Top Ten Instrumentals: Mexico (#8)

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Our weatherman asked a good question last night on the vlog: do people sit outside stores, waiting for them to open on Black Friday anymore? I’m thinking covid and Amazon Prime took that away. But it’s that week, so prepare to stuff yourself with turkey! And while you’re at it, enjoy another instrumental! #8: Mexico - Bob Moore and His Orchestra No, this is NOT a Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass knock-off. In fact, this predates Herb and his horns by a year! How about that! This may be where the idea came from, however, given its popularity. (I’ll pick on Herb more later in the countdown. ) As you listen to those trumpets and the pseudo-Mexicali guitar work you’re probably thinking Bob Moore was one hot trumpet player. No. He wasn’t a guitarist, either. Bob Moore was one of the most prolific session BASS PLAYERS in Nashville history. He was part of the famous “A Team” (along with Chet Atkins or Harold Bradley on guitar, Floyd Cramer on piano, and Buddy Harmon on drums) who can be heard on records from everyone from Brenda Lee (you’ll hear him a lot this time of year, on “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”) and Roy Orbison and Elvis to Ray Price and Jim Reeves and Patsy Cline. He told me once that the session musicians basically “lived” at Studio B, and the “name acts” rotated in and out. Good work if you can get it! As Homer and Jethro said in their parody of “Nashville Cats,” “they all feel sorry for the poor folks like Johnson (Lyndon) and Rockefeller.” Anyway, Moore and his “orchestra” (some of the aforementioned session players, with Bill McElhiney on trumpet [who’s been in the countdown before, playing trumpet with Danny Davis on “Brassy Down Home Rag”]) recorded this song, written by Everly Brothers songwriter Boudleaux Bryant, and waddaya know it was a HIT. A big one. It hit the top ten on the pop charts, topped the “easy listening” charts, made the R&B charts, and was #1 in two other countries (ironically, Mexico was NOT one of them ). Here’s to Bob Moore, the bass player who made trumpets cool in the 60s. Mexico Written by Boudleaux Bryant Recorded by Bob Moore and His Orchestra From Mexico, 1961 Olé!