Walter “Hank” Garland was born in Cowpens, South Carolina, on November 11, 1930. First inspired by the Carter Family, Hank heard Maybelle picking “Wildwood Flower” when he was a young boy, and he dreamt that he was playing the guitar. Garlands' father bought him a used steel-string when he was six, and Hank began taking guitar lessons. Hank burst onto the Nashville studio session scene in the late 1940s at the age of fourteen. He would eventually become one of the highest paid, most in-demand session guitarists of his day. He recorded his million-seller “Sugarfoot Rag” at age sixteen! He played guitar for some of the greatest performers in music history, including Hank Williams, Sr., Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, the Everly Brothers, Patsy Cline, Brenda Lee, Bobby Darin, as well as with jazz greats Charlie Parker and George Shearing, and is heard on hundreds of country-and-western records.

Hank Garland has a passion for jazz music. Because he could only play country in Nashville — and nothing else, Hank took trips to New York and recorded three jazz albums between 1958 and 1961. Hank could often be seen in New York City playing at the Birdland Club.

It seems almost unbelievable, but Hank Garland's professional career lasted only fifteen years. In 1961, at age of thirty, he nearly died in a violent auto accident near Nashville. During his recovery, it was apparent that he had suffered severe brain damage, which had claimed most of his motor functions and coordination. It appeared that the dream of becoming the “greatest guitarist in the world” was no longer a reality. After his recovery, he would leave Nashville behind along with the historic sessions he recorded as a country and jazz sideman with Elvis Presley and numerous others.

Hank Garland was determined not to be defeated by this near fatal setback. He began relearning the guitar from the very beginning. Two years after the accident, he regained his command of the guitar and returned to Nashville thirteen years later for a brief appearance at the 1976 Fan Fair Reunion Show. He played a rendition of his “Sugarfoot Rag” and delighted the audience.