Doug Strawn

[AlexAfonso]

Please can anybody confirm to me if Doug Strawn appears in this music video?
Thanks.

 

[byline]

Doug is shown at 2:36 and 2:46 on harmonica and singing background vocals. The only other band member I can identify in the video is Bob Messenger on saxophone. At the end there's someone in shadow who might be Dan Woodhams on bass or Gary Sims on guitar.

 

[newvillefan]

Doug Strawn was a reed player so unless he’s one of the other musicians in the shadows behind Richard and Karen, I can’t see him in this video.

 

[AlexAfonso]

Doug is shown at 2:36 and 2:46 on harmonica and singing background vocals. The only other band member I can identify in the video is Bob Messenger on saxophone. At the end there's someone in shadow who might be Dan Woodhams on bass or Gary Sims on guitar.

Thank you very much

 

[AlexAfonso]

Doug Strawn was a reed player so unless he’s one of the other musicians in the shadows behind Richard and Karen, I can’t see him in this video.

Thank you Stephen.
Do you know the name of this guy who plays harmonic (2:46) and also participate as a back vocal in this video, please?

 

[Jack A.]

I always assumed it was Tommy Morgan himself on harmonica in the video but I could definitely be wrong. He would have been almost 40 when the video was made and that guy looks to be in his 20’s.

 

[Nemily]

This absolutely looks like Doug Strawn to me. And Tommy Morgan got the credit on the studio album for harmonica. There are a few great stories about Tommy that I have read. One is he came in the studio and did the part for this song and that was all he ever heard about it until the album came out.

On this recording though, Doug Strawn doesn’t have a credit at all on the studio album and was not known to play the harmonica parts. He was a reed guy. I believe that is what @newvillefan was saying.

This is a promo video. It isn’t live. The ones you see in the video, aside from Karen and Richard, are the touring band. There is another video from The Johnny Cash Show with them doing this same song but in that one, Danny Woodhams is seen doing the harmonica part in that video.

The credits on the studio album are: Karen and Richard, Joe Osborn, Hal Blaine, Tommy Morgan and Bob Messenger.

At 2:46 in the backing vocal in this video is also Doug Strawn, but in the promo video only, not on the studio album. The guys that did backup vocals live on stage/touring and appeared the promos are the touring group. Below is a thread I did about them.


The Touring Group Years (with the Guys)

 

[newvillefan]

It’s a shame they ditched the touring musicians from their studio albums in the later years. After the Hush album, none of them were anywhere to be seen.

 

[byline]

Thank you Stephen.
Do you know the name of this guy who plays harmonic (2:46) and also participate as a back vocal in this video, please?

I'm quite sure this is Doug Strawn. I don't know if Doug actually played harmonica. I also don't know if this was originally a live performance of "Rainy Days and Mondays" that was videotaped, or if Karen and the backing singers were lip-syncing to prerecorded music in order to create this video. (I've only ever heard the original audio recording tracked to this video; I don't recall ever seeing this video and hearing a live performance.) If they were lip-syncing, then Doug would not necessarily have been playing the harmonica. He might have just been miming, along with all the other instrumentalists, to the prerecorded music being played.

 

[Jack A.]

I also don't know if this was originally a live performance of "Rainy Days and Mondays" that was videotaped, or if Karen and the backing singers were lip-syncing to prerecorded music in order to create this video. (I've only ever heard the original audio recording tracked to this video; I don't recall ever seeing this video and hearing a live performance.) If they were lip-syncing, then Doug would not necessarily have been playing the harmonica. He might have just been miming, along with all the other instrumentalists, to the prerecorded music being played.

I’m almost positive it’s mimed. Notice how no one except Karen is playing or singing into a microphone. That would not sounded good live. The Musical Legacy says it was filmed at the Desert Inn Hotel in Las Vegas.

I’ve always been intrigued by the blue curtains seen behind the band in the video. Were those always in the ballroom? The room being totally dark other than that makes the environment seem rather mysterious.

 

[LongAgo]

That is another mystery that will never be solved. We may hear spin about it, but the honest truth won't ever be known.

 

[newvillefan]

I’m almost positive it’s mimed. Notice how no one except Karen is playing or singing into a microphone. That would not sounded good live. The Musical Legacy says it was filmed at the Desert Inn Hotel in Las Vegas.

I also don't know if this was originally a live performance of "Rainy Days and Mondays" that was videotaped, or if Karen and the backing singers were lip-syncing to prerecorded music in order to create this video.

This video and the one for ‘Superstar’ were promos done specially in support of the single releases, they’re not from live concerts.

 

[JohnFB]

... I also don't know if this was originally a live performance of "Rainy Days and Mondays" that was videotaped, or if Karen and the backing singers were lip-syncing to prerecorded music in order to create this video...

Karen did an amazing job (as she almost always did) lip-syncing through this video, which was for its time very well filmed - except one brief part: when the camera stays on the harmonica guy too long near the end and doesn't get back to Karen soon enough - always a source of minor irratation...

The backing singers on the recording were, of course, K & R but they're not shown singing those backing vocals - a modern video would probably superimpose them on the video singing into studio Mics some clever way...Richard doesn't lip-sync at all in the video.

The only time I can recall Karen being "off" while lip-syncing is in the duet with Ella when she is "singing" that section of Gerschwin's "Someone to Watch Over Me"...it's quick but she misses...

Most people who see this video are sure that Karen is actually playing drums, and she does a great job simulating that. And, of course, she could have played them in the studio during recording - this recording is so outstanding in so many ways that the very slight difference between her & Hal Blaine would not have mattered at all.

 

[ullalume]

It’s a shame they ditched the touring musicians from their studio albums in the later years. After the Hush album, none of them were anywhere to be seen.

Except for Tony "the bone". He was still featured on Passage, MIA and beyond.

 

[hannahtobin]

Karen did an amazing job (as she almost always did) lip-syncing through this video, which was for its time very well filmed - except one brief part: when the camera stays on the harmonica guy too long near the end and doesn't get back to Karen soon enough - always a source of minor irratation...

The backing singers on the recording were, of course, K & R but they're not shown singing those backing vocals - a modern video would probably superimpose them on the video singing into studio Mics some clever way...Richard doesn't lip-sync at all in the video.

The only time I can recall Karen being "off" while lip-syncing is in the duet with Ella when she is "singing" that section of Gerschwin's "Someone to Watch Over Me"...it's quick but she misses...

Most people who see this video are sure that Karen is actually playing drums, and she does a great job simulating that. And, of course, she could have played them in the studio during recording - this recording is so outstanding in so many ways that the very slight difference between her & Hal Blaine would not have mattered at all.

Lip syncing for an MV you mean?

 

[hannahtobin]

Doug Strawn was a reed player so unless he’s one of the other musicians in the shadows behind Richard and Karen, I can’t see him in this video.

Having this level of detail can be helpful for viewers who are interested in knowing more about the individuals contributing to the performance. Furthermore, does that mean that he play accordion and concertina too?