Musical Interlude: Roy Buchanan

Introducing Roy Buchanan, sometimes mistakenly called The Best Unknown Guitarist in the World. Mistaken or not, he was an inspiration to many

Early in my journey of playing guitar, I was introduced to the playing of Roy Buchanan. I think it was when I heard a Gary Moore cover of “The Messiah will come Again”.

Regardless, here was a player, who flogged a vintage Fender Telecaster , getting amazing sounds and tones in a genre that is at times difficult to nail down.

What he excelled at was tasteful guitar work, great composition, and when he was playing the music of others, a knack for making it sound like his own.

Alas, like many musicians, Roy struggled with alcohol, and in the late 80’s after being arrested for domestic violence, he hanged himself while in jail.

His rise to prominence came in the early 70’s when PBS aired a show titled “The best unknown guitarist”.

Hope you enjoy this nugget!

Since I mentioned Gary Moore, here is his rendition. Faithful to the Buchanan original, you can feel him channeling Roy.