Editing Glen Hardin

{{short description|American piano player and arranger (b. 1939)}}
{{BLP sources| date= April 2020}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2014}}

{{Infobox musical artist <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Musicians -->
| name                = Glen D. Hardin
| image               = Glenn D Hardin.jpg
| caption             = 
| image_size          = 250
| landscape           = yes
| background          = non_vocal_instrumentalist
| birth_name          = Glen Dee Hardin
| alias               = 
| birth_date                = {{Birth date and age|1939|04|18}}
|birth_place =[[Wellington, Texas]], US
| death_date                = 
| instrument          = Piano, [[Keyboard instrument|keyboards]], [[keyboard bass]]
| genre               = [[Rock and roll]], [[rockabilly]], [[Country music|country]], [[country rock]] 
| occupation          = Musician, songwriter, [[session musician]]
| years_active        = 1959–present
| label               = 
| associated_acts     = [[Elvis Presley]], [[TCB Band]], [[Ricky Nelson]]
| website                 = 
}}
'''Glen Dee Hardin''' (born April 18, 1939) is an American piano player and arranger. He has performed and recorded with such artists as [[Roy Orbison]], [[Elvis Presley]], [[Emmylou Harris]], [[John Denver]], and [[Ricky Nelson]].<ref name="fanclub">{{cite web
| last = Sunderland
| first = Ann
| title = Glen D's Biography
| publisher = TCB Fan Club
| url = http://tcbfanclub.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=13&Itemid=60
| access-date = 2009-05-12
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110716194200/http://tcbfanclub.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=13&Itemid=60
| archive-date = July 16, 2011
| url-status = dead
}}</ref>

==Career==
Hardin was born in [[Wellington, Texas]], a small town in the [[Texas panhandle]].{{Citation needed|date=April 2020}} After getting out of the Navy in 1959, Hardin began his musical career in [[Long Beach, California]], and soon joined the house band at the Palomino Club in [[North Hollywood]], called "Country Music's most important West Coast club" by the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]''.{{Citation needed|date=April 2020}} It featured such performers as [[Buck Owens]], [[Johnny Cash]], [[Patsy Cline]], [[Linda Ronstadt]], [[Hoyt Axton]] and [[Willie Nelson]] and was also a popular hangout for other country entertainers such as [[Merle Haggard]] and [[Jerry Lee Lewis]].{{Citation needed|date=April 2020}}

Shortly afterwards, he became a member of the Shindogs, the featured band on ''[[Shindig!]]'', an American music variety show which aired on the [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] network from 1964 to 1966. The series house band, the Shin-diggers (later renamed the Shindogs), also featured a young [[Glen Campbell]], [[James Burton]], [[Billy Preston]], [[Delaney Bramlett]], Joey Cooper and [[Leon Russell]]. An early episode was taped in [[Great Britain|Britain]] with [[The Beatles]] as the guests. The series featured other "[[British Invasion]]" bands including [[the Who]] and the [[Rolling Stones]]. ''Shindig!'' would continue to broadcast episodes from London throughout its run. Many popular performers of the day played on the show including [[Ray Charles]], [[Sam Cooke]], [[Lesley Gore]], [[Bo Diddley]] and [[Sonny and Cher]]. It notably featured both black and white acts during a time of [[racial segregation in the United States]].

A native of West Texas, Hardin had grown up with drummer [[Jerry Allison]] and bassist [[Joe B. Mauldin]], both members of [[Buddy Holly]]'s band [[the Crickets]]. After Holly's death in 1959, they continued to perform and record with guitarist/songwriter [[Sonny Curtis]]. During this period Hardin was made an honorary member of the Crickets and has played with them off and on for many years. Hardin found his first success as a songwriter in 1965 with "[[Count Me In (Gary Lewis & the Playboys song)|Count Me In]]", recorded by [[Gary Lewis & the Playboys]]. "Where Will The Words Come From" and "[[My Heart's Symphony]]" were also hits that Hardin penned for Lewis. He soon became an in-demand session pianist and over the years has recorded with numerous artists in a variety of music genres including [[Bing Crosby]], [[Nancy Sinatra]], [[Dean Martin]], [[Ricky Nelson]], [[Buck Owens]], [[John Denver]], [[Linda Ronstadt]], [[Kenny Rogers]], [[Johnny Rivers]], [[Merle Haggard]], [[Michael Nesmith]], [[Waylon Jennings]], and [[Dwight Yoakam]].

In 1970 Hardin got a call from [[Elvis Presley]] to replace [[Larry Muhoberac]] in the [[TCB Band]], featuring [[James Burton]], [[Jerry Scheff]] and [[Ron Tutt]]. Hardin remained with the band until 1976, touring and recording with Presley and appearing in the ''[[Aloha From Hawaii]]'' TV special. Hardin studied arranging and arranged many of Presley's hits such as "[[The Wonder of You]]", "[[Let It Be Me (1955 song)|Let It Be Me]]" and "[[I Just Can't Help Believin']]". This high-profile position soon led to many other opportunities. In 1972 [[Gram Parsons]], one of the founders of country rock, hired the TCB Band to record his first album, [[GP (album)|GP]]. Hardin played piano and was musical director on the sessions for this as well as Parsons' second album, [[Grievous Angel]]. Through his work with Parsons, Hardin was introduced to [[Emmylou Harris]], with whom he would work after Parsons' death in the highly praised and influential [[Hot Band (Emmylou Harris backing band)|Hot Band]]. Across several years this band included [[James Burton]], [[John Ware (musician)|John Ware]], [[Rodney Crowell]], [[Hank DeVito]], [[Emory Gordy, Jr.]], [[Albert Lee]], [[Larrie Londin]] and [[Ricky Skaggs]]. Hardin also played piano on the [[Roy Orbison]] television special, ''[[Roy Orbison and Friends, A Black and White Night|A Black and White Night]]''.

== Recent activity ==

Hardin toured in Sweden with the Cadillac band in 2007 and 2008.{{Citation needed|date=April 2020}}
Hardin continues to tour, regularly performing in Europe. In June 2009 he played Breda in the [[Netherlands]].{{Citation needed|date=April 2020}} In January 2010, Hardin went into RCA Studio B in Nashville with the Dutch singer Bouke. Bouke is the winner of the Dutch national TV show ''Waar Is Elvis'' (Where Is Elvis). They recorded three songs together for a CD distributed among the Dutch and Belgian members of the Elvis Matters fanclub.{{Citation needed|date=April 2020}}

==See also==
*[[TCB Band]]
*[[The John Denver Band]]
*[[Emmylou Harris]] and her "Hot Band"

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.elvis.com.au/presley/interview_glendharin.shtml Interview with Hardin about his time before and after Elvis]
*[https://www.namm.org/library/oral-history/glen-d-hardin Glen Hardin Interview about his first arrangement for Elvis] at [[NAMM Oral History Program|NAMM Oral History Collection]] (2014)
{{The Crickets}}
{{The Dillards}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hardin, Glen}}
[[Category:1939 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People from Wellington, Texas]]
[[Category:Musicians from Lubbock, Texas]]
[[Category:American pop pianists]]
[[Category:TCB Band members]]
[[Category:Southern Pacific (band) members]]
[[Category:The Crickets members]]
[[Category:American country keyboardists]]
[[Category:American country pianists]]
[[Category:American male pianists]]
[[Category:American rock pianists]]
[[Category:20th-century American pianists]]
[[Category:The Dillards members]]
[[Category:20th-century American keyboardists]]