The Unknown Guitar Hero: Roy Buchanan

The Unknown Guitar Hero is a semi-regular column spotlighting guitarists who have fallen under the radar of the mainstream. You won’t be seeing names like Hendrix, Page, or SRV here—No point, you know those guys.

These are the guitar players that you never saw on MTV/VH1 and didn’t hear on the radio. Some of them are sidemen, some of them are solo acts, most of them you’ll never have heard of. I aim to change that.

 

Let’s kick it off with Roy Buchanan—

 

I can’t think of a better start to this column than Roy Buchanan, the man dubbed “The Greatest Unknown Guitar Player in the World”.
Primary an electric guitarist, Buchanan’s sound is unmistakably his. One listen, and you’ll be able to pick him out of a blind taste test for the rest of your life. Searing and emotional solos that shimmer with tone, combined with his signature pinch harmonic technique (the squeal) and volume swells.

Roy was born in 1939 and recalls his first musical memories being the racially mixed revival meetings his family attended. “Gospel,” he said, “that's how I first got into black music".
He continued his blues education by studying late night R&B radio broadcasts—however, the dominant sound of the daytime airwaves in Pixley, California was country. Thus, when Roy expressed an interest in the instrument, his parents sent him to a local steel guitar teacher, whom Roy would later recall, “would cry every time I made a mistake."

 

At the age of 13, Roy purchased a Fender Telecaster and took note of the instrument’s tonal similarities to the steel guitar. Although Buchanan played a number of different guitars throughout his career, he’s most associated with his 1953 Telecaster, nicknamed “Nancy."

In 1953, at the age of 15, Roy ran away from home to join the early R&B scene forming in Los Angeles. By 1955 he was leading his own Rock and Roll band, The Heartbeats.
The group toured the states, which eventually led to a meeting with Dale Hawkins (known for “Suzy Q”)—Roy recalls, "I met Dale in Oklahoma City on a TV show and I ended up playing on the road with him for three years."
In 1957, Buchanan made his recording debut with Dale Hawkins, playing guitar on "My Babe" for Chicago's Chess Records.

 

Three years later, Roy hopped from Dale Hawkins band to Dale’s cousin, Ronnie Hawkins band. During his stint with Ronnie’s band, Roy tutored the bass player, who assumed lead guitar duties after Roy’s departure. Ronnie Hawkins band would eventually become known simply as “The Band", the legendary group who (amongst other notable events) served as Bob Dylan’s backup band during his “electric” era.
The young bass player mentored by Roy?
Robbie Robertson.

 

Throughout the 60s, Roy worked as a sideman for various rock and pop bands, while also logging studio session work. He eventually settled down in the Washington DC area and started his own group, The Snakestrechers.

 

Word of mouth began to spread regarding Roy’s talents. John Lennon and Paul McCartney both praised him, Eric Clapton proclaimed him to be “the best in the world.” Jerry Garcia spoke of his “…amazing chops.” Even the legendary Les Paul had this to say about Roy:
"He interested the hell out of me. He's not playing an arpeggio the way you learn an arpeggio. If you had studied the instrument you played it right straight on, the chromatic scale you're taught in school. This guy was anything but conventional - he was just out there. He was unrestricted, as far as what he played. If he felt like getting from here to there, it didn't matter how he got there. If he didn't pick it, he plucked it with his other fingers. There were no rules with Roy. He was cruisin' down his own lane."

Roy always shunned stardom, once telling an interviewer: “This star business scares me.” It is perhaps for that reason Roy famously turned down an offer to join the Rolling Stones after the death of Brian Jones in 1969.

 

In 1971, Roy finally gained national attention via a PBS documentary entitled “The Best Unknown Guitarist in the World”. Jeff Beck caught the documentary and said: "... (I) just sat there aghast for about an hour. It was some of the best playing I've ever heard. I just said, 'Who is this man?' He defied all the laws of verse-chorus-verse and just blazed."

 

The documentary led to a record deal with Polydor and a decade of touring, both nationally and internationally. With Polydor, Roy recorded 5 albums (one going gold) and later cut another gold record with Atlantic.

 

Trouble dawned in the 80s as Roy entered the new decade hospitalized with unknown injuries, although it has been asserted the hospital stay occurred due to his attempted suicide by hanging while spending a night in jail around New Years Eve, 1980.

As a lifelong touring musician, Roy would readily admit he had his share of personal demons and a strong temptation for the “forbidden fruit.” The commonness of cocaine in the early 80s certainly did not help.

 

By 1981, frustrated with record label involvement in the recording process, Roy dropped out of the studio and vowed to never record again. He was quoted as saying” "They kept trying to make me into some sort of pop star." Clearly, not in tune with the man’s disdain for stardom.

 

Four years later, Roy was coxed back into the studio by a smaller label, Alligator. He was given complete artistic control over the recording process and the result “When a Guitar Plays the Blues” remained on the Billboard pop charts for 13 weeks.
Buchanan recorded two more albums for Alligator, but on a personal level, the hit and miss of success seemed to reawaken his demons. On the afternoon of August 14^th, 1988, Roy was picked up on a public intoxication charge in his hometown of Reston, VA. He was found several hours later hanging by his shirt in his jail cell.
His cause of death was officially recorded as suicide, a finding disputed by Buchanan's friends and family. Marc Fisher, a close friend, reported seeing Roy's body with bruises on his head.

 

Regardless of the circumstances of his death, Roy Buchanan should be remembered for his contributions to the art of the guitar. Every time the man picked up his instrument, he gave a beautiful performance that should be admired. His playing filled with technique, taste and soul, lives on.

 

Though the man is gone, his music lives on for you to discover. Enjoy.

 

 

"Probably the reason I never made it big is because I never cared whether I made it big or not. All I wanted to do was learn to play the guitar for myself... You set your own goals for success. And when you succeed, it don't necessarily mean that you will be a big star, make a lot of money, or anything. You'll feel it in your heart, whether you've succeeded or not."
- Roy Buchanan