Chip Young Obituary

He was born Jerry Marvin Stembridge, on May 19, 1938, in Atlanta, Georgia. He began his music career in his late teens playing guitar with Jerry Reed and singer-songwriter Joe South. He toured extensively with South and eventually signed with Atlanta-based Lowery Music, where he began writing songs and playing on publishing demos. In 1960, fellow Atlantan Felton Jarvis (who would later become Elvis’ producer) helped launch his engineering career. Young joined the Army in 1961 and on the day he was discharged from the army in 1963 he moved to Nashville to back his friend Jerry Reed on tour.
When not out on the road with Reed, Chip Young eased into studio work and soon became one of the most in-demand session guitarists of the 1960s playing on recordings by Eddy Arnold, Skeeter Davis, Waylon Jennings, George Jones, Willie Nelson, Jerry Reed, Bobby Bare and dozens more. Starting in May 1966, he played his first session for Elvis Presley on the Grammy-winning HOW GREAT THOU ART album, which was also the first Elvis album produced by Felton Jarvis. Chip then went on to work on virtually all of Presley’s sessions through to the legendary singer’s passing in 1977.
He was also a member of the late 1960s/early 1970s country-psych-pop ensemble The Neon Philharmonic alongside Don Gant, Kenny Buttrey, Norbert Putnam, Tupper Saussy, Jerry Carrigan and several other Music Row musicians. They scored a top 20 pop hit with Morning Girl in 1969 and recorded for Warner Bros, MCA and TRX Records.

Over the years he worked with lots of major acts at the studio including Teresa Brewer, Johnny Mathis, Jimmy Buffett, Jerry Reed, Joe Ely, Delbert McClinton, Larry Gatlin, Tom T. Hall, Reba McEntire, Johnny Rodriguez and the Statler Brothers. Amongst the most important and iconic recordings he produced there was Billy Swan’s I Can Help in 1974.
The million-selling single that had taken Swan 20 minutes to write, was recorded in just two takes. When he wrote it, Swan perceived it as ‘an up-tempo blues song,’ by the time Young had worked his magic on it, I Can Help was transformed into a jaunty, organ-backed paean to romantic benevolence and became a neo-rockabilly pop classic. Contrary to popular legend, Swan didn’t play the distinctive keyboard part of I Can Help, it was Memphis session musician Bobby Emmons on his portable Farfisa, which he had brought to the session. Chip further underscored the track with subliminal guitar lines on his Fender Telecaster, before adding the descending lead solo that would provide the song with its signature sound. That guitar solo helped transport the melody out of its blues vein and, accompanied by a shuffle-type drum pattern, imbue the track with a rockabilly feel that had never been Billy Swan’s conscious intention.
I Can Help hit number one on Billboard’s Hot 100 and Country charts in November 1974, selling over a million copies in the US, another million overseas, and peaking at number six in the UK. Chip recreated the solo as an overdub when Elvis Presley recorded I Can Help for his TODAY album in March 1975.

Chip Young, Bobby Bare Jr, Bobby Bare
In 2000, Young released HAVING THUMB FUN WITH MY FRIENDS, an album of guitar duets with other studio legends, including Chet Atkins, Grady Martin, Jerry Reed and Scotty Moore. More recently, he had played on recordings by My Morning Jacket, Todd Snider. Bobby Bare Jr, and Candi Staton. He was inducted into the National Thumbpickers Hall of Fame in 2009 and the following year he was honoured as part of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s Nashville Cats: A Celebration of Music City Musicians series.
A highly respected country music guitarist, Chip Young played a vital and important role in the development of Nashville as Music City. My good friend Chris Scruggs, himself a skilled musician, best sums up this quiet unassuming musician and his impact on country music: ‘Chip Young was a quintessential Nashville Cat and a true southern gentleman. He was a master of his craft yet was without any hint of ego or self-importance, which made him an invaluable asset in the studio, both behind the board and in the band. Younger players could learn a lot from him, both musically and on a personal level, too. His superb musicianship and warm smile will be sorely missed.’