Roy Buchanan

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Roy Buchanan’s (September 23, 1939 - August 14, 1988) musical career began in Pixley, California. His father was a sharecropper (not a Pentecostal preacher as Buchanan himself had claimed). Buchanan told how his first musical memories were of racially-mixed revival meetings his family would attend. “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 50’s.

In 1957, Buchanan made his recording debut, playing the solo on Dale Hawkins’ “My Babe” for Chicago’s Chess Records. Three years later, Buchanan headed north to Canada, where he took charge of the guitar role in Ronnie Hawkins’ band (a group later to gain fame as The Band). The group’s guitar player, Robbie Robertson, studied guitar under Buchanan, and took over the lead guitar spot when Buchanan left the group.

The early 60’s 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.

Buchanan’s 1962 recording with drummer Bobby Gregg, “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-‘60’s, Buchanan settled down in the Washington, DC area, playing as a sideman before starting his own groups. One of these groups was called The Snakestretchers, an allusion to Buchanan’s disdain for the vagaries of the band experience.
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  • bwdjai

    um, where have I been....

    October 2011
  • docck_64

    He's so awesome. Just dropped a little to 1 million plays :)

    September 2011
  • Zombie3785

    <1million plays? I find that really hard to believe. Is this a misspelling of his name or something? No. There must be an error somewhere...○

    August 2011
  • slimdrow

    great guitar player! i just discovered him.

    August 2011
  • RasViKing

    Jerry Garcia called Roy 'The Worlds Greatest Unknown Guitar Player' in the opening to the PBS documentary "Introducing Roy Buchanan" and it's no exaggeration! This documentary is freely available out there on the interweb [DON'T pay for it!] and I highly recommend it. Even better look for the Austin City Limits premier season session with Roy. Whatever you do find the Rockpalast performance as it just kills! These two are often on the same DVD. Again, don't pay for them as they circulate widely. It's hard to pick a favorite so a few of mine are: Roy's Bluez, Story of Issac, Country Preacher, Dual Soliloquy, Wayfairing Pilgrim and of course The Messiah (Will Come Again). If you can't locate any of the videos mentioned above or want some live Roy let me know, I've got lots. :-)

    July 2011
  • raysbluewoody

    refreshing

    July 2011
  • xdreamx19

    love his instrumental blues jams

    July 2011
  • DaddyPobbin

    Master

    March 2011
  • DariaDeMartini

    Amazing music! He is a really legend.

    February 2011
  • SlipperShuffle

    master

    January 2011
  • Svole23

    thank you roy

    January 2011
  • DakoSuede

    Uno de los más grandes.

    December 2010
  • swingfun

    The Messiah Will Come Again is the cause of my love for Roy Buchanan, it´s over 20 years that I´m enjoing that tune!

    November 2010
  • KingsAndQueen

    I can't believe he's underrated enough to have full tracks here. That's new.

    November 2010
  • hjlradio

    Lo maximo

    August 2010
  • ShaniaEve

    Cool...very good!

    July 2010
  • ravschmidt-sas

    one of the best guitar player, i believe)

    May 2010
  • nolteCOD

    Awesome!

    May 2010
  • Bentwick09

    You're Not Alone....., totally brilliant......

    May 2010
  • AllAboutMusic2

    love the guitar ;)

    April 2010
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