What Happens When a Sideman Stands in the Middle?

“It’s your job to be invisible; you should be heard and not seen. You’ve got to know who you are and where you stand in the hierarchy. The hard thing for a sideman is that the better you are at your job the less people notice you, and that’s the whole point.”

• Keith Richards, quoted in The Story Of The Sideman.

The fact that good sidemen should be heard, but not really seen, goes a long way toward explaining how Mickey Raphael, one of the most accomplished, and widely listened to players of his instrument, is headlining his first show at the relatively intimate (1200 capacity) Brooklyn Bowl, Dec. 3, 2024 — while attracting the likes of Chris Stapleton, Jason Isbell, Billy Gibbons, Margo Price, Waylon Payne, T-Bone Burnett, and Shelby Lynne to accompany him.

Image credit: https://stillisstillmoving.com/willienelson/mickey-raphael-willie-nelsons-1-harmonica-player-for-40-years/

Mickey Raphael is to Willy Nelson, like what Clarence Clemons is to Bruce Springsteen, or Lisa Germano was / is to John Cougar Mellencamp. Unlike Clarence Clemons, whose image in the imagination was cemented by Springsteen’s Born to Run 1975 album cover, Raphael hasn’t shared an iconic album cover with Willie. And whereas Bruce’s videos featured Clemons’ live performances, Willie’s videos are often narrative-based epics featuring sad Townes Van Zandt cameos or curious shots of himself plowing fields to the tune of *Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain, neither of which involves of Raphael’s playing the harmonica. Raphael did have a small part in the Willie film Honeysuckle Rose* (1980), but a star that does not make.

Boy: It’s that man, ain’t it? What’s he doing? Mom: He’s Plowing.

No wonder Willie was a perfect fit for the Red Dead Redemption 2 Soundtrack.

Mickey Raphael in a fancy shirt in Honeysuckle Rose.

Most of Raphael’s signature live performances came pre-MTV. His epic leads on *Georgia on My Mind were great if you saw them, but they weren’t etched in our brains through heavy MTV rotation. I’m one of Mickey’s biggest fans, and I barely saw a video of him playing until YouTube. Raphael plays nice, subtle echo harmonica on Willie’s [Always on My Mind ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7f189Z0v0Y)*(1982) video (which has 100m views on YouTube), but he is comically difficult to see. Contrast that with Lisa Germano in 80s Mellencamp videos, where the camera can’t take its eyes off of her.

The spotlight loved Lisa Germano in Mellencamp’s (1987) Check it Out.

Video director making sure Mickey Raphael is heard, not seen here.

Raphael’s flashiest playing in that era might be the lead on Mötley Crüe’s *Smokin’ in the Boys Room* (1985). Needless to say, Mötley Crüe did not feature a spandexed Mickey Raphael playing the harmonica in its video. Instead, his solos are matched with Mötley Crüe rocking out and some sort of puppetry, which, while entertaining, did not advance his standing among the music listening public.

As a true sideman, Raphael doesn’t have a pyrotechnical, show-stopping instrumental that must be included on lists of greatest harmonica recordings. Charlie McCoy has the Orange Blossom Special. Magic Dick has Whammer Jammer. Little Walter *Juke, and so on. Smoking in the Boys Room could have been such a song, but for years it was credited to Nikki Sixx, and because it’s based on timing, vibrato, and tone more than speed, its brilliance is more in its originality or subtleties. Similarly, the tune he seems to enjoy playing the most, an [If I only Had a Brain / Somewhere Under the Rainbow](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geSlAPxIGRw)*, is delightful, impeccably executed, and not really filled with testosterone-driven mayhem.

Mickey’s signature is his tone. In particular his vibrato, which, when played on a bending blue note (one that falls in between notes), wrings the pain from your soul. Here’s a :30 clip of that on Georgia, and another with Billy Strings from February 2024. He has other tricks, too, of course, this sound makes him instantly identifiable, whether it’s with Willie or session work. Being able to give a song what it needs, while still being “yourself” is the highest accomplishment for a sideman.

The foundation of Raphael’s playing is a velvety smooth tone, deep vibrato, attention to melody, and unique rhythms and phrases (which often swings), played in response to emotion in the song. Raphael, unlike any other harmonica player I know of, came up within the folk tradition. I hear in his playing, his arranging, and particularly when he doesn’t play, a deep respect for what the song requires.

So what happens when, after 50 years, an extraordinary sideman finally stands in the middle?

That is tough to say. “Your number one job above all else is to make the leader sound good, look good and feel good,” writes banjo player Danny Barnes in *How to Play in Someone Else’s Band.*

Mickey Raphael’s #1 harmonica player job these 50 years has been making a lot of of people sound good, look good, and I suspect feel good. Maybe simply being in a position to bring these folks together to see what happens is the point.

Mickey Raphael plays at Brooklyn Bowl — Nashville in Nashville, TN Decemeber 3, 2024 at 7:30. A few tickets are remaining at the Brooklyn Bowl Website .