Guitar Player Story

Written by Woody Bridges

Author of guitar lessons on video

I am writing this to let people know what it is like to be a professional player. I started playing very young. When I was in my 20's, I was playing with musicians that were professionals. People like Cliff Bruner, Murphy McDowell, Deacon Anderson, Troy Passmore, Billy Carter, Homer Simon and Johnny Holland. There were a lot more professional sidemen that I've played with, but these are the ones I learned from. I was a very good singer and that's what got me in with these guys. Then they taught me more about playing parts. For several years Murphy, Johnny, Bugs Riley, Deacon and myself worked together as a band. (a very good band). Everyone but Bugs was at least 10 years older than me. Most of these guys have passed on now. Although I can still hear Cliff telling me "learn to play the melody before you try to improvise", and Murphy saying " ok, go pee and come back we've got a 30 minute break, I'll show you some more chords," and Deacon saying learn your scales, all of them"(Deacon wrote the song "Rag Mopp", and Johnny telling me, "Get on time, I'm going to throw a drum stick at you every time you get off." So you see they took very good care of me.

Through the years I've had a lot of experiences that I would like to share with you. Like the time I was invited to be on the show with Jim Reeves, Ernest Tubb, Willie Nelson, and Bennie Barnes. I had this new record out and I had never been on a stage with spotlights. When they announced me I went in from the side, the spotlight hit me, I looked at it and that was a big mistake. I couldn't see anything but a big red spot. I knew I was walking toward the mic, but I didn't know how far it was from me. So I slowed down hoping I could get my vision back. But no it didn't happen. I hit the mic and it made a big boom. Everyone laughed, they thought I was drunk. So I said to myself, "you better sing good", and I did, I brought the house down. I went out to Ernest's bus and we were talking, he told me not to worry about that, everyone has done it.

That was the first time I met Willie Nelson. Got to know him through the years. I already knew Bennie, he was on RCA records and was from Beaumont. I was living in Port Arthur.

I had married a Port Arthur girl when I was 20. She and I have been married for 53 years now. Her name was Mary Grace Brown until I changed the last name to Bridges. Grace became a great bass player and a very good song writer. A friend of ours told us about Jack Rhodes, a writer and promoter. ( Jack wrote "silver threads and golden needles") So we went to Wood county to see Jack. He wanted to hear me sing so I sang. He said I had great potential and he would work with me. Then he found out Grace was a writer and he really liked us then. Jack wrote: Satisfied mind, woman love, waltz of the angels, woman love, beautiful lies, and a bunch more. Well we worked on new material for months and then a guy came down from Nashville and wanted me to sign a Capitol Record deal, a road deal to travel with Ray Price 273 days a year, and a manage deal with him. I was really on fire, then Jack said "we'll let you know something tomorrow Al". I didn't know what was going on. So after Al left Jack sat me down and talked to me until 4 a.m. telling me why I didn't want to do that. He said I would lose my family and kids. Then I would destroy myself. He said after working with me, he learned to really like me and he didn't won't that to happen. So he offered Grace and I a job doing studio work and writing. He said that way I didn't have to travel. I didn't know what to think at the time, but now I'm glad he talked me out of it.

When Jack passed away I went to work with Bennie Barnes playing guitar and fronting the band. And I had a band for years playing local and backing up stars that came through.

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