Hargus "Pig" Robbins

Hargus Melvin Robbins

Mel Robbins

(1938-01-18)January 18, 1938
Spring City, Tennessee, U.S.

January 30, 2022(2022-01-30) (aged 84)

Keyboards

1957–2022

Time, Chart, Elektra

Life and career[edit]

Robbins was born on January 18, 1938, in Spring City, Tennessee.[2] When he was three years old, he accidentally poked himself in the eye with a knife and had to have the eye removed. He later lost sight in his other eye as well, rendering him blind.[3]


He learned to play piano at age seven, while attending the Tennessee School for the Blind in Nashville. During his time there, Robbins was given the nickname "Pig" by a school supervisor due to his propensity to "sneak in through a fire escape and play when [he] wasn’t supposed to and … get dirty as a pig."[3]


He played his first session in 1957, with his first major recording being George Jones's "White Lightning".[4] Thereafter, he played keyboard for scores of country music artists.


Between 1963 and 1979, Robbins recorded eight studio albums: one on Time Records, three on Chart Records, and four on Elektra Records, as well as an independent live album.[4] He was awarded Musician of the Year by the Country Music Association in 1976 and 2000.[5]


His 1959 single "Save It", recorded under the name Mel Robbins, was covered by The Cramps on their 1983 album Off the Bone.


Robbins joined producers Alan Autry and Randall Franks on In the Heat of the Night's 1991 Christmas Time's A Comin' CD, appearing on several cuts and receiving feature credit on David Hart's recording of "Let it Snow".


Robbins was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in 2007 and on October 21, 2012, Robbins was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.[6]


In Robert Altman's classic, Nashville, a hippie piano player nicknamed "Frog" is fired by Henry Gibson's character (an egotistical country singer), who yells at the studio engineer: "When I ask for Pig, I want Pig!"


Robbins died on January 30, 2022, at the age of 84.[7]

- Bob Dylan (1966)

Blonde on Blonde

- Dolly Parton (1968)

Just Because I'm a Woman

- Joan Baez (1968)

Any Day Now

- Joan Baez (1969)

David's Album

- Gordon Lightfoot (1971)

Summer Side of Life

- Dolly Parton (1971)

Coat of Many Colors

- Dolly Parton (1973)

My Tennessee Mountain Home

- Leon Russell (1973)

Hank Wilson's Back Vol. I

- J. J. Cale (1974)

Okie

- Dolly Parton (1974)

Jolene

- Tanya Tucker (1976)

Lovin' and Learnin'

- Rosemary Clooney (1976)

Look My Way

- Kenny Rogers (1976)

Love Lifted Me

- Kenny Rogers (1977)

Kenny Rogers

- Kenny Rogers (1977)

Daytime Friends

- Kenny Rogers (1978)

Love or Something Like It

- Kenny Rogers (1978)

The Gambler

- Kenny Rogers (1979)

Kenny

- Levon Helm (1980)

American Son

- Tanya Tucker (1980)

Dreamlovers

- John Denver (1981)

Some Days Are Diamonds

Both Sides of Love - (1981)

Paul Anka

- Neil Young (1985)

Old Ways

- k.d. lang (1988)

Shadowland

- Vince Gill (1991)

Pocket Full of Gold

- Kenny Rogers (1991)

Back Home Again

- Kenny Chesney (1994)

In My Wildest Dreams

- Aaron Neville (1995)

The Tattooed Heart

- Shania Twain (1995)

The Woman in Me

- Dolly Parton (1996)

Treasures

- Mark Knopfler (1996)

Golden Heart

- Ween (1996)

12 Golden Country Greats

- Vince Gill (1998)

The Key

- Dolly Parton (2008)

Backwoods Barbie

- Dolly Parton (2011)

Better Day

- Sturgill Simpson (2013)

High Top Mountain

- Miranda Lambert (2016)

The Weight of These Wings

- Connie Smith (2021)

The Cry of the Heart

The Nashville A-Team

NAMM Oral History Program

Hargus "Pig" Robbins Interview

discography at Discogs as Hargus Robbins

Hargus "Pig" Robbins

discography at Discogs as Pig Robbins

Hargus "Pig" Robbins

discography at Discogs as Mel Robbins

Hargus "Pig" Robbins

at IMDb

Hargus "Pig" Robbins