Roy Buchanan

Roy Buchanan
Buchanan performing at the Pinecrest Country Club in Shelton, CT (photo reversed L-R)
Background information
Birth name	Leroy Buchanan
Born	September 23, 1939(1939-09-23), Ozark, Arkansas, U.S.A.
Died	August 14, 1988 (aged 48), Fairfax, Virginia, U.S.A.
Genres	Blues, Rock and roll, Rockabilly, Country, Country rock
Occupations	Guitarist
Instruments	Guitar, Vocals
Years active	1958-1988
Labels	Polydor, Atlantic, Alligator
Associated acts	Robbie Robertson, Danny Gatton, Dale Hawkins, Danny Deever, The Snakestretchers
Notable instruments
1953 Fender Telecaster ("Nancy")

Roy Buchanan (September 23, 1939 - August 14, 1988) was an American guitarist and blues musician. A pioneer of the Telecaster sound,^[1] Buchanan was a sideman and solo artist, with two gold albums early in his career,^[2] and two later solo albums charting on the Billboard chart. Despite never having achieved stardom, he is still considered a highly influential guitar player^[3] and is ranked #57 on the Rolling Stone list "100 Greatest Guitarists of all Time."^[4]

Early career

Roy Buchanan was born in Ozark, Arkansas, and was raised both there and in Pixley, California, a farming area near Bakersfield. His father was a sharecropper in Arkansas and a farm laborer in California.^[5] Buchanan told interviewers that his father was also a Pentecostal preacher, a note repeated in Guitar Player magazine but refuted by his older brother J.D.^[5][6] Buchanan told how his first musical memories were of racially-mixed revival meetings he attended with his mother Minnie. "Gospel," he recalled, "that's how I first got into black music." He in fact drew upon many disparate influences while learning to play his instrument (although he later claimed his aptitude was derived from being "half-wolf"). He initially showed talent on the steel guitar before switching to the standard instrument in the early 50s, and started his professional career at age 15, in Johnny Otis's rhythm and blues revue.^[3]

In 1958, Buchanan made his recording debut with Dale Hawkins, including playing the solo on "My Babe" for Chicago's Chess Records.^[5] Two years later, during a tour through Toronto, Buchanan left Dale Hawkins to play for his cousin Ronnie Hawkins and tutor Ronnie's guitar player, Robbie Robertson. Buchanan soon returned to the U.S. and Ronnie Hawkins' group later gained fame as The Band.^[7] The early 60s found Buchanan performing numerous gigs as a sideman with multiple rock bands, and cutting a number of sessions as guitarist with musicians such as Freddy Cannon and Merle Kilgore. In the early 70's, Roy did extended gigs in the Washington D.C.-Maryland area with the Danny Denver Band; who had a large following in the area.

Recording career

Buchanan's 1962 recording with drummer Bobby Gregg, nicknamed "Potato Peeler," first introduced the trademark Buchanan pinch harmonics. An effort to cash in on the British Invasion caught Buchanan with The British Walkers. In the mid-'60s, Buchanan settled down in the Washington, D.C., area, playing for Danny Denver's band for many years (Roy wouldn't leave his wife & 5 kids to go on the road) before starting his own groups, while acquiring the reputation as "one of the very finest rock guitarists around. Jimi Hendrix wouldn't take up the challange of a "pick-off" with Roy"^[8] One of these groups was called The Snakestretchers, an allusion to Buchanan's disdain for the vagaries of the band experience. The Snakestretchers became a semi-permanent combo for Buchanan starting in this period, with whom he made his first recording as a front man, on Polydor.

In 1971, riding on word-of-mouth reputation that included praise from John Lennon, Eric Clapton, Merle Haggard, and an alleged invitation to join the Rolling Stones, Buchanan gained national notoriety as the result of an hour-long PBS television documentary. Entitled The Best Unknown Guitarist in the World, the show led to a contract with Polydor, for which he recorded five albums, one of which, Second Album, went gold,^[9] and after that another three for Atlantic Records, one of which, 1977's Loading Zone, also went gold.^[2][10] Buchanan quit recording in 1981, vowing never to enter a studio again unless he could record his own music his own way.^{[citation needed]}

Four years later, Buchanan was coaxed back into the studio by Alligator Records. His first album for Alligator, When a Guitar Plays The Blues, was released in the spring of 1985. It was the first time he was given total artistic freedom in the studio.^[11] The album entered Billboard's pop charts and remained on the charts for 13 weeks.^[12] His second Alligator LP, Dancing on the Edge (with vocals on three tracks by Delbert McClinton), was released in the fall of 1986. The album also charted, reaching #153 on the Billboard album chart and staying on that chart for 8 weeks.^[13]

He released the twelfth and last LP of his career, Hot Wires, in 1987. According to his agent and others, Buchanan was doing well, having gained control of his drinking habit and playing around the world, when he was arrested for public intoxication after a domestic dispute, and was found hanged in a jail cell in August 1988.^[6][2]

After his death, compilation and other albums continue to be released, most recently in 2007 and 2008, including in 2004 the never-released first album he recorded for Polydor, The Prophet.

Tone and technique

Buchanan used a number of guitars throughout his career, although he was most often associated with a 1953 Fender Telecaster guitar, the one he used to produce his trebly signature tone. The Buchanan sound is, essentially, achieved with minimum means: the Telecaster through a Fender Vibrolux with the volume and tone "full out," with the volume and tone controls on the guitar used to control volume and sound (he achieved a wah wah effect using the tone control).^[6] Buchanan rarely used effects pedals, though he started using an Echoplex on A Street Called Straight (1976).^[6] To achieve his desired distorted sounds Buchanan would occasionally use a razorblade to cut open the speakers or even pour water over the tubes in his amplifers.^[14]

Buchanan taught himself many guitar styles, including the "chicken pickin" style. He sometimes used his thumb nail rather than a plectrum and also employed it to augment his index finger and plectrum. Holding his thumb at a certain angle, Buchanan was able to hit the string and then partially mute it, suppressing lower overtones and exposing the harmonics, a technique now known as pinch harmonics, though Buchanan himself called it an "overtone."^[6] Buchanan had the ability to execute pinch harmonics on command, and could mute individual strings with free right-hand fingers while picking or pinching others.

Having first trained as a lap steel guitarist, Buchanan often imitated its effect and bent strings to the required pitch, rather than starting on the desired note.^[6] This was particularly notable in his approach to using double and triple stops.

Death and legacy

Buchanan's long-standing alcohol and substance abuse problems seemed to worsen with time, culminating on August 14, 1988, when Buchanan was arrested for public intoxication. Several hours later he was found hanging by his own shirt in his cell in the Fairfax County, Virginia Jail. According to Jerry Hentman, who was in a cell nearby Buchanan's, the Deputy Sheriff opened the door early in the morning and found Buchanan with the shirt around his neck.^[7][10]

His cause of death was officially recorded as suicide, a finding disputed by Buchanan's friends and family. One of his friends, Marc Fisher, reported seeing Roy's body with bruises on the head.^[7]

Buchanan's musical career took him from underground club gigs in the sixties and seventies to national television, gold record sales, and worldwide tours in the eighties with the likes of Lonnie Mack, the Allman Brothers, and Willie Nile. Even posthumously, he has the respect of many guitarists and a large number of fans; his work is said to "stretch the limits of the electric guitar,"^[9] and he is praised for "his subtlety of tone and the breadth of his knowledge, from the blackest of blues to moaning R&B and clean, concise, bone-deep rock 'n' roll."^[15] In 2004, Guitar Player listed his version of "Sweet Dreams," from his debut album on Polydor, Roy Buchanan, as having one of the "50 Greatest Tones of All Time."^[1]

Tributes

• Jeff Beck dedicated his version of a Stevie Wonder composition, "Cause We've Ended As Lovers," to Buchanan, on his 1975 album Blow by Blow^[6]

• The 2006 Academy Award-winning Best Picture The Departed by Martin Scorsese ends with Buchanan's instrumental treatment of the Don Gibson country music classic "Sweet Dreams," as the credits begin to roll.

• In 2007, French blues guitarist Fred Chapellier released a CD entitled Tribute to Roy Buchanan featuring a guest appearance by former Buchanan lead vocalist Billy Price.

Discography

• Buch and the Snakestretchers, 1971, BIOYA
• Roy Buchanan and the Snakestretchers, 1972, BIOYA
• Roy Buchanan, 1972, Polydor
• Second Album, 1973, Polydor
• That's What I Am Here For, 1974, Polydor
• Rescue Me, 1974, Polydor
• In the Beginning, 1974, Polydor
• Live Stock, 1975, Polydor
• A Street Called Straight, 1976, Atlantic
• Loading Zone, 1977, Atlantic
• Live in U.S.A. & Holland 77-85 - Silver Shadow CD 9104
• You're Not Alone, 1978, Atlantic
• Live in Japan - 1977, 1978, Polydor MPF 1105
• My Babe, 1981, AJK
• When a Guitar Plays the Blues, 1985, Alligator
• Live - Charly Blues Legend vol. 9 85-87, Charly Schallplatten GMBH, CBL 758*
• Dancing on the Edge, 1986, Alligator
• Hot Wires, 1987, Alligator
• Early Years, 1989, Krazy Kat
• Sweet Dreams: The Anthology, 1992, Polydor
• Guitar on Fire: The Atlantic Sessions, 1993, Rhino
• Charly Blues Masterworks: Roy Buchanan Live, 1999, RedX entertainment
• Deluxe Edition: Roy Buchanan, 2001, Alligator
• 20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection: Best Of Roy Buchanan, 2002, Polydor
• American Axe: Live In 1974, 2003, Powerhouse Records
• The Prophet - The Unreleased First Polydor Album, 2004, Hip-O Select/Polydor
• Live, 2006, Charly Records
• The Definitive Collection , 2006, Polydor
• Rhino Hi-Five : Roy Buchanan, 2007, Rhino Atlantic

References

External links

• Discography