I’ve been a fan of Waylon Jennings for pretty much all my life and have always loved this song, but I don’t believe I’d ever seen this version with the tall, very slender gentleman wailing on the harmonica. A little research revealed that his name is Donnie Brooks. Seems like he can (could?) really play!
What do you folks think?
Hi @DitchParrot,
Nice find! I found this Wikipedia bio and, I suppose, it is the same Donnie Brooks – unfortunately, he passed away in 2007 (71 years old).
Regards,
– Slim 
Hey Slim,
I think this one is actually him. Only made it to 53 before leukemia took him.
Pretty cool that he was the guy who played the harp in Ken Burns’ Civil War series. There was a lot of harmonica in that.
Here’s an obituary link:
Hi Ditch @DitchParrot,
The fellow you found is certainly the correct Donnie Brooks. I did not really do any searching beyond what I reported, but the Donnie Brooks I turned up was (perhaps only) a singer, and there was no mention of his playing/recordig with Waylon Jennings. I liked the harp playing that I heard in the video. 
Regards,
– Slim 
Don Brooks played with Waylon a lot , also once heard Mickey Raphael,(Willie Nelson’s harp player) say he learned some techniques from Don , great player[quote=“DitchParrot, post:1, topic:7601, full:true”]
I’ve been a fan of Waylon Jennings for pretty much all my life and have always loved this song, but I don’t believe I’d ever seen this version with the tall, very slender gentleman wailing on the harmonica. A little research revealed that his name is Donnie Brooks. Seems like he can (could?) really play!
What do you folks think?
[/quote]
Yeah, Donnie Brooks is the man! He had not been on my radar, but he is now. Thanks for sharing!
Aloha,
Luke
Hey Scott - welcome to the forum. So great to have you here. Thanks for sharing!
Rock on,
Luke
Hey Luke, do you think you could translate that solo in Honky Tonk Heroes into the tabs? I’d gladly pay you for your trouble.
You talking about the bit at 1:50?
Yes – precisely.
I love Don Brooks, he’s my favorite classic country harmonica player and he didn’t have to play like Charlie McCoy to be successful at what he did. I wish the blues harmonica community over on Facebook understood that.