The “Golden Hits Of The 60s” 

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BOB MOORE

“Mexico”

Monument 446

(Boudleaux Bryant)

No. 7    Septentber 11  1961

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Bob Moore was born in the heart of country and west­ern music, in Nashville, Tennessee, on November 30,

As if answering a calling from the holy soil itself, Bob took to playing the bass fiddle, and after years of

practice found himself laying down that bass founda­tion on countless C & W tours and recordings. As an

accompanist, Bob toured the land with a young and wild Elvis Presley, country folkie Red Foley, and teen

queens Connie Francis and Brenda Lee.

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When not on the road, Bob jammed with Chet Atkins at the Carousel Club, becoming a lynchpin in what

proved a successful informal grouping of side­ men–that included Floyd Cramer, Buddy Harman and BooTs

RANDOLPH–that repeatedly supplied the sounds for RCA and what was to become the “Nashville Sound.”

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In 1959, Monument Records main man Fred Foster noticed Moore’s dual ability to take charge in the studio

yet fit in well with almost any sound, and hired him to be the label’s music director. Roy Orbison had just

joined the Monument label, and it was Bob who creat­ ed the plush and throbbing orchestral ambience of

every one of those “Big O” soap operettas. Foster liked what he heard, and decided to cut Moore loose to see

what the kid could do as a solo act.

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After a mildly successful initial release, “(Theme From) ‘My Three Sons;” Moore recorded “Mexico,” an

instrumental created by the most-noted Boudleaux Bryant (“All I Have to Do Is Dream;’ “Bird Dog;’

“Devoted to You;’ “Let’s Think About Living;’ “Wake Up Little Susie”…). In sound, Moore’s lone Top 40 hit

anticipated by a full year the style that would keep Herb Alpert’s Tijuana Brass all over the charts for many

years to come.

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Throughout the remainder of the decade, Moore, on Monument and later Hickory, tried to keep up his

charting momentum, with little success. An album entitled Mexico and Other Great Hits did sell well, but

only on the strength of his big pop moment.

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For a session man who played with rock an rollers like Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis, Bob had a brassy yet tame

sound on his solo sides. But listen to Jerry Lee Lewis’ “What Did I Say?”–the pounding bass on that number

reveals another, more primal side of Bob Moore. This is the Bob Moore found on records by CARL

PERKINS, J. J. CALE, Moby Grape, Pearls Before Swine, Harvey Man­del, Kenny Rogers, Don McLean, and

post-Righteous­ Brothers’ Bill Medley. Bob Dylan also made use of Moore’s talents on the Dylan (1970) and

Self-Portrait (1973) albums. Somewhere in the ’80s, Bob Moore quietly and unceremoniously retired from

making public music.