Guitarist Roy Buchanan was born on this day in 1939 in Ozark, AR. Buchanan was born in rural Arkansas, the son of a Pentecostal preacher, and was exposed to Black gospel music at an early age when his family attended racially mixed revival meetings. He began learning steel guitar at age 7 and soon switched to guitar. He discovered Blues and R&B on late night radio shows and moved to L.A. at age 15 to pursue a music career. He came under the tutelage of R&B bandleader Johnny Otis and was also nurtured along by guitarists Jimmy Nolan, Pete Lewis and Johnny Guitar Watson. Roy then formed The Heartbeats, which became Dale Hawkins backing band. Buchanan is the guitarist on Hawkins seminal hit Suzie Q. Buchanan then re-located to Canada and became guitarist for The Hawks, Ronnie Hawkns band. Roy taught the young bass player of the Hawks to play guitar and that bass player, Robbie Robertson, replaced Buchanan when he left the group and went on to be a founding member of The Band. Buchanan spent the 60s as a session guitarist in Washington, DC and gained a stellar reputation for his skills on the guitar. He was reportedly offered the job of replacing Brian Jones in The Rolling Stones, but declined. A PBS documentary on Buchanan, appropriately titled The Best Unknown Blues Guitarist, jump started Buchanans career and led to a contract with Polydor Records. His self-titled 1972 debut album is highly recommended. Buchanan took a hiatus from music from 1981 to `85 and then signed with Alligator and released When A Guitar Plays The Blues, Dancing On The Edge and Hot Wires. Buchanan died under questionable circumstances in 1988 after being picked up by Faifax, VA police for public intoxication. ------------------------------------------ youtu.be/c3ZfQ47sISo
Posted on: Tue, 23 Sep 2014 13:10:36 +0000
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