Lloyd Green Wells is an American guitarist, composer, musical director, and arranger now residing in Nashville, Tennessee. He is an inductee to the Mississippi Musicians Hall of Fame and a member of the Alumni Hall of Fame of the University of Southern Mississippi.

Born 1938, Wells grew up in Laurel, Mississippi, the same town where Mundell Lowe, the notable jazz guitarist, and Leontyne Price, the famous soprano of the Metropolitan Opera, grew up. Lloyd did his first professional work playing for square dances while still attending high school. He attended the University of Southern Mississippi, graduating with a Bachelor of Music Education (BME.) Following university, he taught high school band in Magnolia, Mississippi. (Listen to Lloyd reminisce about his relationship with Mundell Lowe, here).

In 1964, seeking to elevate his career in music, with encouragement from Mundell Lowe, Wells moved to New York City, where he soon got work in the pit orchestras of Broadway shows. He remained in New York for 10 years, where he was a self-described "work-a-day guitar player." According to him, he "... made a decent living, bought a house, raised a family, lived in Manhattan for six years and then moved to Englewood, New Jersey... Mundy (Mundell Lowe) opened a lot of doors for me.  He had The Merv Griffin Show at the time and I did a lot of subbing for him, until the work started flowing to me."

While in New York, Wells played guitar for Sesame Street, The Electric Company, The Ed Sullivan Show, The Tony Awards, and The Skitch Henderson Show. He also worked steadily as a guitarist and utility musician for 18 Broadway shows (Cabaret, Company, The Yearling, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Superman, Georgy, Zorba, The Selling of The President, Skyscraper, and La Strada, to name a few.) Some of his other work during this time included Lucille Ball TV Special, Dick Cavett TV Special, Life of Norman Rockwell (Academy Award Winning Documentary - 1971), and film tracks for the Angela Lansbury film Something for Everyone and film starring Patricia Neal, The Subject Was Roses.

He also played on original broadway soundtracks for Cabaret, Company, Berlin to Broadway, and Original Cast Album: Company (documentary film) which can be viewed online

Lloyd has performed and/or recorded with Peggy Lee, Glenn Miller Orchestra (with Buddy DeFranco), The Tonight Show Band, The Sammy Kaye Band, Rosemary Clooney, The Les and Larry Elgart Band, Guy Mitchell, Anna Maria Alberghetti, Jane Russell, Billy Vaughn, The Paul Winter Jazz Sextet, Mundell Lowe, Brenda Lee, and Tennessee Ernie Ford. Lloyd later became conductor and arranger for Mr. Ford, touring Russia with Opryland U.S.A. show and performed twice with him at the White House.

In 1973, while on vacation with his family in Nashville, TN, Lloyd and his wife, Louise, decided to move to move there. He connected with session guitarist Harold Bradley, brother of Owen Bradley, through Mundy and began playing recording sessions.

Soon after (he arrived Nashville), Wells took a job at Opryland U.S.A. theme park as a musician, then landed the position of Musical Director (arranger/orchestrator) for the theme park, remaining at that position for 23 years.

During this period, Wells wrote approximately 5,000 arrangements, as well as penned original compositions for the major productions for Opryland U.S.A., The Fiesta Texas Theme Park, Las Vegas, The 1982 World’s Fair, 1994 World Cup Opening Ceremonies, The Broadmoor Hotel, The Opryland Hotel (Gaylord) industrials and countless special events, The Nashville Network’s Opryland Onstage, Porter Wagoner at Opryland, Alabama Theater in Myrtle Beach, and various television specials. He was particularly proud of Easter…In Song and Story, an Easter pageant performed in the Grand Ole Opry House during the spring seasons of 1993 and 1994.

• "I Hear America Singing"

• "Liberty's Song"

• "Broadway"

• "On With The Show"

• "For Me And My Gal"

• "Today's Country Roads" (original title song)

• "The Big Broadcast"

• "Way Out West"

• "I Hear America Singing Its Song" (original compositions)

• "Music, Music, Music"

Opryland Major Shows (vocal & instrumental arrangements by L. Wells)

Lloyd Wells feature from The Nashville Network’s “Opryland Onstage.” ~ Jerry Gowen archives

Opryland’s “For Me and My Gal” - 1978

Learn more about Lloyd’s experiences at Opryland with Porter Wagoner, Ernie Ford, Mundell Lowe, George Lindsey, Minnie Pearl and others by listening to podcast interviews with Brian Hilligoss, here on this site and YouTube.

(click on image to the right to enjoy 7 episodes)

Mr. Wells has written for and conducted the Nashville Symphony on several occasions. He was a member of the W. C. Handy Jazz All-Stars, regularly performing at the annual W. C. Handy Music Festival (Florence, Alabama), playing alongside such noted jazz musicians as vibraphonist / drummer Chuck Redd, drummer Bill Goodwin, pianist / vocalist Johnny O'Neal, bassist / vocalist Jim Ferguson, guitarist Mel Deal, saxophonist Rick Bell, and his friend and mentor, guitarist Mundell Lowe.

Wells also taught film scoring at (George) Lindsey (University of Alabama) Film Fest in Florence, Alabama, for several years, as well.  As a side note, Lloyd was best friends with George “Goober” Lindsey of the Andy Griffith Show for much of George’s latter life. They enjoyed many meals and laughs together until George’s passing in 2012. “There was no one else like him. I miss him,” quips Lloyd.

Lloyd Wells resides in Nashville, T.N. where he enjoys his time practicing guitar daily, working in his yard, and with his family.

For a full resume’…