Chalmers Edward "Spanky" Alford (May 22, 1955 – March 24, 2008) was an American gospel, jazz, and neo-soul guitarist. Alford was born in Philadelphia. He was well known for his playing style, utilizing chord embellishments. He had an illustrious career as a gospel quartet guitar player in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s with groups such as the Mighty Clouds of Joy. His most notable contributions are to the D'Angelo album Voodoo, and his contributions to music from other popular artists including Tupac Shakur, Roy Hargrove, and The Roots.

Alford's career spans across multiple musical scenes. Beginning in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he relocated multiple times to areas such as Dallas, Texas, and finally, Huntsville, Alabama.

His career as a recorded guitarist began in 1977 with the group The East St. Louis Gospelletts. Within the same year he would find himself playing with the influential gospel group the Mighty Clouds of Joy in Philadelphia. These early gospel records would prove to be important in establishing his body of work as an influential gospel quartet guitarist. It was on the Might Clouds of Joy album Pray For Me that Alford also became a recorded vocalist.

Later in life, he found a new career in the neo-soul movement of the 1990s and 2000s, most notably contributing to the sounds of D'Angelo and Tony Toni Toné. Alford played guitar as part of The Soultronics (D'Angelo's band for his 2000 "Voodoo" tour), alongside Questlove, James Poyser, Pino Palladino, and Anthony Hamilton. He was a teacher, and was credited with teaching Raphael Saadiq, Isaiah Sharkey, and others to play guitar. He played on several albums with artists such as Joss Stone, John Mayer, Mary J. Blige, Raphael Saadiq, D'Angelo and Roy Hargrove.

Alford provided guitars on the 2003 Roy Hargrove album Hard Groove. He was accompanied by what Hargrove called the "Texas Cats"--Bernard Wright, the Keith Anderson Trio, Jason Thomas, Bobby Sparks and Cornell Dupree--whose combined collaborations proved highly influential in the final production of this landmark jazz record. This record was recorded at the Electric Ladyland Studios using much of the same personnel as D'Angelo's Voodoo album.

Around this time was also Alford was put into contact with J Dilla, who sought to use Alford's ability to reproduce guitar parts note-for-note to bypass sampling laws.

The final era of Alford's career was spent in Huntsville, Alabama, where he performed locally and taught a generation of area musicians from the locally known guitar store, T-Shepard's Guitars. In 2000 Alford would provide his services as a guitarist and producer on the Blind Boys of Alabama's release "My Lord What A Morning!", and later in 2003, "There's Nothing In This World Without A Heart," where he would return to his traditional gospel roots. Alford began playing bass professionally at local churches around this period of time as well. Much of the mentorship he would offer came from his positions working at local churches, where he would foster young musicians interest in music and provide resources to help them grow.

Though he retired from touring years prior, Alford made a rare public appearance performing with the John Mayer Trio as a surprise guest on September 26, 2005, during their stop in Nashville, Tennessee. It is his last known public performance. Audio from the show eventually ended up on the Trio's only official release, a compilation of performances from the tour called Try!, appearing on the title track at the end of the album.