Hargus Melvin Robbins (January 18, 1938 – January 30, 2022), known by his nickname "Pig", was an American session keyboard player, having played on records for many artists.
Robbins was born in Spring City, Tennessee in 1938, Robbins was 3 years old when he lost his sight. “I stuck a knife in one eye,” he explained, and when a doctor decided the eye needed to be surgically removed, “the other one went out from sympathetic infection.” He attended the Tennessee School for the Blind, and at about age 7, took up the offer given to students to take piano lessons, although, as a fan of Roy Acuff and other country stars, as well as boogie-woogie, he chafed at the requirements that he only learn classical music. “They had these practice rooms and I’d get as far away from the teacher as I could,” he said.He received his nickname from a teacher who claimed Robbins would return "dirty as a pig" after sneaking off through a fire escape to play.
Robbins began his foray into country music by emulating Tex Ritter, and eventually developed his own style by listening to Owen Bradley, Ray Charles, Floyd Cramer, Papa John Gordy and Marvin Hughes. His first big session came on the 1959 George Jones hit "White Lightning."Over the next few decades, he succeeded Floyd Cramer as Nashville's top session pianist, playing behind a who's who of country music such as Patsy Cline, Dolly Parton, Connie Smith, Patti Page, Loretta Lynn, Kenny Rogers, George Jones, Charlie Rich, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, J.J. Cale, John Hartford, John Stewart, Mark Knopfler, Alan Jackson, Merle Haggard, Roger Miller, David Allan Coe, Moe Bandy, George Hamilton IV, Sturgill Simpson, Conway Twitty, Ween,and Al Hirt.Along with hundreds of others this may make him one of the most-recorded pianists of all time.
Robbins embarked on a brief solo career in 1963, releasing four albums on the Time and Chart record labels.Additionally, Robbins' work on Bob Dylan's 1966 Blonde on Blonde album put him in demand with various folk, pop and rock artists such as Leon Russell, Cliff Richard and Neil Young (with whom Robbins toured briefly in 1985). He recorded more solo albums in the late 1970s with a trio of albums on Elektra including Country Instrumentalist of the Year (1977), Pig in a Poke (1978) and Unbreakable Hearts (1979).
His renown was such that his name was used for a gag in Robert Altman’s film “Nashville” in 1975. Henry Gibson, playing a veteran country singer in the movie, is unhappy with a long-haired session player named Frog, and finally exclaims: “When I ask for Pig, I want Pig. Now you get me Pig, and then we’ll be ready to record this here tune.” He was awarded Musician of the Year by the Country Music Association in 1976 and 2000.
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". On October 21, 2012, Robbins was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.Robbins was still playing on sessions by the leading lights of country as recently as his work on Sturgill Simpson’s “Hightop Mountain” in 2013 and Miranda Lambert’s “The Weight of These Wings” in 2016, as well as recordings from the ’90s through 2010s by Ween, Shania Twain, Alan Jackson, k.d. lang, Bonnie “Prince” Billy and Marty Stuart.
Robbins’ family posted a message on his Facebook page saying that he died in his sleep on January 30, 2022, at the age of 84, after having been hospitalized twice for heal issues that included a bacterial infection, kidney disease and heart disease.
(Edited from Wikipedia, Variety& Cybergrass)