29 Facts About Roy Buchanan

Leroy "Roy" Buchanan was an American guitarist and blues rock musician.

Roy Buchanan never achieved stardom, but is considered a highly influential guitar player.

Leroy Buchanan was born in Ozark, Arkansas, and was raised there and in Pixley, California, a farming area between Visalia and Bakersfield.

Roy Buchanan's father was a sharecropper in Arkansas and a farm laborer in California.

Roy Buchanan told interviewers the fiction that his father was a fiddle-playing preacher, which was repeated in Guitar Player magazine but disputed by his older brother JD Roy Buchanan told how his first musical memories were of racially mixed revival meetings he attended with his mother, Minnie.

Roy Buchanan initially showed talent on steel guitar before switching to guitar in the early 50s, and started his professional career at age 15, in Johnny Otis's rhythm and blues revue.

Two years later, during a tour through Toronto, Roy Buchanan left Dale Hawkins to play for Hawkins's cousin Ronnie Hawkins and tutor Ronnie's guitar player, Robbie Robertson.

Roy Buchanan soon returned to the United States, and members of the Ronnie Hawkins' group later gained fame as the roots rock group the Band.

Roy Buchanan's 1962 recording with drummer Bobby Gregg, nicknamed "Potato Peeler," first introduced the trademark Roy Buchanan "pinch" harmonic.

Hendrix never showed up at the Silver Dollar, but Gossage did talk to Roy Buchanan about seeing the Hilton show.

That same night Roy Buchanan did several Hendrix numbers and "from that point on, had nothing but good things to say about Hendrix".

Roy Buchanan later released recordings of the Hendrix composition "If 6 Was 9" and the Hendrix hit "Hey Joe".

Roy Buchanan was popular as a solo act in the DC area at this time.

Roy Buchanan's life changed in 1971, when he gained national notice as the result of an hour-long PBS television documentary.

Roy Buchanan recorded five albums for Polydor, one of which, Second Album, went gold, and after that another three for Atlantic Records, one of which, 1977's Loading Zone, went gold.

Roy Buchanan quit recording in 1981, vowing never to enter a studio again unless he could record his own music his own way.

Roy Buchanan released the twelfth and last album of his career, Hot Wires, in 1987.

Roy Buchanan's last show was on August 7,1988, at Guilford Fairgrounds in Guilford, Connecticut.

Roy Buchanan was found hanged from his own shirt in a jail cell on August 14,1988, in the Fairfax County, Virginia, Jail.

Roy Buchanan is interred at Columbia Gardens Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.

Roy Buchanan himself said that, while enrolled in 1969 in a school to learn to be a hairdresser, he ran after a guy walking down the street with that guitar, and bought him a purple Telecaster to trade.

Roy Buchanan owned a Butterscotch Blonde 1952 Fender Telecaster that eventually wound up in the possession of Wishbone Ash guitarist Andy Powell.

One of Roy Buchanan's Telecasters was later owned by Danny Gatton and Mike Stern, who lost it in a robbery.

Roy Buchanan was reported using a 1956 Gibson Les Paul Goldtop Reissue for some time.

Roy Buchanan played the Telecaster through a Fender Vibrolux amplifier with the volume and tone "full out," and used the guitar's volume and tone controls to control volume and sound.

Roy Buchanan rarely used effects pedals, though he started using an Echoplex on A Street Called Straight.

Roy Buchanan sometimes used his thumb nail rather than a plectrum, and employed it to augment his index finger and pick.

Roy Buchanan was famous as well for his oblique bends.

Roy Buchanan has influenced many guitarists, including Robbie Robertson, Gary Moore, Danny Gatton, Arlen Roth, Jeff Beck, David Gilmour, Jerry Garcia, Mick Ronson, Nils Lofgren, Jim Campilongo, and Steve Kimock; Beck dedicated his version of "Cause We've Ended As Lovers" from Blow by Blow to him.