Born in 1930, Garland first strummed a used Encore steel-string at age 6 and quickly proved himself a natural. He played, toured and recorded with Elvis Presley from 1957 to 1961.
Garland versatility and ability to work up song arrangements may have helped to bring him and Elvis Presley together in the studio in 1957, while Elvis was on leave from the Army.
Although Scotty Moore had played regularly with Elvis since 1954, he was now working with him on a per-job basis. Elvis was beginning to expand his musical range, adding more pop-oriented numbers to his repertoire. Though most of his tunes still rocked, it was obvious that he was trying to appeal to a wider audience.
Garland got the call on a number of sessions with Elvis from 1957 to 1961, playing on songs such as "Little Sister," "I Need Your Love Tonight", "Big Hunk of Love" "I Got Stung," "A Fool Such As l," "Stuck On You" (which had Hank on 6-string bass), "It's Now Or Never," "Are You Lonesome Tonight," "Surrender, "and “I Feel So Bad," He also picked guitar on Elvis' "His Hand In Mine" LP.
(On recording with Elvis) Mr Garland said: "Real nice. He never got upset about anything. You hear a lot of people talk about him, saying 'Elvis did this' and 'Elvis did bad' in record sessions, but that's all junk! He never did. He ran in and sang what he was supposed to sing, and afterwards he shook hands with everybody and said thanks."
Hank was also part of Elvis' March 25, 1961, Benefit show in Honolulu, which was Presley's last live performance for eight years. Garland was featured prominently, and when Elvis introduced the band, everyone got a routine intro while Hank was referred to as "one of the finest guitar players anywhere in the country today."
Garland was playing on the soundtrack for the movie "Follow That Dream" when his 1959 Chevy Nomad station wagon crashed near Springfield, Tenn., throwing Garland from the car and leaving him in a coma for months. A suspicious career ending accident that almost killed him and ended his brilliant music career. His brother claims it was no accident, but an attempted hit by someone in the Nashville record scene.
Hank Garland underwent a series of shock treatments. He had to learn to walk, talk and how to play the guitar again. He recovered to an extent but was in poor health and lost a lot of his aggressiveness. He was not able to perform again professionally.
Hank Garland died at a medical center in Orange Park, Florida on December 27, 2004 at age 74.
