Beatiful Wreck

Nashville's arranger extraordinaire Al DeLory is featured in a nice photo with Glen Campbell from the 60s atop a meaty piece at American Heritage about the L.A. studio musician cadre known as the Wrecking Crew. The article dwells on the little white lie behind the many hit records played by studio cats instead of credited band members, but the writer also seems to appreciate the rare creative cameraderie that made the Crew and Nashville's A-Team and the Funk Brothers and others so special. He quotes the great drummer Hal Blaine: "Producers knew that our involvement with a production was different. Nine times out of ten the producer or arranger would tell us to use the charts as a guide, that’s all. We were encouraged to go for it, to go beyond what had been written. We had the opportunity to create, to be a team of arrangers.”