Davey Graham: 1940 - 2008

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Permalink Reply by Kent Babcock on December 15, 2008 at 5:45pm

Sad news for us all.

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Permalink Reply by Dan Gabel, Editor & Group Publisher on December 16, 2008 at 12:27am

Here's some cool BBC footage of Graham, with Martin Carthy and others talking about his playing. Amazing...

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Permalink Reply by James on December 16, 2008 at 7:08am

That's very sad, Teja, but thanks for letting us know. Davy's creative achievement in combining so many different strands of musical influence is really what got me/us (in the UK at least) started on this fingerstyle thing. "Anji" was the point of entry for so many of us. Thank you Davy.

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Permalink Reply by Ken Sargent on December 18, 2008 at 8:46pm

Davy was a fingerstyle pioneer and a genius. He and John Fahey are the fathers of modern steel-string fingerstyle guitar. Both were taken too soon.

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Permalink Reply by John Heron on December 22, 2008 at 2:27pm

Ken Sargent said:

Davy was a fingerstyle pioneer and a genius. He and John Fahey are the fathers of modern steel-string fingerstyle guitar. Both were taken too soon.

Yes, just don't forget Dave VanRonk who was pretty much the daddy of the white part of the New York fingerpicker scene. His St Louis Tickle launched a thousand ragtime ships.

Davy's influence, licks and even whole arrangements can be heard in the playing of his followers. At 2:04 in this YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWeejHJxGjs of Cry Me A River from the late 50s, you can hear his throwaway lick that paid for any number of Jimmy Page's houses.

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Permalink Reply by Teja Gerken, Senior Editor on December 22, 2008 at 6:14pm

I'm going to be doing an hour of Davey's music on the Guitar Journeys radio show at San Francisco's KUSF 90.3 FM later tonight. The show is from 11PM to Midnight Pacific Time, and you can stream the program at www.kusf.org. While you're listening, call in for chance to win a free subscription to Acoustic Guitar!

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Permalink Reply by Russ on January 4, 2009 at 4:59am

The BBC radio documentary recorded a few years back can be found here its really good;
www.lescousins.co.uk

Russ

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Permalink Reply by Frogngerm on February 14, 2009 at 12:28pm

Davey Graham was an inspiration in the UK to everyone from Bert Jansch to John Renbourne to John Martyn (see my recent post). In the US of course Paul Simon was a great admirer and covered Anji. After travels in Morocco and India he experimented with unusual - at the time - tunings and is credited with inventing DADGAD. Certainly a master technician and creative genius. To lose John Martyn and Davey Grahan within a few weeks of one another you could call careless, if you were inclined towards very dark humour. A great tragedy. Two bright stars to have recently joined the firmament of guitarist greats who have passed on.

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