Danny Gatton

Danny Gatton
Birth name	Daniel Wood Gatton
Born	(1945-09-04)September 4, 1945 Washington, D.C.
Died	Newburg, Maryland
Genres	Blues, rockabilly, jazz
Occupation(s)	Musician
Instruments	Guitar
Years active	1960–1994
Website	dannygatton.com
Notable instruments
Fender Telecaster

Danny Gatton (September 4, 1945 – October 4, 1994) was an American guitarist who fused rockabilly, jazz, and country to create his own distinctive style. When Rolling Stone magazine selected the 100 Greatest Guitarists of all Time in 2003, senior editor David Fricke ranked Gatton 63rd on his ballot. On May 26, 2010, Gibson.com ranked Gatton as the 27th best guitarist of all time.

Early life

Gatton was born in Washington, D.C. on September 4, 1945. His father, Daniel W. Gatton Sr., was a rhythm guitarist known for his unique percussive style, who left his musical career to raise his family in a more stable profession. The younger Gatton grew up to share his father's passion for the instrument.

Career

Danny Gatton began his career playing in bands while still a teenager. He began to attract wider interest in the 1970s while playing guitar and banjo for the group Liz Meyer & Friends. He made his name as a performer in the Washington, DC, area during the late 1970s and 1980s, both as a solo performer and with his Redneck Jazz Explosion, in which he traded licks with virtuoso pedal steel player Buddy Emmons over a tight bass-drums rhythm that drew from blues, country, bebop, and rockabilly influences. He also backed Robert Gordon and Roger Miller. He contributed a cover of Apricot Brandy, a song by Elektra Records-supergroup Rhinoceros, to the 1990 compilation album Rubáiyát.

Playing style

Gatton's playing combined musical styles such as jazz, blues and rockabilly in an innovative fashion, and he was known by some as the Telemaster. He was also called the world's greatest unknown guitarist, and The Humbler, from his ability to out-play anyone willing to go up against him in "head-cutting" jam sessions. Amos Garrett, guitar player for Maria Muldaur, gave Gatton the nickname. A photo published in the October 2007 issue of Guitar Player magazine shows Gatton playing in front of a neon sign that says "Victims Wanted."

However, he never achieved the commercial success that his talent arguably deserved. His album 88 Elmira Street was up for a 1990 Grammy Award for the song Elmira Street Boogie in the category Best Rock Instrumental Performance, but the award went to Eric Johnson for Cliffs of Dover.

His skills were most appreciated by his peers such as Eric Clapton, Willie Nelson, Steve Earle, and his childhood idol Les Paul. During his career, Gatton appeared on stage with guitar heroes such as Alvin Lee and Jimmie Vaughan. Gatton had roomed with Roy Buchanan in Nashville, Tennessee in the mid '60s and they became frequent jamming partners, according to Guitar Player magazine's October 2007 issue. He also performed with old teenage friend Jack Casady and Jorma Kaukonen (from Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna) as Jack and the Degenerates. Those recordings were never released, but live tapes are in circulation. In 1993, rocker Chris Isaak invited Gatton to record tracks for Isaak's San Francisco Days CD. Reports of where Gatton's playing can be heard on the CD vary, with unconfirmed reports placing him on either Can't Do a Thing (To Stop Me), 5:15 or Beautiful Houses.

He usually played a 1953 Fender Telecaster with Joe Barden pickups and Fender Super 250Ls, or Nickel Plated Steel (.010 to .046 with a .015 for the G) strings. (Fender now makes a replica of his heavily customized instrument.) For a slide, Gatton sometimes used a beer bottle or mug. In the March 1989 issue of Guitar Player magazine, he said he preferred to use an Alka-Seltzer bottle or long 6L6 vacuum tube as a slide, but that audiences liked the beer bottle. He did, however, only play slide overhand, citing his earlier training in steel guitar [Guitar Player, March 1989]. Among amplifiers Gatton is known to have used are a 1959 Fender Bassman amp and a heavily customized blackface Fender Vibrolux Reverb]].

After using Fender picks, he switched to a jazz-style teardrop pick after Buchanan had recommended them to him. He was capable of intricate passages combining Bluegrass, bebop, and garage sounds, executed with amazing clarity and at dizzying speeds. His picking technique was a hybrid combination of pick and fingers, primarily his middle and ring fingers on his right hand. The basis of his picking technique was using banjo rolls; he was an accomplished banjo player and from that he learned the traditional (Scruggs style) right-hand technique. His forward roll consisted of a pick downstroke, then middle finger, then ring finger. His backward roll consisted of middle finger, then a pick upstroke, then a pick downstroke. He possessed a classical guitar left hand technique, thumb behind the neck, fretting with arched fingers.

Among his admirers are Les Paul, James Burton, Lenny Breau, Joe Bonamassa (whom Danny mentored when Joe was eleven years old), Vince Gill, Evan Johns (of Evan Johns and His H-Bombs), Chris Cheney, Bill Kirchen, Albert Lee, Steve Vai, Buckethead, Arlen Roth, Johnny Hiland, Ricky Skaggs, Slash, and Richie Sambora.

Final years, death and legacy

Throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s, Danny worked closely with Fender to create his very own signature model guitar – The Danny Gatton Signature Telecaster, released in 1990. On October 4, 1994, Gatton locked himself in his garage in Newburg, Maryland and shot himself. He left behind no explanation. Members of his family and close friends believe Danny had silently suffered from depression for many years.

On January 10, 11 and 12, 1995, Tramps club in New York organized a three-night tribute to Danny Gatton featuring dozens of Gatton's musical admirers, the highlight of which was a twenty-minute performance by Les Paul, James Burton, Arlen Roth and Albert Lee. Those shows (with all musicians performing for free) raised $25,000 for Gatton's wife and daughter.

Danny Gatton has been described as possessing an extraordinary proficiency on his instrument, "a living treasury of American musical styles." In 2009, John Previti, who played bass guitar with Danny for 18 years stated: "You know, when he played country music, it sounded like all he played was country music. When he played jazz, it sounded like that's all he played, rockabilly, old rock and roll, soul music. You know, he called himself a Whitman sampler of music" Legendary guitarist Steve Vai reckons Danny "comes closer than anyone else to being the best guitar player that ever lived." Accomplished guitar veteran Albert Lee said of Gatton: "Here’s a guy who’s got it all.”

Since the advent of YouTube, decades-old bootleg performances of Danny have garnered millions of views, eliciting high praise from fans worldwide.

Discography

• 1975 – American Music
• 1978 – Redneck Jazz
• 1987 – Unfinished Business
• 1990 – Blazing Telecasters (live April 27, 1984)
• 1991 – 88 Elmira St.
• 1992 – New York Stories with Joshua Redman, Roy Hargrove, Bobby Watson, & Franck Amsallem
• 1993 – Cruisin' Deuces
• 1993 – Toolin' Around with Arlen Roth
• 1994 – Relentless (with Joey DeFrancesco)
• 1995 – Redneck Jazz Explosion (live December 30 & 31, 1978)
• 1996 – The Humbler (with Robert Gordon)
• 1998 – In Concert 9/9/94
• 1998 – Untouchable
• 1998 – Portraits
• 1999 – Anthology
• 2004 – Funhouse (live June 10 & 11, 1988)
• 2005 – Oh No! More Blazing Telecasters (with Tom Principato)
• 2006 – Redneck Jazz Explosion, Vol. 2 (live December 30 & 31, 1978)
• 2007 – Live in 1977: The Humbler Stakes His Claim
• 2011 – Blue Skies Calling, a CD by Boy Wells includes nearly an hour of Gatton and Wells playing in his living room. "Danny called me before he died and asked me to put a vocal tape together for his label at the time. He needed a singer after his singer, Billy Windsor, had passed. He remained a friend, a good one all those years. This lesson was in the late '70s; it's me and Danny in the living room of his house on Holly Lane in Indian Head, Maryland. It's killer stuff."

See also

• Bill Holloman
• Arlen Roth

External links

• Definitive Danny Gatton website
• Photos
• Danny Gatton on Musician Guide
• The Concert Tour (journal of a 1991 Danny Gatton concert tour)