Born
and raised in the Lone Star State of Dallas Texas, Mickey Raphael's
career as Willie Nelson's Harmonica player has spanned almost three
decades. His intelligent playing style has become
a hallmark of Nelson's
crossover sound, earning him a large audience worldwide.
As a
teenager, Raphael gravitated toward the Dallas folk music scene
and fell under the spell of legendary harmonica great Don Brooks. "I
went to this little coffee house one night and saw him playing and
it just impressed me so much," Raphael recalls. "He had moved to New
York and was kind of a legend around Dallas. He sat me down one
night after a show and showed me this little lick that went all the
way up and down the harmonica, just a little pattern. Right away I
just jumped about twenty steps from the little I already knew about
the harp."
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Raphael eventually joined singer B.W.
Stevenson's band. One of his most enthusiastic boosters
was University of Texas Football coach Darrell Royal, a
passionate fan of country music.
One night in
1973, Royal invited Raphael to a post-game party in a
Dallas hotel room and asked him to bring along his harps. The
resulting informal jam session included Charley Pride and
Willie Nelson, who passed around a guitar and took turns
singing.
"I played a
little with Willie and he asked me to come and sit in with him
sometime. A while later he played a fireman's benefit in
a high school gym somewhere
outside of Dallas and I
showed up there and played a little. Later, we were sitting there
talking and he said, "Why don't you come to New York with me in a
couple of months - we're going to play Max's Kansas City.' So I went
up there and played with Willie. He really wasn't touring that much
then; it was still a couple of years before he left Texas again on
real tours."
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Young Willie Nelson
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Willie and Mickey recording in the
studio in Austin Texas
during the early 70's.
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Raphael moved from Dallas to Austin,
Nelson's home base, and began a crash course in country music. "When
I joined Willie's band, I really didn't know anything about country
music. I'd never really listened to it at all. I
was a folk blues
player. I just wanted to play in a country band and ride around in a
bus."
Raphael
credits blues great Paul Butterfield and rhythm and blues
saxophone genius King Curtis as two of
his biggest influences. "Charlie McCoy was the
first harmonica player I really
listened to in country music."
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Onstage with Neil Young at Farm Aid in 1999
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Raphael has
recorded throughout the years with a variety of artists,
ranging from Elton John, U2, and Motley Crue to
Vince Gill, Emmy Lou Harris, The Mavericks,
Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Neil Young.
Always on tour
with Willie Nelson and Family, Raphael's career continues
to take him to new uncharted territory. When he's not on the road,
he continues to commute to Los Angeles for studio work.
In 1988,
Raphael, released his first solo
project, entitled
Hand to Mouth.
The ethereal collection of songs features a variety of timeless
instrumental tracks, including
The Search,
Gypsy and
Breathless.
Due to popular demand, the project was re-released in 2000. |
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Mickey
jammin with Willie and Family Band members Bee Spears, Willie Nelson
and Jody Payne on stage at a concert
during the early 80's |
Willie and Mickey performing live at
Farm Aid in Indiana in 2001
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