The Story Behind Larry McCray’s HANGMAN – Charlie Walmsley
Summer of 2020, yes the lockdown summer. My carpal tunnel syndrome chose a perfect time to disable me because all my gigs were cancelled anyway. The medical industry was very slow that summer and my surgery was on hold. As a member of Andy Baker’s Songsmiths FB Songwriters group, I was required to write a song based on the prompt “ROPE.” Unable to really play piano or strum a guitar, I attempted writing a song over a single guitar string. I thumped away on the low E-string and considered a lyric around the word “ROPE.” My go-to song to start my daily exercise bike workout was Tom Waits’ Get Behind The Mule which contained the line, the hangman fumbles with the noose. So, ROPE led me to Hangman and soon I had the chorus and three verses.
My original version of Hangman included the Hangman chorus and the first two verses that appear on Larry McCray’s recording. My original third verse attempted to blame the opioid crisis squarely on the negligent greed of Big Pharma. I made a video for the FB group and played the song at a few song circles over the next few years, usually to enthusiastic approval, but I really did not know what to do with such a song.
Spring of 2024, I booked some sessions at Andy Reed’s studio in Bay City to record a few acoustic demos of some of my preferred folky-type guitar songs. When I told Larry McCray about my planned demo sessions, he offered to accompany me with his Harmony flattop. I would never turn down such an offer. We started our acoustic duo session with my song Liquor Lake which has never been released but can be found on my YouTube channel. Next up was Hangman. After one run through of Hangman, Larry made some suggestions about the melodic structure. Midway through the second attempt, Larry began singing along. At this point, Larry grabbed hold of Hangman and began making it his own; of course, I was thrilled at this development. Larry added the 4-5 chord bridge, Life don’t come with instructions during that session, along with the alternate chorus, Angels fly in Heaven. Then Larry suggested that we invite his brother and first-call drummer Steve McCray to join us for the next session.
During the second session, we laid down the basic rhythm tracks and Larry did a scratch vocal, but the Hangman song was not done. Larry took the song to Scott Baker’s studio to finish the song and the demo. I was unable to make those sessions so Scott would call me with updates. Scott helped Larry tweak the lyrics and write a fourth verse which redirected the song’s sentiment. This new direction inspired me to write a fifth verse, Young man driving through the neighborhood. With five verses, a bridge and repeating choruses, the song was pushing eight minutes, too long by most recording standards, so we cut out the first and third verses. Larry and Scott came up with a basic demo to pitch at producers Josh Smith and Joe Bonamassa for Larry’s upcoming album for KTBA Records.
In September, Peggy Smith called me from Sunset Sound Studios in LA where Larry, Joe and Josh were recording Larry’s Heartbreak City album. Peggy said the producers wanted the entire lyric sheet, not just the edited version, and I responded with great haste. The five-minute version as recorded includes Verses 1,2 and 5 along with the bridge, three Hangman choruses, and the alternate Angels chorus. When I first wrote the original version of Hangman, I never imagined that Larry McCray would be interested in the song, but this collaborative effort turned out a powerful and passionate recording that I am extremely proud of.
– Charlie Walmsley