The Life I Love is Making Music With My Friends: Mickey Raphael’s First Headlining Show is a Testimony To Musical Community.
Mickey Raphael, y’all: The greatest that there’s ever been.
And such a stylist.
— Shelby Lynne, December 3, 2024.
After 51 years of playing sideman to Willie Nelson (and a few more to Texas songwriters before that), Mickey Raphael, 73, headlined his first show December 3, at the Brooklyn Bowl in Nashville. Mickey’s tasteful, soulful playing spans genres and generations, and the show was a beautiful testimony to the communal power of music and the role of the sideman (I’ll use that term) in bringing people together. The love, respect, and mutual admiration among these musicians who dropped everything to show up for a friend, who apparently has built some karmic surplus, made the night special.
If the sideman’s job, to paraphrase Danny Barnes, is to make the lead artist sound, look, and feel good, what happens when the sideman takes center stage? What does a player like Mickey Raphael, known for his taste and restraint, do when all eyes are on him?
As Mickey dryly pronounced, “I guess we’ll start the only way I know how,” Waylon Payne counted into Whiskey River, and the signature wail of Mickey’s harp sounded. The train was rolling. Although the show was Mickey’s, Willie’s spirit was ever-present, from the etching on Mickey’s gear box, to the choice of invocation and benediction.
What set list does a sideman with 100s of album credits make? Does he showcase his relationship with Willie? Give us a night of harmonica stylings? Let the special guests carry the load? Mickey’s formula was Willie’s classics, guests’ originals, and harmonica-oriented covers in roughly equal parts. Embracing Mickey’s partnership with Willie gave coherence, while emphasizing guests’ originals made it meaningful.
The harmonica-oriented covers, like Canned Heat’s On the Road Again, The Rolling Stones’ Miss You, and the traditional Milk Cow Blues changed the pace & lightened it up. they honored Mickey’s influences and let him shine on the harp. Wwith this class of musicians on stage, embracing a “let’s play around and not take this all too seriously” ethos was a good idea.
Electric tunes with a full band meant a lot of amplified harp, which you wouldn’t expect if you only knew Mickey’s classic Willie recordings. Amplified Mickey has always been there, though, from the 1984 Live at Budokan, to his work with Leon Russell (see Struck by Lightning from the 1980's Life & Love album), or the raucous Supersucker records. Playing with Chris Stapleton the last few years may have further developed his amplified sound, though, which has become singular; he plays with a Beyer 160 which picks up a lot of nuance of his note articulation and mouth effects (think of wah wah sounds). Mickey’s also a master at cupping the microphone with his hands to change the equalization of notes by manipulating the sound cavity. This clip from Caledonia (later in the night) shows his use of dynamics, especially on the low end. On high bent 5th notes, he likes to open up his hands so that high end cuts through — these notes really screaming on high bent vibratos.
All of these harp song covers are about groove, and none of this would have worked if the Honchos weren’t locked in. Bassist J.T. Cure, drummer Derek Mixon and guitarist Mike Eli LoPinto laid the foundation and never overplayed. Lee Pardini, my new favorite keyboardist, brought an understated Les McCann vibe to tunes Compared to What (popularized by Roberta Flack).
Mickey smartly enlisted his own sideman, the two-time Grammy nominated sax player Bill Evans for this gig, which gave him someone to play off of. Evans was was a member of the Miles Davis Group in the 1980s and veteran of influential jazz fusion bands with John Scofield and Robben Ford. If you’re thinking, “Uh, that’s kind of a good band,” you’d be correct. Seeing them at a 1200 capacity club? Ridiculous.
Going from side guy to headliner also means directing the band live. As a side guy myself, I really don’t envy this job, so I was curious how Mickey would handle it. Who counts in songs? Who calls out leads? Who cues endings? Would he remember all of this? Established bands have their own protocols which simplifies things, and leaning on The Honchos certainly helped. Still, negotiating over a dozen people over 25 songs with multiple configurations and no breaks — with no pro like Don Was (who does a lot of Willie events) to guide — makes a pretty tough first gig.
The night’s second configuration began with Raphael blasting Sugar Blue’s opening riff to Miss You by The Rolling Stones, Margo Price peeling off her coat, and a party starting. As Price performed her Mick Jagger strut, all eyes turned to her - to the degree that I think a cue or two were missed. A few times, sax player Bill Evans stepped up for the solo (I was curious how he’d approach Mel Collins iconic part here), and someone else stepped in, and, alas it never came to be. Mickey looked a little horrified realizing that his friend, a world class sax player was not playing a solo on a song somewhat defined by it. The band also seemed stuck in the groove at the end. The Honchos sorted it out before I think anyone even noticed. It was refreshing to know that they’re human, but honestly, this was the only such moment I detected all night. I’d hoped for at least one train wreck, but they held it together almost perfectly.
Mickey built his reputation by tastefully accompanying Willie, and the soul of the show was Mickey’s relationship with his guest singers and songwriters. Margo Price’s rendition of Too Stoned to Cry (written by Andrew Combs) is a country ballad worthy of Loretta Lynn, which features a flawless, Mickey Raphael solo. Mickey’s approach here is representative of his recent accompaniment work outside of Willie Nelson ‘s band — tasteful melodically-driven solos featuring dynamic volume swells, multiple forms and vibrato speeds, switches to tongue blocking for octaves and chords to build energy and tension — all executed with total command.
For pure emotional weight, it was hard to beat Brenda by Amos Lee. A last-minute addition, Lee flew down from Philadelphia and performed a song written about Mickey’s former partner, Brenda, who recently passed away. They then played El Camino, which Mickey tackled with his trademark simple echo harmonica, before switching back to diatonic, played with octave swells, bent note vibrato and the restraint to let the song carry itself. As Amos left the stage with a hug, the love between them was palpable.
As predicted, Mickey gave us his “If I Only Had a Brain / Somewhere Under the Rainbow” medley. Whereas every other harmonica player’s show stopper is marked by fast technique, Mickey’s oozes personality. Listen to this medley, you’ll be convinced that this is a good soul. My non-harmonica playing neighbors were completely taken by it — with no other things happening they seemed to pick up on the range of techniques he employs. Whole new harmonica worlds opened for them.
The energy shot back up as we experienced the closest to an instrumental free-for-all as we would get all night: A jam on Miles Davis’s Jean-Pierre. Raphael and Evans, who collaborated on Evans 2002 album Big Fun, shared leads and traded licks throughout the tune, which showcased Mickey’s ear for melody and improvisational chops. Playing free form jazz on the diatonic harmonica with a world class sax player is not easy, because diatonic harmonicas do not contain all 12 notes on the chromatic scale. Some missing notes can be obtained through bending; others aren’t available at all, so players must substitute complementary notes. I wouldn’t try it, but Mickey surfed through it beautifully, and if there’s one recording that I’d love to study from this evening, this is it.
What legendary guitarist producer, and songwriter T Bone Burnett was going to do at a Mickey Raphael concert wasn’t clear to me, but I needed to see it. “Any friend of Mickey’s is a friend of mine,” proclaimed T Bone as he sat down, and Colin Linden finger picked the resonator guitar. What came out was He Came Down, a spiritual that sounds straight from songbook that revealed itself to Gillian Welch for her 1996 Revival (also produced by T Bone Burnett). Mickey began to sway and his harmonica fit in effortlessly, playing the melody in a smooth, single notes with a soft attack that sounded almost Irish. Mickey picked up the song through the breaks adding to a lilting feel, picking the song up and helping it move. On songs like this, Mickey grounds his note selection in the melody, fills each note itself with more expressiveness through attack, volume swells, vibrato, or even simple timing and uses the instrumental break to accomplish something bigger.
“Mickey Raphael, y’all: The greatest that there’s ever been. And such a stylist. And original,” proclaimed Grammy Award Winner Shelby Lynne, re-introducing Mickey Raphael to the crowd. Despite — or maybe because it was his first headlining show — many of the people around me — including those leaning on the rail just feet rom his music stand, didn’t know who he was beforehand. One guy was there for Stapleton. Another was told by a friend to “just go.” The other half of my section were Willie fans or fans of Americana. I didn’t find any other harmonica players.
Which is a shame because his playing was versatile, technically sound, and creative. For example, his parts on on the 2000 pop-country song Gotta Get Back is pure delight. Entering Stevie Wonder mode, Raphael starts the solo with staccato rhythm before finding the perfect hook — a little swinging 5–6–5–3 lick (using the Nashville numbering system) that grabs the ear and ties together the segments of the solo — which includes a soaring exploration of the upper register, which on the high F harp, is as high as you get. Whether it’s because the harmonica doubles as a child’s toy, or from a lifetime of Stevie Wonder associations, there’s an innocent joy that the harmonica (particularly in the key of C) can convey. It steals your worries and elevates you to a higher plane, which is matched perfectly to theme of the song here — the elation of flying above the world to see a new love. Here’s a little snippet of the intro, with his rhythm, which I’ve never heard anyone else use.
As Lynne announced, “We’re going to try and butcher this one,” the band launched into an up-tempo version of Night Life that brought down the house. “What are you gonna do” asks — or challenges Lynne — driving Mickey to a big blues entrance worthy of Sonny Boy Williamson II. He plays tongue-blocked octaves and a 1 / flat 7 chord that pulses in rhythm with the keys — reminding us that Mickey’s listening– and locking him into the band. Mickey returns to some big, rounded, confident root notes, which sets up his piercing bent 3rd — in the video you can see him open his right hand to allow the top end of the note to bite through — which all underscores the song’s proud ownership of the of the Night Life followed by a stinging rebuke of it, or of society, or maybe just an acknowledgement of the pain it entails. Mickey collects us with a return to the melody, before quoting himself by stealing a phrase and turn-around from his Georgia solo on Stardust. By the time Lynne returns, the stakes are raised and she responds with a soulful blues where words, phrases, time is lost in the moment — which prompted me to stop recording and be there. It was blues at its finest. You had to be there.
Of all the things to be scrubbed from the Internet, Mickey’s pitch perfect melodic solo on Come a Long Way from Michelle Shocked’s Arkansas Traveler is the least deserving[1]. This session was, in my mind transitional for Raphael as it introduced him as someone paying attention to what became called “alt.country.” The recording also introduced a formula Mickey in which he locates the melody on the harmonica and, by repeating it on the solo, pulls the song together and cements it into the ear of the listener as the hook of the song. The harmonica — particularly if when the high end isn’t muted — has a way of really grabbing the ear (probably because it occupies the same sonic range of the vocals, but has an even brighter timbre). A good player like Mickey understands that this power is not to be taken lightly. This power is one reason that novice harmonica players are annoying. The instrument really commands sonic attention (and competes with the vocals). But when used judiciously, it makes the song sing.
Mickey’s performance on Arkansas Traveler helped connect a generation raised on Dolly, Waylon, Willie, Johnny, and Merle to the outlaws, and I would argue represented a genuine musical, personal, perhaps spiritual connection to the outlaw movement that was in full display with Jason Isbell’s Strawberry Woman. Isbell introduced the song by telling the story of how it came to be; he was sitting on an airplane, ruminating on what to do about the song, looked across the aisle, saw Mickey, and figured he could fix it. Mickey’s solution was to do for the song exactly what he did for Come a Long Way (and T Bone’s “He Came Down”), locating and articulating a melody, which becomes a defining song feature. This approach is somewhat unique to Mickey — few harmonica players outside of Stevie Wonder and maybe Neil Young really do it.[2]
Mickey introduced Jason Isbell by telling the story of when they were watching Bob Dylan play at the Brooklyn Bowl (!), owner Peter Shapiro suggested that Mickey play a show. Ever the sideman, Mickey replied with, “I don’t know about that.” Isbell said, “I’ll join you,” Mickey said “yes,” and next thing you know, I’m on a plane to Nashville the week after Thanksgiving.[3] As Mickey strapped on his accordion for a heartfelt version of Poncho and Lefty, this cross — generational musical family of outlaws and the kids raised on them felt at place. In fact watching the natural banter between these two (Jason clearly had a truckload of harmonica jokes ready), made me hope that these two would do a record and tour. I’d drop everything to follow them.
Billy F. Gibbons, sauntering across stage with the understated Mickey Raphael, makes for every bit the odd couple. Gibbons is a living blues legend and is built for the spotlight, Mickey, well, Mickey joked that his first show might also double as a farewell tour.
Seen together, Billy and Mickey look like musical brothers. As Levi Clay, writing for Premier Guitar describes,
Gibbons has never been a fast player, nor has he relied on blazing technique to connect with the audience, but …in the pursuit of scales, arpeggios, and tricky theory, it’s all too easy to lose your connection with phrasing, timing, vibrato, and tone. Gibbons has these essential qualities in spades. https://www.premierguitar.com/lessons/beyond-blues-billy-gibbons
Phrasing, timing, vibrato, and tone. Connecting to an audience. That’s Mickey.
“Y’all been tiptoeing around that bluesy thang,” Billy chided, before encouraging the crowd to sing along to Caledonia. The next three songs, Caledonia, Baby Please Don’t Go, and Gimme All Your Loving were ridiculous fun — everything you want in an All-Star jam. The playful back and forth between them can’t be captured here, but the look on everyone’s faces during this little sequence of Billy directing Lee Pardini to Bill Evans is what stands out to me. Again, I apologies for cutting the video but I wanted to be in the moment.
From a harp player’s perspective, watching Mickey play a few feet in front of me, all night, across genres was the experience of a lifetime. Unlike guitar players, who can watch other players live any night of the week, we harmonica players have precious few opportunities to watch each other live. I can go years without seeing a pro player. In a normal show, I get maybe 2–3 chances to see “the man of the night, Mickey Raphael” ease into this wicked vibrato, play with such sonic dynamics, hit these screaming high notes by manipulating the mouth embouchure and hands, or switch between single notes, chords, and octaves so effortlessly up close. The fact that he hasn’t been able to shine more is criminal.
In another world, Mickey Raphael is Billy Gibbons’ perfect sideman, playing the straight man to Billy’s show. I’ve listened to a lot of Mickey’s blues, and heard nothing that brings Mickey’s blues “phrasing, timing, vibrato, and tone” out like playing with Billy. It was so good, noted tone and texture snob T Bone Burnett couldn’t look away.
Mickey helped usher in “alternative country” playing on Arkansas Traveler, but it was his follow up with The Supersuckers (Must’ve Been High, 1997) that laid the template for his approach to playing with Chris Stapleton. Mickey introduced Chris, the biggest star of the night, through a story about walking in on Willie’s tour bus to see Stapleton talking to Willie, and thinking “Uh oh, I’ve been caught. My wife and my girlfriend are talking.” As a side guy who has also played in bands while sitting in with others, this was immensely relatable.
And, as Lee Pardini’s opening Hammond organ sounds filled the air with the opening chords of Georgia On My Mind, a higher purpose connecting not just Mickey, Willie and Chris, but maybe all of us was invoked. Standing head bowed and arms folded, Mickey swayed, and Stapleton stood, also with hands folded, ready for for a performance that American Songwriter aptly described as “breathtaking.[4]” Judging by the look on T Bone’s face, he was every bit as mesmerized as we were. Attention will deservedly go to 8 time vocalist of the year winner Chris Stapleton for this performance, but don’t miss how side man Lee Pardini’s organ lays the foundation. For his part, Mickey stuck with his distorted, cupped tone, similar to how he played it with Willie & Leon in the barn almost 50 years ago. This rendition took on an even sadder, even more soulful tone, to my ear, hearing a hint of resignation playing a song that will outlive us all.
(Here’s the full version, from another channel if you’d prefer).
With Chris Stapleton fronting the Chris Stapleton band, why not play a Chris Stapleton song? They went with the swampy Outlaw State of Mind, which features a classic Mickey wailing solo, played cleanly on the record but distorted here live. All night, the band had been on high alert, navigating new songs with a revolving cast of artists. With Outlaw, they let go and let it rip. The moment the song started, Mickey settled in, off to the side where he normally stands, figuratively handing the steering wheel the band leader. And the crowd was treated to one of the biggest bands in country, at the height of its powers in a club setting. Mickey goes with third position here, which he often does playing in front of a heavy, electrified sound. Harmonica positions is beyond the scope of this article, but he’s using a C harmonica to play in the key of D. Third position is rarely, if ever used in country, and sparingly in blues or rock, because the player is in a minor key. In short, each position gives the player a different palette of sounds to choose from, and this one allows Mickey to really hit those bent wailing (flat) 3rds and a blue 5th. It’s a technique he flirted with playing with Willie when he was electric with a drummer and full kit, but one that he mostly reserves for session work or Stapleton’s band. What better way to end the set than showcasing a screaming harmonica part on a song making nods to his outlaw past while moving the genre forward.
For the encore, Mickey went with the Family standard, On the Road Again, featuring everyone but Jason Isbell. Maybe Isbell’s babysitter had to go home or something. Either way, it was the perfect benediction. Mickey played a little more than usual on this one — and played distorted, perhaps celebrating a show well done. His night was a wrap.
I’ve often wondered what it would be like to be Mickey Raphael, playing a career with Willie Nelson’s “The Family,” always on the road. It’s a life many dream of, but at the same time, might it get lonely? Does it leave one unmoored?
The answer, tonight, was that the family is much bigger than any one person or band, and we saw the best of what a musical community can be. We saw generations of family, like Waylon Payne, proudly playing with Mickey, who I assume is a spiritual big brother or uncle of sorts. We saw Shelby Lynne looking toward Mickey, happily sharing the stage with someone she grew up listening to and sing the blues. We saw Bill Evans celebrating a night with a brother-in-arms.
We saw Amos Lee fly across the country to play a song he wrote about Mickey’s former partner. We saw Margo Price strut, have a ball and reaching new audiences. We saw T Bone Burnett sharing exciting new work and reveling in the spectacle before him.
We saw Billy F Gibbons be Billy F Gibbons with the Honchos, who got to celebrate moments like this.
And we saw Chris Stapleton, carrying on the traditions Mickey and friends started 5o years ago, before he was born. This looks less like a torch being passed, as a fire continuing.
My friend and mentor Adrian Martin teaches a class called “Playing well with others.” Playing music isn’t just about making a good sound on your instrument, learning scales, or even developing pleasing phrasing, timing, vibrato, or tone. It’s about listening. It’s learning to support each other. When you’re a sideman, it’s about learning what someone is trying to say in a song — or maybe even picking up on what it’s not saying, so you can give voice to its undercurrents.
It’s learning to see another artist, what they’re trying to do, and who they are trying to become. It’s about putting your ego aside for the greater good and inspiring those around you to do the same.
Mickey started the night by reading a comment from report card. “Says he works and plays well with others.” Sometimes it’s the work of sidemen like Mickey that keep this all together, making music with our friends.
Congratulations, Mickey Raphael, on a fantastic first gig. Your future is bright.
— — — — — — -
Set List, from the Tennessean.
Whiskey River (w/ Waylon Payne)
On The Road Again (Canned Heat cover) (w/ Waylon Payne)
Compared To What (Roberta Flack cover) (w/ Waylon Payne and Bill Evans)
Coming Home (w/Bill Evans)
Fast Train (w/ Margo Price and Waylon Payne)
Miss You (Rolling Stones cover) (w/ Margo Price)
Too Stoned To Cry (w/ Margo Price)
Brenda (w/ Amos Lee)
El Camino (w/ Amos Lee)
Somewhere Over The Rainbow (instrumental)
Jean Pierre (Miles Davis cover) (w/ Bill Evans)
Milk Cow Blues (w/ Waylon Payne)
He Came Down (w/ T Bone Burnett)
Come Back (w/ T Bone Burnett)
Gonna Get Over This (w/ T Bone Burnett)
Gotta Get Back (w/ Shelby Lynne)
Night Life (w/ Shelby Lynne)
Pancho and Lefty (w/ Jason Isbell)
Strawberry Woman (w/Jason Isbell)
Caledonia (B.B. King cover) (w/ Billy F Gibbons)
Baby, Please Don’t Go (w/ Billy F Gibbons)
Gimme All Your Loving (ZZ Top cover) (w/ Billy F Gibbons)
Georgia On My Mind (w/ Chris Stapleton)
Outlaw State of Mind (w/ Chris Stapleton)
On The Road Again (w/ all acts appearing)
[1] Michelle Shocked’s catalog is one of the few recorded things I can think of not available on Spotify or YouTube, I’m pretty sure by choice, having been scrubbed from the Internet following her 2013 anti-gay marriage breakdown that alienated most, if not all, of her fanbase. As far as I can tell, Shocked’s self-isolation following her born again experience is the most effective example of “cancel culture” that exists — and it’s entirely self-inflicted. This would make an excellent documentary.
https://www.grunge.com/390773/the-comment-that-destroyed-michelle-shockeds-career/
[2] In my mind, this use of the instrument was used in the 1980s, popularized by Judd Lander’s playing on recordings like Culture Club’s Karma Chameleon, providing pop hooks that solidify a song. But if you listen to that, the harmonica plays modified blues licks more than the melody, which I think served to humanize songs that were becoming increasingly electronic.
[3] I’ll stick this in a footnote so that it’s not entirely about me, but Isbell’s Alabama Pines, put on a playlist for me by a friend Dan Jacobsohn was the song that guided me through my father’s passing, so I’ll forever feel a connection to his music.
[4] https://americansongwriter.com/chris-stapleton-teams-up-with-willie-nelsons-longtime-harmonica-player-for-georgia-on-my-mind-and-the-results-are-breathtaking/
