Roy Buchanan is the best blues guitarist most people have never heard of. One Saturday night in 1976, I was watching Austin City Limits on PBS. This guy, Roy Buchanan, was introduced. At first, I didn’t know what to make of him, because he mumbled so much when he talked, I could not understand him. Then he began to play a beat up Fender Telecaster guitar…..
He didn’t need to talk. That well-worn Telecaster spoke for him. These clips are from that live Austin City Limits show back in 1976. This is not really breakfast music, but is for listening to at 2:00 AM when you are alone and can’t sleep, with a glass of whisky in front of you.
Roy Buchanan made notes on that Fender that are not on a guitar.
He appeared in Hamburg, Germany in 1985. It was a memorable performance.
Shortly after that Austin City Limits appearance, his album Loading Zone was featured on the cover of a major music magazine. IIRC, it was High Fidelity magazine.
One cannot play the blues like that unless they have been there. Roy was a troubled soul, and had a drinking problem. Twelve years after that TV appearance, according to friends and family, he was doing much better. However, he was arrested in Fairfax, Virginia for public intoxication after a domestic dispute. The next morning, he was found in his jail cell, dead. He had hanged himself with his own shirt. Some of his supporters dispute the coroners report, claiming he had bruises that could not be accounted for. Whatever happened, we lost a towering talent on an August night in 1988. He was 48.
Come on in. Sit and reflect a spell. Gossip, chat, and jokes welcome.