Chattanooga Favorite, Floyd Cramer

The late Luther Masingill said if he had to pick a favorite piano player it would be Floyd Cramer. Luther, who was on the radio in Chattanooga for over 70 years, said he received more requests for Mr. Cramer’s recordings than any other pianist. Cramer was inducted into both the Country Music and Rock and Roll Hall of Fames in early 2000.

Mr. Cramer was born in Shreveport, La. but grew up in Hutting, Ar. Cramer taught himself how to play the piano and after graduating from high school, he moved back to Shreveport. Cramer got a job on the Louisiana Hayride and was hired on as a member of Elvis Presley’s first band. He moved to Nashville and became a much sought after session pianist.

Cramer played on records for Hank Locklin, Patsy Cline, Brenda Lee, Eddy Arnold, Jim Reeves Roy Orbison, Don Gibson, Everly Brothers and Elvis Presley, among others. RCA’s Chet Atkins described Cramer as one of the most influential pianists of the century. Atkins said, “At one time Cramer was the busiest and most sought after studio musician in the industry.” Those songs, as thousands of others, were recorded in RCA’s historic and famous studio B in Nashville.

Cramer had released several of his own recordings but he became internationally known with the 1960 release of “Last Date.” He wrote the song and introduced the slip-note piano playing style which he became known for.

“Last Date” never made number one on the Billboard Hot 100, although it was a certified million selling record. The song that kept Cramer’s own composition from making it to the top was Elvis Presley’s “Are You Lonesome Tonight.” Interesting, Floyd Cramer was playing piano on that recording. Cramer’s next single was “On the Rebound” which charted at number four on Billboard.
The “Masters Festival of Music” became very popular in the 60s and featured Floyd Cramer, Chet Atkins and Boots Randolph. According to “Hello Chattanooga” by David Carroll, the trio performed several concerts at the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Auditorium, including Sept. 2, 1967.

The musicians arrived in Chattanooga early that afternoon and auditorium manager Clyde Hawkins invited this writer and a few others to attend this rehearsal where Cramer shared stories about his career. Cramer said he’d heard about a popular radio announcer in Chattanooga who has been on the air since the 40s. Cramer said, one day while traveling through the city, he decided to look up Luther Masingill at WDEF radio and meet him; so he found the Broad Street station. Cramer said he happened to have an acetate recording of “Last Date” in his car and gave it to the radio personality. Cramer said Luther was the first to play the million selling recording on the radio. During the concert, Mr. Cramer brought Luther out on stage and thanked him for all the spins of “Last Date.” Luther received a standing ovation from the crowd of over 4,000 people. Luther said the two became good friends and Cramer would call him when passing through Chattanooga.

During that performance Cramer also played his rendition of “Chattanooga Choo Choo,” which again brought the audience to their feet. (On a personal note, this writer used Cramer’s “Chattanooga Choo Choo” as his theme song while hosting the program “Town and Country” in the early 70s on the American Forces Network, Europe.)

WDXB radio was programming Top 40 hits when RCA released “Last Date.” The station’s Lloyd Payne said they wore out several copies of the song and the announcer said telephone requests for the record continued for months after it was off the charts.

During that auditorium rehearsal, pianist Cramer shared one of his favorite stories about “not” playing the piano on Jimmy Dean’s number one 1961 song, “Big Bad John.”

Cramer said he told producer Don Law the song was missing something but he didn’t think it needed a piano. Cramer said he noticed a chunk of steel in the studio, tied a coat hanger around it and used a hammer to get that certain clanging sound. Cramer said it was the only time he played anything other than a piano in a recording session. Columbia Records released “Big Bad John" in September, 1961 and the record was number one for five weeks.

David Carroll’s book documents nearly a dozen Cramer concerts at the Memorial Auditorium and Tivoli Theater, one performance was with the Chattanooga Symphony.

Mr. Cramer recorded dozens of piano albums for RCA. Cramer’s albums received a lot of radio time on easy listening FM stations from 1965-1980 when he recorded pop hit collections in his famous style. He even made two organ LPs for the label; “Floyd Cramer gets Organ-ized” and “Cramer at the Console.”

Cramer died of lung cancer on Dec. 31, 1997 and was buried at the Spring Hill Cemetery in Madison, Tn.

Cramer’s music lives on today through his grandson, Jason Coleman. The youngster grew up playing the piano with his grandfather and although Coleman was only 12 at the time of Floyd’s death, he’d inherited his grandfather’s distinctive slip-note piano style. The Jason Coleman show is seen every Sunday afternoon on the internet and heard that same evening on AM 650 – WSM in Nashville.

The Nashville native began the program during the early days of COVID. Coleman said, “I’m not a flashy piano player, I just try to let the melody of the song shine through and that lets the listeners fill in the words in their own heads and hearts.

The main attraction is Jason at the grand piano, but from time to time Coleman’s wife Natalie joins him along with their young piano playing son, Avery. The current and archived programs can be seen at www.jasoncolemanmusic.com/show and on YouTube.

Floyd Cramer, Jason Coleman and young Avery, “Thank you for all the great piano memories.”

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Earl Freudenberg, heyearl1971@epbfi.com