Richard "Hacksaw" Harney

Richard "Hacksaw" Harney (July 16, 1902 – December 25, 1973) was an American Delta blues guitarist and pianist. He first entered a recording studio with his brother Maylon in 1928, to wax guitar work backing for separate tracks by Pearl Dickson and Walter Rhodes. However, Harney recorded rarely, until his belated solo album, Sweet Man.

According to Robert Palmer, Harney was "... an exceptional technician whose busy, dense finger-picking style was far removed from the more heavily rhythmic playing of the Patton-House school and who was regarded by many musicians as the best guitarist in the Delta."

The loss of his murdered brother, a speech impediment and naturally shy disposition, were all factors in preventing Harney from achieving fame. He spent most of his working lifetime as an itinerant piano tuner and repairer. His parents were Mary Howard and Dick Harney; his church deacon father having foregone secular music in enrolling in church duties. Dick encouraged his offspring to play secular music, as long as they did not practice in the family home. This led Richard by the age of 12 to playing on street corners in Greenville, Mississippi, in the company of Joe, his eldest brother. After initially sharecropping and street performing, Richard Harney worked as a bassist in a Cincinnati jazz band in the early 1920s. The Harney's recorded four tracks backing each performer, although only two sides each were released by the label early the following year. Big Joe Williams noted when asked about other blues performers, "You ain't heard nothing yet. Wait 'til you meet Hacksaw". on both the Adelphi and Genes Records labels. Apart from one traditional number, "Five Foot Two" and "Oh, Red!" (Kansas Joe McCoy), all other eight tracks on Sweet Man were composed by Harney.

Critical assessment In an interview he gave on October 6, 2000, Robert Lockwood Jr. stated "Hacksaw was an octopus! Well, that's the only way to explain how he could play so many notes at once. Of course, Robert [Johnson] stole his licks from a lot of guys, but I know for a fact that he learned from Hacksaw. And you know Hacksaw was just as good on the piano, don't you?"

In the liner notes to Harney's album it commented, "If this was rusty playing, we can only imagine what men like Big Joe Williams, Robert Lockwood and Robert Johnson heard in the 1930s. By that time, Hacksaw had mastered a very sophisticated sound, due in part to his experience with a jazz orchestra during the early 20s and reinforced by his ongoing exposure to a variety of musicians in his travels as a piano tuner and rebuilder".

Death One year after his final recording, Harney died at the age of 71 on Christmas Day 1973, in Jackson, Mississippi, from stomach cancer. Through a charitable donation, a grave marker was designed by Steve Salter of the non-profit organization, Killer Blues. It was placed on April 28, 2012. Rose Mary Harney, his daughter attended the ceremony, although Harney's son, Richard Harney, Jr., had died in an automobile accident in 1986.

Discography Singles Year Title (A-side / B-side) Main artist Record label 1928 "Twelve Pound Daddy" / "Little Rock Blues" Pearl Dickson Columbia(Columbia 14286-D) 1928 "High Yellow Blues" / "Guitar Rag" Pearl Dickson Columbiaunissued 1928 "The Crowing Rooster" / "Leaving Home Blues" Walter Rhodes Columbia(Columbia 14289-D) 1928 "She's A Girl of Mine" / "Left My Baby Blues" Walter Rhodes Columbiaunissued

Selected compilation album appearances Year Title Album1971 "Sunnyland Train Blues" : Sam Clark with guitar backing from Richard "Hacksaw" Harney and Backwards Sam Firk The Memphis Blues Again Vol. 1 1971 "Hacksaw's Down South Blues""Can Can" : both Richard "Hacksaw" Harney The Memphis Blues Again Vol. 22001 "The Crowing Rooster" Screamin' and Hollerin' the Blues: The Worlds of Charley Patton