Another favorite pianist of mine is Spooner Oldham, heard on all the great recordings that came out of Muscle Shoals (he was the pianist of The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section/aka The Swampers). His main instrument is a Hohner electric piano, as heard on his playing on Aretha Franklin’s incredible recording of "I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You)".
The recording of the song started out much differently than it ended up, at one point the session breaking down and stalling, nothing seeming to work. Spooner then simply started playing his now-signature part (ding...duh ding, duh ding.), in waltz time. The whole song came together around his piano part. Spooner’s also a great songwriter, with his partner Dan Penn. The last time I saw Nick Lowe live he had Spooner and Dan as his opening act. They were better than he, and without a band.
