Hank Garland

American guitarist and mandolin player.
Born November 11, 1930, Cowpens, South Carolina, USA.
Died December 27, 2004 in Orange Park, Florida, USA.
Garland served as a Nashville studio musician and performed with Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Patsy Cline, Moon Mullican, Brenda Lee, Roy Orbison, Patti Page and many others. He toured with Eddy Arnold. Later on, his guitar work moved towards jazz, including his release of two jazz albums.
Garland began playing guitar at six, and at 15 he was performing country music in Shorty Painter's band. He made his recording debut at 16 with the Arkansas Cotton Pickers before spending two years playing the Cowboy Copas.
In 1949, Garland recorded an instrumental "Sugarfoot Rag", and later in the year made a second recording of the song with lyrics and under Red Foley's name; the second version becoming a major hit (#4 U.S. country and #24 U.S. overall in 1950).
In 1961 Garland was in a car accident that sent him into acoma. The brain damage he suffered made it impossible for him to play guitar for a time. He never played professionally again. He did appear at a show in 1975, playing "Sugarfoot Rag" one last time. Jerry Reed had a hit with a cover of the song in 1979.