc has had an impact on country music in a great way but there becomes a point where it stops beinf country and starts to be something else. Bob Wills played western swing wasnt really a honky tonk act anyways no shock he should use horns.
Sturgill and Stapleton are symptoms of the same ‘mono-genre’ you had been talking abour for years. Their product is a reflection of this mono-genre. Stapleton does a great R & B/Soul cover of Tenesse Whiskey but its far far from a country song (yes I know who wrote it) yet its being pushed to country fans?
Regardless of ones tastes marketing EDM as country is just as shitty as marketing R&B Soul Blues as country. When there is a distinct lack of good country out there in the mainstream its a bit of a piss off when talented people (like Sturgill) run off to play Bruno Mars or something. Stapleton has always been more bad than good in his songwriting legacy so im not that shocked Traveller was distinctively non-country mono-genre fare.
Trig – do you feel the mono-genre is still a threat? How do you see ‘country’ artists doing r&b or soul while covering Nirvana or reworking classic country songs into a soul tune and marketing it as country fitting into this mono-genre? Is this new Sturgill/Stapleton/neo-Muscle Shoals mono-genre OK because it sounds a little better than the rap/hiphop/arena rock one?
Trigger
March 1, 2017 @ 10:31 am
I have been open and honest from the very beginning that I do not see “A Sailor’s Guide to Earth” as a very “country” project, and that country fans have a right to be disappointed that Sturgill didn’t make a very country record. I think some take all of my reporting on Sturgill as some glossing over of the fact that “A Sailor’s Guide” isn’t very country, when that’s not the case at all. I’m just reporting the news, and Strgill at this point is driving the news cycle via all his success and actions. If you go back and read my review of “A Sailor’s Guide” I talked in length about this issue. The album didn’t even make it into my Top 10 for 2016. It did make it into my Top 20 though, and I do think it’s more country than some are giving it credit for. It’s a complex issue, “A Sailor’s Guide.” But I feel confident that Sturgill will make more country records in the future, and country listeners will get the red meat they crave from Sturgill. I expect his next record to be his biggest and best, and to be more country than his current one.
As far as the monogenre, I see this whole “Beyonce is country and deseves CMA/Grammy Awards” and folks like Thomas Rhett and Sam Hunt as a much bigger threat than Sturgill and Stapleton. Sure, both Sturgill’s and Stapleton’s recent records have R&B influences in them, but I still think both are grounded in country. Stapleton played to his strengths, and it resulted in one of the most incredibly-performing albums of our generation. He’s still selling 10,000 to 15,000 albums a week, and were 1 1/2 years removed from the 2015 CMA Awards.
I think we can’t focus too much on “A Sailor’s Guide.” Wait to see what Sturgill does next. Meanwhile the two folks rising at the moment and could become the next Sturgill and Stapleton are Cody Jinks and Whitey Morgan. Cody Jinks is on fire, and he’s as country as it gets. I remain very positive for the future of non-radio, independent country music, and this will help counter-balance the continued rise of the monogenre.
jtrpdx
March 2, 2017 @ 4:04 pm
All good points, and that is coming from someone who thinks ASGTE is country as anything else out there….although admittedly genre-bending. On the last points, I love Whitey, and have great respect for Jinks, but I don’t think either of them have near the potential as Sturgill from the standpoint of being able to get “big” and represent independent country on a large scale. Primarily because Sturgill is so far ahead of them when it comes to songwriting ability (including lyrically, musically, as a bandleader, and production-wise), and at the end of the day, that is what matters. Secondarily, his more “crossover” aspects also broaden his audience beyond that of sticking to a more narrow classic country formula (Whitey), or a classic / 90’s country formula (Jinks).
James
March 1, 2017 @ 9:27 am
Jamey Johnson had horns with him last time I saw him at the Bluebird.
Joseph
March 2, 2017 @ 8:15 am
“And now Brother Don…”
You’re right, horns were an integral part of The Hag’s sound, although it should be pointed out that said sound sometimes veered more toward jazz (“Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Star,” I’d say) before going back to country (“I Think I’ll Just Stay Here and Drink” had that ripping sax solo at the end, and that tune was c-o-u-n-t-r-y). For similar work, see Hank Williams Jr., who has involved horns on more country tunes (“Man of Steel,” “Women I’ve Never Had”) and…less country tunes, like “Ain’t Misbehavin’.”
I like horns, especially when they’re well done, and hate to hear of another country music veteran passing.
Sarah Markham-Strawn
March 2, 2017 @ 7:42 pm
Thank you for this wonderful article! Don was my Grandpa. This means a lot to my family.
Leticia Mollers
March 3, 2020 @ 6:53 pm
Don was great. he was more than great, and was the longest running on horns for Merle, (gary church, dixieland express on an album, and Renato Caranto were the only others I can remember). He was close to Merle, but as far as outlasting any other member, I agree with those who mentioned Norm Hamlet, Norm was hired as steel man in 1967, was the band leader, and was there as a Stranger up until Merle passed away in 2016. He continues to play with the Strangers on some dates of of today
SACHA MERO
December 27, 2020 @ 6:25 am
Thank you for the wonderful write up on my grandfather. He was an amazing man.
Jim Cayon
September 2, 2022 @ 7:16 am
…..allow me to explain how I arrived to this thread; was listening to Glen Campbell and SPECIFICALLY, “Try A Little Kindness” – then wondered to myself, ‘COULD there still be any CONTEMPORARY country & western artists using horn charts? The genre is definitely NOT my favorite, NOW more than ever – but, always LOVED him, Olivia’s early stuff, B.J. Thomas, Johnny, Buck, Roy, Jerry and lesser-knowns like Travis Wammack and incorporation of bluegrass figures, lines into MANY popular songs for six decades…..