Man, I've seen a few Gatton videos but not this one. Wow.
Jim Peters
From: St. Louis, Missouri, USA, R.I.P.
Posted 26 May 2006 1:39 pm
I love Danny Gaton's stuff, but like him more when he just plays regular.
There was a uy in St. Louis named Bobby Nickeson who played slide like that. He was the best bar plyer I ever heard. He moved to Florida and was killed in an accident. JP
Jim Cohen
From: Philadelphia, PA
Posted 26 May 2006 1:44 pm
Well that does it; I'm throwing in the towel.
Chris Bauer
From: Nashville, TN USA
Posted 26 May 2006 2:02 pm
Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy. Geeeeez - He'd never have even have had to use that towel to wipe off his neck if he handn't gone and spilled all that beer on it. Sheeesh!
Jim Cohen
From: Philadelphia, PA
Posted 26 May 2006 2:09 pm
Quote:
...have even have had to
Hang on, Chris; I'm gonna go look up that verb...
[This message was edited by Jim Cohen on 26 May 2006 at 03:09 PM.]
Chris Bauer
From: Nashville, TN USA
Posted 26 May 2006 2:37 pm
Hey, haven't you ever heard of an add verb???
Okay, okay, I was just trying to illustrate the idea of sloppy and see, it worked!
Er, no, really!...
Charles Davidson
From: Phenix City Alabama, USA
Posted 26 May 2006 5:38 pm
That was on Austin City Limits,That was a little routine he would throw in,I have the whole show on vidio,It was a great show.A lot of great music.
Donny Hinson
From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
Posted 27 May 2006 10:57 am
Gatton was a really great player, but the "playing with a beer-bottle" schtick is crap, IMHO. I know, I know, some people just love that kind of junk (and I must confess I've done it a few times myself), but it's still crap. It's a shame that a great musician like Danny had to do stuff like that to entertain his audience.
"Double stops? I don't know what them are, but I sawed him 'a playin' with a beer bottle, and that was really great!"
Andy Volk
From: Boston, MA
Posted 27 May 2006 11:45 am
I don't disagree but nobody twisted his arm to do that - he wanted to do it. Roy Buchanan used to drink a glass of water while playing. Hendrix set fire to his instrument. Steelers have done bird calls and chicken sounds for 75 years. That's show biz! Compared to making quality music it's indeed total BS yet I kind of like musicians who keep that childlike sense of playfulness and even outright silliness. Can you imagine Segovia throwing a towel over his left hand to play a Bach transcription? Victor Borge did some wonderful classic musical jokes at the keyboard and he could really play. Gatton's shtick goes on far too long but it gave me a chuckle.
John McGann
From: Boston, Massachusetts, USA * R.I.P.
Posted 28 May 2006 4:53 am
If more people "understood music" beyond "it has a good beat", players like Danny and the many broke/obscure/underpaid great musicians would make/have made decent livings (if they could avoid the music industry sharks) by just getting on with what they do.
Lots of musicians head to Europe, where American styles of music seem to be more appreciated than in America...
dag nab it!
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http://www.johnmcgann.com
Info for musicians, transcribers, technique tips and fun stuff. Joaquin Murphey transcription book, Rhythm Tuneup DVD and more...
[This message was edited by John McGann on 28 May 2006 at 05:55 AM.]
Chip Fossa
From: Monson, MA, USA (deceased)
Posted 28 May 2006 7:00 am
Right John,
I don't think many Europeans are as fickled as American audiences, and waiting "for the next big thing" to come down the pike.
When I was in London in 1976, people I met couldn't get enuff of CSNY and Emmylou. They grilled me for hours on all the big acts of that era.
I went one day with one fella to a music [albums/records]store, and clearly, the selections in the store indicated they were about 10 years behind what was going in the US at the time.
A lot more appreciative folks as far as I could see.
[This message was edited by CHIP FOSSA on 28 May 2006 at 08:01 AM.]
Andy Volk
From: Boston, MA
Posted 28 May 2006 7:05 am
Well, I guess I voted to take the humor at face value. If you go down the road to really exploring Danny's story, it's heartbreakingly tragic. Everything seemed to be in place for his career success yet it just didn't happen for him and he chose the most definitve way out. Lot's of fabulous musicians have been unappreciated at home from Sidney Bechet on and on.
John McGann
From: Boston, Massachusetts, USA * R.I.P.
Posted 28 May 2006 8:50 am
Chip- Just making the point that lots of creative musicians (especially in the jazz world) for many years have migrated to Europe and/or tour there regularly- many of whom have more high profile/lucrative gigs there than at home in the USA. Not meant as knock on the USA, but let's face it-an educated audience (I don't mean 'book learnin' as much as people who have been exposed to a broad variety of 'stuff' including music) is a definite plus. The arts seem to come in pretty low on the list of educational priorities FWIW, YMMV, etc.
[This message was edited by John McGann on 28 May 2006 at 09:53 AM.]
Darryl Hattenhauer
From: Phoenix, Arizona, USA
Posted 28 May 2006 11:11 pm
If you don't watch what Danny's doing, it sounds great. That's the difference between his gimmick and most others.
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"Drinking up the future, and living down the past"--unknown singer in Phoenix
Don Sulesky
From: Citrus County, FL, Orig. from MA & NH
Posted 29 May 2006 3:23 am
I saw Danny live in Cambridge Mass. in a small club about a year before he passed away. The club was wall to wall people and he just blew us away with his ablity. He played everything from rock, county to jazz.
Absolutely incredible guitar player and you had to be there to really appreciate his talent.
Don
Great vid clips above, including one with Buddy Emmons. This will really peel your flaps back.
Dave Mudgett
From: Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee
Posted 29 May 2006 11:40 pm
I never thought this kind of thing detracted from Danny's shows. It's sorta like T-Bone Walker starting a tradition of playing the guitar behind his back and some blues guitarists playing the guitar with their teeth. It's another mode of expression - not purely musical, but not amusical, IMO.
I guess a lot of serious classical or jazz musicians loathe this type of schtick as being degrading, but the tradition of blues and jazz is steeped in this type of thing, as it grew out of the barrelhouses and bars. I guess I think there is some value to not being serious all the time - humor is allowed. In my view, Danny was pretty uncompromising, from a musical point of view.
Bill Hatcher
From: Atlanta Ga. USA
Posted 30 May 2006 4:57 am
A little "shtick" from Gatton is still pretty cool. That was part of his show. The biggest difference is that Gatton sounds great even when doing his showboat stuff.
Jim Cohen
From: Philadelphia, PA
Posted 30 May 2006 5:42 am
Really, what's the difference between that and Buddy spinning his bar while playing, without missing a lick, or playing at steel shows with a big bag over his head... just because he CAN. It amuses and amazes, and if it's fun, and you can pull it off with aplomb, jus' DO IT and LOL.
Bob Knetzger
From: Kirkland, WA USA
Posted 30 May 2006 11:26 am
What?--no "Steel Guitar Rag" jokes?!~?!?!
Jennings Ward
From: Edgewater, Florida, R.I.P.
Posted 1 Jun 2006 7:28 pm
IF YOU WILL LOOK AT THE WARE ON HIS GUITAR
NECK, IT SHOULD SPEAK VOLUMES TO YOU ABOUT
HIS PLAYING...NOTICE THE WARE ON THE MAPLE FRET BOARD. IT REALLY SCARES AND IMPRESSES ME...
JENNINGS,,,U PK;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
Danny had that effect on a lot of pickers, yours truly among them. When I was coming up playing in the DC area, Danny was the 600lb gorrilla - no matter what instrument you played you went to check out Danny, and he would either make you want to quit or practice harder...
His gigs with BE are legendary, and I am so glad I got to attend a few.
I also got to play on the same stage with him once, a magical evening. I played "Last Date" as my feature, and when it came time for Danny's solo he took us all to school...
I miss him.
[This message was edited by Dave Van Allen on 02 June 2006 at 07:56 AM.]
Bill Hatcher
From: Atlanta Ga. USA
Posted 2 Jun 2006 7:47 am
When I listen to Gatton play, I just can't help but wonder how and why such a remarkable player could end his own life.
Any thoughts??
Dave Mudgett
From: Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee
Posted 2 Jun 2006 8:45 am
Bill, I've thought about that for years now - same with Roy Buchanan, where the official story is that he hung himself in jail.
These two had a searing, crying approach with their Teles that, to me, spoke volumes about some kind of pain. They had an extraordinary ability to express that, but really didn't deal well with the limelight and were under-appreciated except by musicians and afficionados. I guess I just saw a lot of unresolved conflict - great for the music, but often tough on the personal life.
I don't think it's any accident that these guys played Telecasters, and in a particularly "hard" and original way. I have always considered there to be a sort of "Tele Curse". I think it's a particular type of personality that takes a guitar like a Telecaster and molds it into something unusual like these guys did. It's a strange, minimalistic instrument - that penetrating high-end that can be so searing that people expect you to turn the amp around, but also with a strange, but hard, beauty. These guys took it right to the edge, IMO.
I'll tell you, when I do that "hard Tele" thing onstage, it's hard to predict the reaction - some people love it, and others just freak out and start screaming about how penetrating it is, as if they can't handle that kind of raw emotive expression. I'm not talking about volume - it can be extremely penetrating even when it's not real loud. Just happened a couple of weeks ago - singer just lost it while I was trying out a new and particularly gnarly (in a good Roy/Danny way) Tele - it's very frustrating.
John Billings
From: Ohio, USA
Posted 2 Jun 2006 9:14 am
I think that having to play what the audience wanted to hear, ie: the famous and familiar licks from the recordings, took a toll on DG. Most of his songs were meant to be just structures for him to play/jam freely upon. Had to really frustrate a free-minded player like Danny.
