Buchanan, Roy (23 September 1939 - 14 August 1988)
Guitarist who began playing steel at the age of seven
and switched to electric at thirteen.Two years later, Roy emigrated to L.A. where he received informal
tutelage in life and music from Johnny Otis.It was around this time that he
formed The Heartbeats and eventually caught the ear of Dale Hawkins, who
employed him to do the guitar solo on Chess Records' "My Babe".The turn of the decade saw Roy turning
north to join Ronnie Hawkins & The Hawks, which eventually became The
Band.In fact, Roy instructed
then-bassist Robbie Robertson on the electric guitar.After Roy left the band to pursue
session work, Robertson took over guitar duties.The sixties were a time of lucrative
session work and mind-numbing sit-ins with anonymous bands.Roy eventually moved to Washington,
D.C., where he formed The Snakestretchers, with
whom he recorded one album in 1971.A PBS documentary entitled The
Best Unknown Guitarist in the World ensured that he would no longer be
so.Polydor
signed him to a multi-record deal which included his eponymous 1972 debut
album.He satisfied his
contract but was dissatisfied with the results, and stopped recording
between 1981 and 1985, when he re-emerged with Alligator Records' When A Guitar Plays The Blues,
giving Roy a taste of chart success and some autonomy in the studio.Delbert McClinton
pitched in on 1986's Dancing on
the Edge.Roy's
triumvirate of Alligator releases culminated with Hot Wires in 1987.A year later, he was arrested for drunk driving and was found hours
later, hanged in his cell.Roy's
legacy as a guitarist lives on in the music of Jeff Beck, who penned "Cause
We've Ended As Lovers" in dedication to "Buch", as the Snakestretchers
dubbed him, and ZZ Top.His
career is dotted with apocrypha, including purported invitations to join
Derek & The Dominoes and The Rolling Stones.He was repeatedly asked to play
Carnegie Hall, an anomaly for an electric guitarist, and his music endures
in film (The Departed, Further On Down The Road), on
youtube.com, Sweet Dreams:The Anthology, and The Prophet:The Unreleased First Polydor Album.
