One of the greatest blues players of all time. A master of the guitar and playing it from the soul. A story of a man who never quite got the fame he deserved. A man who truly deserves the title

"The World's Best Unknown Guitarist"

Bio

Roy Buchanan was born Leroy Buchanan in Ozark, Arkansas September 23, 1939.

Roy's father became a farm worker when the family moved to Pixley, California. Roy claimed his father was a pentecostal preacher although Roy's brother J.D. has said "If my father ever went into a church, the roof’d fall in on him!". Racially-mixed revival meetings his family would attend and late R n' B radio shows were where he developed his love of music. "Gospel," Roy recalls, "that's how I first got into black music".

At 9 years old, Roy took his first step onto the bumpy road, that was his impressive but ultimately troubled career. It was at this time he first showed interest in the instrument. So his parents bought him a lap steel. They also set him up with a travelling teacher, called Mrs Presher (there is a track Roy did called Mrs Pressure so its possible this is the correct name). But despite 3 years of tuition, Roy learned to play by ear and never learned to read music.

It was at the age of 13 that Roy first bought the guitar which would be associated with him for the rest of his career. For $120 he got a Fender Telecaster.

Wayfaring Pilgrim

A year later he dropped out of school in favour of furthering his passion for the six stringed instrument. Staying with his older brother and sister in Los Angeles he met Johnny Otis who took him under his wing. But soon he found himself leading a band called The Heartbeats (nothing to do with Nick Berry). It was in the Heartbeats that he had a brief appearance in a small movie of the time called Rock, Pretty Baby. But the agent of the band Bill Orwig left the band stranded and Roy had to move on.

Roy took a job playing guitar for Oklahoma Bandstand in Tulsa, but when Dale Hawkins came through town, Roy joined his band and enjoyed 3 years touring with him. It was with Dale that Roy made his first record appearance playing the solo on Hawkin's My Babe.

He switched from Dale to Ronnie Hawkins (Dales cousin) band and moved to Canada. During this period Roy taught guitar to the bass player. The bass player being Robbie Robertson. Robertson and other members of Ronnie Hawkins' band The Hawks later became known as The Band. Later, however, in 1961, the Hawk arranged a 'showdown' between the two guitarists. Here, Arkansan Levon Helm continues the narrative: "Robbie had actually learned a lot from Roy, whose technical accomplishments as a blues guitarist were without peer back then. Once I asked him where he learned to play so good and he said in all seriousness he was half wolf."

Judy

Later that year, in the summer of 1961, Roy married Judy Owens and the couple settled down in Washington. Roy played local gigs whenever and wherever he could find them. But it wasn't paying enough. So he enrolled at barber college. However by 1970 he was back on the club scene. He started his own band Buch and The Snake Stretchers with him finally as the frontman. The band started to build up an underground following. With this band he did a gig with singer Danny Denver at the Crossroads bar (odd how crossroads keep on appearing in blues history). It was during this gig that Roy Buchanan would be "discovered" by the media.

I Hear You Knockin'

Articles in the Washington Star, then the Washington Post (written by Tom Zito), led to a Rolling Stone reprint of the Post article. John Adams, a producer for WNET in New York, saw the article in Rolling Stone, and, after confirming that Roy was the real thing, he arranged to make a documentary about Roy. It was called "The Best Unknown Guitarist in the World," and was among those considered to join the Rolling Stones when Brian Jones left. He claimed he turned them down. Adams arranged to have Roy play with musicians who had influenced him, including a set with Merle Haggard and his Strangers, featuring Roy Nichols on Telecaster, with Johnny Otis (with Margie Evans singing) and with jazzman Mundell Lowe. The resulting film, interspersed with a live broadcast with rocker Nils Lofgren from WNET’s New York studio, was broadcast on November 8, 1971, and got rave reviews.

The show won Roy a contract with Polydor (then a company just starting up) and began a decade of national and international touring. He was assigned to Charlie Daniels. However despite working on and off on the album (The Prophet) for several months it wasn't released. The way Charlie remembers it a critic from Baltimore heard the tapes and said it was rubbish. Between the time The Prophet was recorded and it was to be released, Roy had sold out Carnegie Hall (probably the only act without a record on the market to do so).

In the following years he recorded Buch and the Snakestretchers, Roy Buchanan, and Second Album. Buch and the Snakestretchers was Roy's first ever released recording, made live in 1971 at the Crossroads where he was the house band. Roy wanted to capture what he was doing nightly and this result, recorded on 2-track quarter-inch reel to reel, is really a snapshot of that moment.

The first album to appear on Polydor (named simply Roy Buchanan) was recorded in July 1972 and released in the September. It sold 200,000 copies. He cut five albums for Polydor overall (one went gold) and three for Atlantic (one gold), while playing virtually every major rock concert hall and festival. The major labels gave him fame and fortune, but no artistic freedom. "They kept trying to make me into some sort of pop star." Finally, disgusted with the over-production forced on his music, Roy quit recording in 1981, vowing never to enter a studio again unless he could record his own music his way.

Four years later, Roy was coaxed back into the studio by Alligator. 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; it was also his first true blues album. Fans quickly responded, and the album entered Billboard's pop charts with a bullet and remained on the charts for 13 weeks. Music critics, as well as fans, applauded Roy's efforts with accolades and plenty of four star reviews. He enjoyed his time with Alligator and released another 2 albums.

Sweet Dreams

Fate was to deal him a cruel blow though. On the night of August 14, 1988 Roy was arrested for public intoxication (drunk and disorderly) and taken to the Fairfax County Virginia Adult Detention Center. Official accounts say that Roy hanged himself in his cell by his shirt. He was the father of seven children and five grandchildren. Some of his family and friends believe that the official account doesn't tell the whole story. Roy seemed to be very happy with Alligator Records and his home life. Also Roy had seemed at pains over the remaining years that he was free of an alcohol and drug problem that had previously plagued him. Jerry Hentman was a man in the cell opposite and you can find his report of the events at the bottom of Sweet Dreams of Roy Buchanan Biography.

Comments

Roy developed an impressive unique style. He had a clear trebly tone, which could be either hypnotic, or cut through with urgency. He pioneered techniques like pinched harmonics, overtones, feedback, and in particular use of the volume/tone controls. With the volume control he could make a note come out of silence and increase to a crescendo. This, without any sound of the pick. It was this. in conjunction with the tone control, that made him partially inspire the wah wah pedal. However, he wasn't just a pretty sounding single note player. He was also capable, of stringing together a fast finger picking technique, that seemed like a blur. Despite these obvious abilities Roy always said he felt one note in the right place, could be more important, than several put in for the sake of it.

Notable mentions of people he impressed, or inspired include: Steve Vai, Gary Moore, Jerry Garcia, Les Paul, Billy Gibbons, Jeff Beck (which explains why he has sometimes been coined as The Guitarists Guitarists Guitarist) John Lennon, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Pete Townshend, Kim Simmonds, Merle Haggard, Nils Lofgren, Danny Gatton, Charlie Byrd, Barney Kessell, Mundell Lowe and of course Robbie Robertson.

"One of America's most technically awesome and explosively soulful guitarists. "

GUITAR PLAYER

"Roy Buchanan builds whirlwind solos with brilliant technique and flat-out blues feeling. A master technician and simply one heckuva guitarist."

GUITAR MAGAZINE

"A master of his instrument"

GUITAR WORLD

"I believe Roy Buchanan to be the best blues guitarist ever. No one before or since has been able to capture emotion in the same way. Neither has anyone been able to play the guitar with such finesse as if it was surgically attached to them from birth, in the context of blues or soul. Do yourself a favour, if you haven't heard any Roy go out now and buy one of his records. Your ears will thank you (well not literally that would be silly)".

EXTREME741

Discography

• Buch and The Snake Stretchers - 1971
• Roy Buchanan - 1972
• Second album - 18 Jan 1973
• That's what I am here for - 1973
• Rescue me - 1974
• In the beginning - 1974
• Live stock - 1974
• A street called straight - 1976
• Loading zone - 1977 (featuring Steve Cropper)
• You're not alone - 1978
• My babe - 1981
• When a guitar plays the blues - Jul 1985
• Live in U.S.A. and Holland 77-85
• Live in Japan - 1977
• Live - Charly Blues Legend vol. 9 85-87
• Dancing on the edge - 1986
• Hot wires - 7 Jul 1987
• Early Years - Oct 1989
• In the beginning - 24 May 1991
• Guitar on fire - The Atlantic sessions - 1993
• Roy Buchanan - Sweet dreams - The Anthology - 22 Sep 1992
• Malaguena (The Collectors Edition) - 1997
• Deluxe Edition - 2001
• The Millennium Collection - 2002
• American Axe: Live in 1974 - 2003