Roy Buchanan

Steve Feldman · Post by **Steve Feldman** » 23 Feb 2001 11:47 am

Got a wild hair and decided I wanted some of my old RB albums on CD. Got the anthology 'Sweet Dreams' in the mail today, and I'm listening to 'Five String Blues' as I write. I saw Roy at Carnegie Hall in the '70s and was just absolutely blown away. Amazing way back then, and just as moving today from 'the best unknown guitarist in the world'.

RMckee · Post by **RMckee** » 23 Feb 2001 12:59 pm

Roy brings out dual thoughts/emotions in me. On the one hand, I feel really, really inspired to woodshed. However, once I do begin to woodshed and notice the difference in the sounds from my Tele and the sounds from his Tele, I want to just throw mine in the creek! Absolutely amazing what he could do. So sad, his unfortunate passing.

Peter Dollard · Post by **Peter Dollard** » 23 Feb 2001 3:19 pm

I think he died in jail under questionable circumstances: Something about hanging himself, never did get the true story. Loved "Sweet Dreams"...after hearing him play it the only person I like singing it is Emmylou Harris.

Jason Odd · Post by **Jason Odd** » 23 Feb 2001 3:29 pm

Another interesting story, apparently he hung himself in a holding cell.
I believe he was picked up for drunken behaviour at the time. There was a real question of how on earth it happened.

To be honest, though, I found Roy's solo albums a bit tedious after a time. Of course I've never heard the Snakestretchers album, and I've heard that it's a real classic.
To me, and this is my personal opinion of course, Roy was better left with a time limitation on his talents.
Although the rock and rockabilly sides he cut were as a sideman, he could so much in a twenty second break, which I feel he lost focus of in his solo songs.
Don't even get me started on the singers on his albums!!
I've heard this great little compilation which gathers a heap of his sides for various Washington bands and he cooks, although the sound at time is pretty ordinary, but... there's stuff there that's unbelievable.
Not too mention the Bob Luman material.
I can see his talent, just that for me, he seems to be dragging out songs for the solos.
[This message was edited by Jason Odd on 23 February 2001 at 03:34 PM.]

Smiley Roberts · Post by **Smiley Roberts** » 23 Feb 2001 7:39 pm

Jason,
I have a vinyl copy of the "bootleg" album, "Buch and the Snakestretchers" in my music library. Since it is a "bootleg" album,the quality is not very good. But,as a friend of mine once said,"Muddy water is better than no water at all!" In the early '60's,Buzz Evans & myself stopped by his apartment in "Philly"
to try & catch-up w/ him but,one of the neighbors said that "they took him away,for observation". Finally did get to see him,here in Nashville,at the Exit Inn,& he "wowed" 'em,as expected.

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<pre> ~ ~
©¿© ars longa,
mm vita brevis
-=sr€=-</pre>

Bob Hoffnar · Post by **Bob Hoffnar** » 23 Feb 2001 10:43 pm

My dad was friends with Roy so I used to get snuck into bars to hear him. The Buch and the Snakestretchers recording is amazing but so is that first "official" album he did locally with the band he played with.

Jason, Your comment about what Roy should have or would have done makes me uncomfortable. He was a real person with alot of music in him. He used to play these long wild solo introductions to standards. Sometimes they would last 10 minutes. Beautiful long arching improvized compositions. Sometimes real pretty and sometimes pure hot dog. Onetime he found himself in some spanish cadenza thing and worked his way out of it with what sounded like a
bagpipe solo. Just a man standing on stage with a tele plugged straight into a twin. The music just poured out of him. This was all before he got known and felt like he had to please anybody.

It is a real shame he left us when he did.

Bob

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 24 Feb 2001 4:10 am

i got to hear him in either 69 or 70. He was playing at the Crossroads bar in Lanham, Md. He worked there for quite a while.

Jason Odd · Post by **Jason Odd** » 24 Feb 2001 6:19 am

Bob, I have no doubt that Roy was a real person with feelings and talent, in fact I am majorly impressed with his playing. It's just my personal opinion that his solo albums were lacklustre, his playing remained top notch, but quite often I felt the material was poor. His first solo album from 1972 remains my favourite of his official releases. I have the compilation that has a few tracks from his 1969-1970 aborted solo album, which were pretty cheesy Nashville rock blues pop with great guitar.

I feal that he always worked well under pressure, and that pressure was the constraint of a little two and a half minute rock number.
I've interviewed Bill Mack who played bass for Gene Vincent and Dale Hawkins. While he was with Hawkins, Roy was the guitarist and while full of praise for Roy's talent he did also related one of Roy's claims, that he was a werewolf..one of his fave stories in his younger days it seems.

His death was sad, suspicous and upsetting, none of which has any bearing on my musical taste and appreciation.

Steve Feldman · Post by **Steve Feldman** » 24 Feb 2001 10:28 am

This anthology that I got has a 12 minute solo at the end of Disc 2 entitled 'Dual Soliloquy'. I personally like his 'Second Album' the best - that's the one that really gripped me back in the early 70s, and it was the one that was clearly the most focused on the blues. I think I bought this anthology just to have a few selected cuts from that album on CD. Like I said, I could listen to 'Five String Blues' - to me, one of, if not THE most soulful blues things I've ever heard on a guitar - all day long without getting tired or bored.

OK, OK, so I bought a new toy recently (Tele) and I'm having delusions of grandeur...

Bill Sharpe · Post by **Bill Sharpe** » 24 Feb 2001 1:37 pm

Jack:
What a small world........I used to hear Roy at the Crossroads, but I believe the Crossroads, (at Peace Cross), was in Bladensburg, MD. On occasion, Roy and friends would stop in where I was playing, at the Village Barn, in Suitland, MD.

Some interesting times

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B#

Pat Burns · Post by **Pat Burns** » 24 Feb 2001 2:18 pm

...I saw Roy Buchanon at the Fillmore East in NY in the early 70's, had my feet on the edge of the stage while he was playing right in front of me to a relatively small house...I recall that he dropped a pick and I pocketed it...he was awesome as a player..

Steve Feldman · Post by **Steve Feldman** » 24 Feb 2001 2:40 pm

You pickpocket!

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 24 Feb 2001 3:47 pm

Bill, probably was Bladensburg. That was a few years ago. I worked (day job) in Dodge Park at the time.

Dayna Wills · Post by **Dayna Wills** » 24 Feb 2001 10:58 pm

I had long looked for a 45 of Roy playing on a song called "The Jam". One day I ran across a guy who made me a copy on CD. The song was by Jimmy somebody, can't think of his name at the moment. Anyhoo, great tune. Has anyone else heard "The Jam"?

bill ramsey · Post by **bill ramsey** » 25 Feb 2001 3:15 am

yep. peace cross was in bladensburg md. roy played there with friends of mine. singer by name of danny denver whose real name was sammy goins. bass player buck tickle and others. buck is living here in danville, va. now. he was over her a few months back showing me pictures of roy and the group. great picker for sure.

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bill ramsey

Mitch Drumm · Post by **Mitch Drumm** » 25 Feb 2001 5:34 pm

dayna:

i think "the jam" was by a guy name of bobby gregg, who roy played with for a while in the early to mid 60s. recorded on the epic label. there was that single, and i think an lp, but i am not sure how much roy picked on the lp. saw buchanan only once--in cotati, california, circa the early 80s.

Jason Odd · Post by **Jason Odd** » 25 Feb 2001 6:44 pm

Mitch, I believe you are right, although there are a couple of Bobby Gregg's that is the one that Roy recorded with, can't quite remember the history of those two though.

The British Walkers 45 I Found You/Diddley Daddy (Try 502)1964 with Roy, Bobby 'the Kid' Howard on vocals,who had worked with Link Ray's Raymen for all you trivia buffs.
I think there's a Bobby Gregg side with Roy called 'Potatoe Peeler' or something like that, haven't heard that sucker for a long time, but it's a nasty little guitar number.

I used to have a great list of Buchanan related sides, but lost it when my PC was hit by a virus in late '99, and as fate would have it, I also lost the collectors email. Oh well.

Michael Johnstone · Post by **Michael Johnstone** » 26 Feb 2001 1:01 am

Ok - I got a Roy Buchannon story.In 1970,I was playing guitar in a rock band called "Rooth" around D.C. - up and down 14th St.and also in a lot of the joints in Georgetown like the Silver Dollar,etc. Well,everybody used to tell me I had to hear this guy named Roy Buchannon who made it to all the jam sessions.I played mostly 6 nighters and on my night off I would always go clubhopping trying to find Roy.I'd arrive a a club and they'd say "You should have been here 30 minutes ago-Roy sat in and tore the house down!" Finally,the ex-drummer from Rooth,Mike Walls aka "Pokey" called one day and told me he was now playing w/Roy down at the Crossroads.I drove out on a Sunday evening,ordered a beer and a plate of crabs and the band came on and - no Roy.The band played a set w/out him and on the break I asked Pokey what's up and he said "Man-am I glad to see you-Roy didn't show up-did you bring your guitar?" So there I was filling in for Roy - holding my own(I guess),playing top 40 songs like "Them Changes" and "Proud Mary" thru Roy's Vibrolux(which he used to turn around facing the wall)and I STILL hadn't met or heard Roy.On the next break,I was formally introduced to the band which included a singer I'd met before named Chuck Tilley,an amazing organist named Dick Heintze and a bass player named Danny.Finally,it was time for the last short set and Pokey asked me if I played any bass because Danny was also a real good guitar player.I said sure so Danny grabbed my Gibson SG,I grabbed his P-Bass and we did a little blues shuffel.Well,Danny turned out to be Danny Gatton and by the end of that set I was asking myself - Roy WHO? Over the next few weeks,I did more hanging out there,met and heard Roy a number of times and hung some more with Gatton as well-who I guess was just filling in on bass for a few weekends.One night Danny was cranked out of his mind and during every break he would go the dressing room and play amazing 5-string banjo for the whole break.I noticed a red 10 string student model Emmons set up in the corner so I said "Lets hear that thing" and Gatton said "You don't want to hear me play that." Another night,Roy was drunk and full of pills and not playing too well and he came into the dressing room and announced that he sold his soul to the devil and that's how he got so good.Danny just laughed and said "Well,you ain't too good tonight M*****F*****..." Those were two strange but very talented dudes.There's more to both their deaths than is commonly known,by the way. -MJ-

Steve Feldman · Post by **Steve Feldman** » 26 Feb 2001 6:37 am

Ha! Great story, Michael. So then, 2 questions:

1) did he ever play the steel, nd
2) why did Roy turn his amp around facing the back?

P.S. Looking forward to the Murph CD....[This message was edited by Steve Feldman on 26 February 2001 at 06:38 AM.]

Chuck S. Lettes · Post by **Chuck S. Lettes** » 26 Feb 2001 9:01 am

I must have been at the same Roy Buchanan l970s concert at the Fillmore East that Pat Burns mentioned. I remember seeing Roy play there with a very average band. What I also remember, besides the great guitar work, was seeing Roy in front of the Fillmore at the end of the show, standing by himself while waiting for a cab. It surprised me that such a great guitarist was alone after his performance. It's too bad he was never more recognized during his life time, but I guess that's the way it is for many artists. Roy was one of my favorites, and I miss him.
Chuck

Michael Johnstone · Post by **Michael Johnstone** » 26 Feb 2001 10:54 am

I did hear Danny pick a little steel eventually and it sounded great to me-although I was still a year away from playing steel myself so I'm not sure in retrospect how far along Danny actually was.I suspect since he was hanging around w/Buddy Emmons that he was plenty far along-he certainly had his fingerpicking together.He played a lot of demonically fast banjo roll kinds of things-I remember that.I also remember reading years later that he finally gave up on it after playing w/Buddy.Roy played w/his amp like that to cut down on the stage volume.Even backwards he had such a piercing tone that he could clean your teeth from 50 yards away.By the way,lots of guys - myself included,used to turn our amps around in certain situations in those days for the same reason.I also remember Roy's wife dropping him off at the gig in a beat up old station wagon w/her hair up in curlers and Roy gets out with his Tele all wrapped up in a beach towel w/an army belt holding it all together.I asked him "Where's your case?" he said "I can't find it..." -MJ-

Craig Stock · Post by **Craig Stock** » 26 Feb 2001 7:50 pm

Danny played some real tasty Lap Steel on a song called 'Tragedy'on the 'Cruisin Dueces'CD. It's a great song that I beleive other steel players show cover. Don't knpw much about it other than that.

I had heard that Danny had lost his best friend, Billy Windsor and I faintly thought they said Danny had gotten sick or thought he was which may have led him to his eventual fate.

I saw him once opening for John Mayall in NYC, and was totally Blown away. I have pretty much everything of his that is available and love it all. Danny RIP.

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Regards, Craig

Bob Hoffnar · Post by **Bob Hoffnar** » 26 Feb 2001 10:45 pm

I met Danny at my very first recording session in Silver Springs Md. He was just finishing up a steel session. Us dumb high school hippie kids just looked at him with our mouths hanging open. Gatton was a god of sorts around that town. He said "I can make this thing sound like a gawddam sitar !" And then played this whacked out batch of riffs. "Betcha didn't know I was such a great steel player ! "
Then he split and we stood around all stunned for a while saying things like " F...in' A man ! That was Danny Gatton !" to each other.

Smiley Roberts · Post by **Smiley Roberts** » 26 Feb 2001 11:21 pm

Mitch,
I used to have a copy of "The Jam" (pts.1 & 2) by Bobby Gregg & Friends,but somewhere between the move from Mass. to Tenn.,it got lost.

That was my first intro to "string-bending". Knocked me right out.

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<pre> ~ ~
©¿© ars longa,
mm vita brevis
-=sr€=-</pre>

[This message was edited by Smiley Roberts on 26 February 2001 at 11:23 PM.]

John Lacey · Post by **John Lacey** » 27 Feb 2001 8:24 am

Roy played in Toronto about '74 in a club called "McKenzie Corner House" which was a converted underground garage. He did the backward amp thing and blew us away. Rest easy, Roy.