Episode 9 Roy Buchanan

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 EPISODE 9 ROY BUCHANAN

 Episode 9 is about the life and musical career of Blues Master Roy Buchanan. 

 The titles of releases on my label Big Guitar Music the songs are taken from in this episode include Aggressive Country and Classic Live Performances vol 2.

 A music track playlist for this podcast is available on Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple, and YouTube for your listening pleasure.

 The musicians featured in the tracks on this episode are Barry Bihm, Bobby “Crow” Field, Danny Dozier, Hugh Garraway, Jimmy Barnett, Paul Jr, Rich Chilleri, and Tommy Conner.

 Omar’s Picks for further study of copyrighted music not used in Episode 9 are "Sweet Dreams" from Roy Buchanan on Polydor Records, "I Won't Tell You No Lies" from his Second Album on Polydor, and "When a Guitar Plays the Blues" from the Deluxe Edition on Alligator Records.

 Visit my website for more info  www.omarandthehowlers.com

 Thank you to Matthew Garza (Upwork.com) for his work mastering this podcast.

Transcript

EPISODE 9 ROY BUCHANAN    

I would like to thank everyone for tuning in today. It's time to listen to my podcast. This episode is very important to me because it explores the life, times, and music of my number one, all time guitar hero, the guitarist, Roy Buchanan. I first discovered this amazing musician by accident when I saw a documentary on PBS TV in 1971 entitled The Best Unknown Guitarist in the World. I immediately became a huge fan, and I remain so until this day. I had never heard a word about him as I was astounded by what he did with his guitar. After watching the special, I wanted to learn more about Roy, but all I had was a small black and white television with rabbit ears and only three channels.

No need to worry, because I soon heard from listening to the radio that Roy Buchanan was soon to perform in Jackson, Mississippi with singer pianist, Billy Joel at the Jackson Civic Auditorium. I purchased a ticket and on the day of the concert, I drove from my home in McComb, Mississippi to Jackson, Mississippi. While driving around the venue, looking for a parking spot, I saw Roy walking down the street with checkered pants on and his guitar slung across his shoulder. I said to myself, "Wow, he's ready to play." After finding a parking place, I entered the auditorium and lo and behold, there was Roy standing in line for the restroom with his guitar still hung from his shoulder. I knew hardly anything about him, but he looked like he was feeling no pain. It wasn't long before Buchanan was on stage playing the Fender Telecaster he wore to the gig.  I had never heard anything like his playing before. He made the instrument speak, cry, bark, and produce sounds I had never heard from a guitar before. After his set, I stayed and listened to Billy Joel. He was really good, and I enjoyed his voice and piano playing, but I couldn't get Roy's guitar out of my head. I still can't. During that concert, I became a lifelong fan.

I selected "Haunted House" for this episode because it is included on Roy's first release called Roy Buchanan on Polydor Records that changed my life. This version is from the digital release Aggressive Country by The Howlers.

Roy was born Leroy Buchanan on September the 23rd, 1939 in Ozark, Arkansas. His family relocated to Pixley, California, a farming community near Bakersfield. It has been said that his father made a living by farming and being a part time Pentecostal preacher. Roy said his first musical influences were from attending church revivals with his mother and hearing the gospel sound that he tried to play.

His first instrument was the steel guitar, but he soon switched to the standard guitar in the early fifties. I personally feel that his previous foundation on the steel guitar influenced his guitar style immensely. I noticed that he could make the Telecaster sound just like a steel guitar. I was amazed when hearing him live, how he could mix blues, jazz, and country with ease and weave in and out of the steel guitar sounds. I have heard other guitar players who could simulate the sound of the steel guitar, but Roy's ability was uncanny. 

After leaving home at the age of 15, Roy moved to Los Angeles and began playing with musician band leader, Johnny Otis of "Willie and the Hand Jive" fame. This was the beginning of his career in music. After playing with Johnny Otis for a while, Roy started to explore the blues scene in LA by interacting with such great players as Johnny "Guitar" Watson, Jimmy Nolen, and Pete "Guitar" Lewis. Nolen, who played with James Brown, had a profound effect on the development of Roy Buchanan's funk style playing. Jimmy Nolen was the guitar player responsible for fanning the ninth chord on "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" in James Brown's band. Other selections that Nolen played on in Brown's band include "Cold Sweat", "Funky Drummer", "I Got You", "The Payback", and "I Got the Feeling". Nolen's style was named the 'Chicken Scratcher' and had a huge influence on young Roy Buchanan's style. Roy certainly could get funky on guitar by the time I was able to play shows with him. It is also of note to mention that Jimmy Nolen played on Johnny Otis's hit "Willie and the Hand Jive", one of my all-time favorites. 

During this time period, Buchanan also fell under the spell of Pete "Guitar" Lewis. Jimmy Nolen had taken Pete Lewis's place in Johnny Otis's band. Pete was quite a bit older than Nolen, and Buchanan had said he learned quite a lot about blues and funk guitar from Lewis who was living and playing in the Los Angeles area. Songwriters Leiber and Stroller who wrote "You Ain't Nothing But a Hound Dog", a hit recorded first by Big Mama Thornton and later a huge hit for Elvis Presley, said they based the song on a guitar riff created by Pete Lewis in the studio for another song. Lewis was also a big influence on Chuck Berry.

The third member of the Otis band alumni to influence Roy Buchanan was Johnny "Guitar" Watson, a great showman and guitarist, well-versed in R & B, funk, and soul. His playing was more blues and R & B oriented in his early career but became much more ultra funk style in his later years. I played several times with Johnny "Guitar" Watson while working in Europe. By this time, his performances resembled blues and R & B very little. He wore a glowing white suit with a matching hat and was a master in the ultra-funk style. He could not be denied, and fans loved him. Roy said he learned a lot from Watson's R & B and funk styles. 

This is an original instrumental inspired by Roy Buchanan, his funky style of playing, his funky tunes. It's called "Funky Time".  

After following the career of Roy Buchanan for a while, it becomes apparent that his personal style of combining his country and steel guitar licks with his gospel background, along with the funk, jazz, and blues he learned from the masters created a body of work like nobody else. I have always considered myself a blues rock guitar player. I have never heard anyone who played the blues like Roy Buchanan. He had a different approach to it   than most players and infused it with a different set of rules. His touch and passion was unequal, and he had an intangible quality that defies description. 

I have some insight into every genre of music Roy Buchanan played, but I have not commented much on his jazz skills. I am not especially well-versed as a jazz musician, but I could play a fair swing blues, jump song on a good day. I played enough to know that Roy was a very accomplished jazz player in his own right. I saw him rip through fast jazz passages in jazzy blues and swing songs, and he could do it at will. He would on occasion play jazz and Latin standards like "Misty" and "The Girl from Ipanema" with tremendous skill. His abilities left no doubt he could play real jazz when so desired. 

There's a story that has circulated around through the years of Roy and his band playing in a club in New York City. Having finished the night early, the entire band went to a Sarah Vaughan concert. After being at the show a while, Sarah Vaughan announced there was a special guest in the audience, and would people please put their hands together and welcome Roy Buchanan to the stage. The entire band gasped and said, "Oh no! What is Roy going to do?" Roy stood up and walked directly up to the stage. Sarah's guitar man handed Roy his big hollow body guitar, and Sarah Vaughan called out the jazz standard "Autumn Leaves". Roy's band remained skeptical, hoping Roy would not be embarrassed. Roy stood there with his expressionless face and played the most beautiful rendition of "Autumn Leaves" imaginable. Even Sarah Vaughan was clapping her hands and saying, "Let's hear it for Roy Buchanan!" The band was floored. Even they had no idea Roy could play a jazz standard with this kind of skill. I am not surprised at this story because Roy always seemed a little aloof, and I can't imagine him bragging about his ability to play jazz. That was Roy Buchanan in a nutshell. 

 In 1958, Dale Hawkins of "Susie Q" fame hired Roy Buchanan to play guitar in his band. This was a considerable honor because Dale had already employed James Burton, Joe Osborne, and several other guitarists of quite a bit of merit. Shortly after joining Dale's band, Roy made his recording debut playing guitar on Dale's version of "My Babe". After playing in Dale's band for two more years, Buchanan quit while on tour in Canada to play with Hawkins's cousin, Ronnie Hawkins. Ronnie was a native of Arkansas but had spent enough time in Canada to become somewhat famous. Ronnie had picked up Robbie Robertson and several other members who soon would become the rock group, The Band. Ronnie told Roy that part of his job was to tutor Robertson on guitar. Hawkins thought Robertson, who was playing bass, had a great potential as a guitarist. I agree with that. I think time definitely proved his intuition to be correct.

Roy soon quit Hawkins's band, then called the Hawks, and then spent the early 60s playing guitar with several rock groups and recording with various rock, country, and blues artists, including Merle Kilgore and Freddie Cannon. In 1961, the Swan record label released a 45 RPM single with the A side being a song called "The Mule Train Stomp", later nicknamed "Potato Peeler". This recording is said to be the first recording to feature Roy's trademark harmonic squeals. I have seen this recording listed on Roy's early collections as "Potato Peeler", and it is well worth checking out for the historical significance of Buchanan's technical advances.

 In 1964, Roy joined a band called the British Walkers, who wore Beatle boots and had British haircuts in an attempt to cash in on the success of the British Invasion. The band didn't make much of a mark, but people do remember the guitar player was phenomenal. In the mid-60s, Roy settled in Washington, D. C. and joined the Danny Denver Band. He quickly earned the reputation as one of the best guitar players in town. In 1967, Are You Experienced by Jimi Hendrix was released, and Roy immediately fell under the spell. In 1968, Hendrix played a show in DC and Roy saw the advanced guitar techniques that Hendrix was using, and he was blown away. So was everybody else. Roy Buchanan became a lifelong fan and has stated many times how much influence Hendrix had on him, especially later in his career. Buchanan recorded several songs that were made famous by Jimi Hendrix, including "Hey Joe", "If Six Was Nine", and "Foxy Lady." Roy Buchanan played Hendrix material in his live shows ever since he saw him at that first show in D. C.

One thing Roy Buchanan and I had in common is we both loved Link Wray and Jimi Hendrix. Most of the conversations we had about music somehow gravitated back to them, with Freddie King thrown in for good measure. Roy told me that he really liked the way I played "Hideaway" because I played it so different. I did, I would start it out like a normal shuffle like one of my songs, "Bessie Mae" or something, and I would break into "Hideaway". I'm from Texas now. I've lived in Texas since 1976. I moved here from Mississippi, and I got taught some lessons about Freddie King from Jimmie Vaughan and all of my friends that played Freddie King. They do a textbook thing of it that I can't do because I'm too country. 

" Red House" is my shared love with Roy Buchanan of Jimi Hendrix. We both recorded songs by Hendrix and admired him as a great guitarist. This version is from my release Classic Live Performances Volume 2.

Roy always made everything he played seem special, but there was something about his interpretation of Hendrix that was awe inspiring. I was witness to this phenomena every time I heard Roy play live. I was happy I got to see and hear it. Buchanan continued playing in the 1970s in the D. C. area, either with Danny Denver Band or as a solo act. He was also very popular in the Maryland and Virginia areas and was able to stay busy all the time. As I said, at the beginning of the episode, everything changed in 1971 with the PBS documentary, gaining him a recording contract with Polydor Records. It has been suggested that Roy turned down an offer to play guitar in the Rolling Stones, but many have dismissed this as a publicity stunt and part of Roy Buchanan's legend. Who knows, who cares?

In 1977, Roy appeared on the Austin City Limits program during its second season, and it was quite a boost to his career. In 1972, Roy recorded and released his first Polydor album, simply called Roy Buchanan. I bought it the day it came out and wasn't disappointed. I just knew I was in the running to be the next Roy Buchanan, but I certainly was not. I was 21 years old, full of myself, so, blame it on my youth. I was not old enough to know what I didn't know. I learned over the years there is only one Roy Buchanan and to be thankful for my allotted talent. I always think of what Clint Eastwood said in one of his movies, "a man's got to know his limitations." Point well taken. 

Roy cut five records for the Polydor label with his Second Album going gold. Then it was on to Atlantic Records for three releases with 1977's Loading Zone, going gold, and finally in 1985 releasing his first album for Alligator Records When a Guitar Plays the Blues. In 1986, Alligator put out Dancing on the Edge that included vocals by Delbert McClinton, another artist I dearly love. In 1987, Hot Wires, Roy's last album of his career, was released by Alligator.  

On August the 7th, 1988, Roy played his last concert in Guilford, Connecticut. On August the 14th, he was arrested for public intoxication after a domestic dispute.  Roy was found hanged from his own shirt in a jail cell in Fairfax County, Virginia.  His death was officially recorded as a suicide, but this has been greatly disputed by his family and close friends. He was put to rest in Columbia Garden Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. I was saddened by the news of his death and sorry I wouldn't be able to see him perform again or get to play with him on one of his shows. Roy Buchanan was a tremendous influence on me and a great inspiration. 

Now I would like to take an opportunity to discuss the technical influence Roy had on me. Although I'm about as technically inclined as a goldfish, truth be told, the goldfish probably has the edge over me. I will tell you some funny things that happened to me along the way. After becoming aware of Roy Buchanan, I have spent a good bit of time going back and forth about equipment. Several times in my career, I have bought a Fender Telecaster thinking if I played this instrument, I would sound more like Roy Buchanan or at least move on from the musical plateau I had reached. After buying a number of Telecasters over the years, the first thing I would do is change the bridge and have a technician put a third pick up on the guitar, meant to have only two.

Repeating this process several times, my good friend Steve Henning, my musical guru, Ray Henning's son, said, "Omar, why don't you just play your Fender Stratocaster like you always do and not buy another Telecaster and try to turn it into a Strat?" Good point, Steve. In my hands a Telecaster becomes a totally lifeless, toneless instrument that is completely awkward for me to play. That being said, I love the sound of a Tele in the hands of the chosen players who are masters of the instrument. It was not meant to be for me. 

The other dilemma was the back and forth self-inflicted amp problem. I bought enough Fender Vibrolux Reverb amps to fill up a truck, thinking I would sound a lot like Roy Buchanan if I use this model. Again, my friend, Steve Henning said, "You know, Omar, I think you sound best when you play through a Fender Super Reverb like you always have." Steve said, "I'll sell you Fender Vibrolux amps and Telecasters all day long, but you don't need them." And Steve was the one selling me all the equipment and still telling me the truth, even if it meant taking a loss. Thank you, Steve Henning. Another good call, Steve. The fact was playing a Stratocaster through a Super Reverb amp had become my signature sound. It brings back that old saying, 'don't fix it if it ain't broke'. And another thing, don't try to copy another artist's style by buying their equipment. Be yourself. That was a hard one to get drilled into my head, and I'm approaching 75 years old, and I think my head's still that hard, maybe harder. 

The instrument most associated with Roy Buchanan was his battered 1953 Fender Telecaster, which some people say he named Nancy. Roy has denied this at times saying he never named a guitar, but Roy was inclined to stir up controversy with any story coming down the pike. You decide. I only saw Roy play this guitar once when we were the support band for Roy at a show in Austin, Texas, at the wonderful venue, Liberty Lunch, in the downtown area of the city. Roy was playing with my friends, Mike Buck from the Fabulous Thunderbirds on drums and Jackie Newhouse, who was playing with Stevie Ray at the time on bass. That was Roy's band for that Liberty Lunch date, and they did a fine job, great job. I paid special attention to the sounds Roy would conjure up on the well-worn guitar. Years later, I played with Roy on a string of dates in California, and he used a red Fender Telecaster. I also saw Roy in a small club in DC, and he played a sunburst Fender Stratocaster, and I believe it was the Fender Vibrolux amp he always had. I might not be able to get anything out of a Telecaster, but Roy had no trouble getting the Strat to do what he wanted it to do. He could play anything and make it sound amazing. 

Roy was known for playing through a Fender Vibrolux, but when I did most of the live dates with Roy Buchanan, he was playing through amplifiers furnished by the venue. I also played through these furnished amps because we were flying to the job and not on tour with the band's personal equipment. In the shows I played with Roy, I heard him play through Fender Bassmans, Fender Super Reverbs, Fender Twin Reverb amps. It didn't matter. It didn't matter what he played through because he always made them work. I'm a firm believer that your sound comes from your hands and your touch. This was certainly true about Roy Buchanan. 

After Roy's death, albums and collections continued to be reissued, including an unreleased album called The Prophet in 2004, Sweet Dreams: The Anthology, Guitar on Fire: The Atlantic Sessions, Deluxe Edition on Alligator Records, 20th Century Masters, and many others. His influence on other guitar players is phenomenal and include Robbie Robertson, Jerry Garcia, Danny Gatton, Niels Lofgren, Jeff Beck, Gary Moore, Mick Ronson, David Gilmour, Roy Nicholas, Merle Haggard, Seymour Duncan, and many, many more. Roy Buchanan once said, "The reason I never made it big is because I didn't care whether I made it big or not. I learned to play the guitar for myself, and I set my own goals for success." He had a totally unique personal sound that was all his own. 

Later in my career, I was able to play with Roy Buchanan on many occasions because we shared the same booking agency, America's Famous Talent out of Chicago. On a run of dates in California, we opened up for Roy in Solana Beach, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Luis Obispo, and others. When we arrived at the venue in San Luis Obispo, we found Roy to be greatly impaired. I greeted him and he said, "Hey, Omar." He stood up to shake my hand, and he abruptly fell back into the couch. I wondered how he was going to play. The band and I went to eat before the show arriving just in time to go on stage.

That was Omar and the Howlers playing "Rawhide" that Roy played during his Link Wray set at the club in San Luis Obispo. 

After the show, we went backstage and the club staff was putting cold towels on Roy's face, gently slapping his cheeks and forcing black coffee down his throat. Roy seemed to be drifting in and out of consciousness. The staff had to help Roy on stage with a person on each side leading him out by his elbows. His red Tele was slung across his back, and it was quite an ordeal to get him on the stage. I grabbed a chair and moved it directly under Roy. I was thinking if he fell, I would be there to catch him. Roy kept swaying back and forth like he was about to fall, and I would throw my arms up in the air to break his fall, but he would recover and snap back, continuing to play, and amazing me that he could do that. 

Three or four times, I thought he would fall, but he never did. He played mostly Link Wray songs, including "Rawhide", "Slinky", "Rumble", and "Ace of Spades". I realized after four songs, I said, "It looks like he's going for the Link Wray thing," and boy, he did it good. He mixed in a few "Hey Joe" and maybe, "Foxy Lady," a few of his signature tunes, but he played a whole bunch of Link Wray, and a few slow blues songs. I liked it, and I thought it was pretty dang good considering what bad shape Roy was in at the beginning of his performance. Being on stage and playing the guitar seemed to revive him and helped him to recover to a point. The show was still good. After all, it was Roy Buchanan.

He could outplay most people in his sleep, especially on slow blues. He wasn't known for being a great singer, and he struggled with alcohol and substance abuse. He wasn't recognized by the industry for his accomplishments, but I had the privilege of knowing him as a remarkable, talented artist who used his guitar as his voice. Roy calling me by name and treating me like a friend meant more to me than anything in the world. I love him for that.  

Omar's picks for Roy Buchanan are "Sweet Dreams" from Roy Buchanan on Polydor Records, "I Won't Tell You No Lies" from his Second Album on Polydor, and "When a Guitar Plays the Blues" from the Deluxe Edition on Alligator Records.

This is another Link Wray song played by Omar and the Howlers in honor of Roy Buchanan's set in San Luis Obispo. The title of the song is "Black Widow."

Thank you for joining me. I appreciate it. Tune in next time for my next episode.