Roy Buchanan and Danny Gatton: Telemasters

Creative Legends of the DMV

Both Roy Buchanan (1939-1988) and Danny Gatton (1945-1994) were masters of their instrument and stellar representatives of musical legends of the DMV. Roy ended up in Reston, VA after being born in Arkansas and Gatton was a lifelong resident of Maryland. They took their talent of guitar, particularly the Fender Telecaster, and love of music and fused it into something that was truly otherworldly. Danny Gatton took jazz, rock, blues, rockabilly, and not only mastered all the essential elements of those genres, but fused them into a sound that had not been heard before. He was named one of the greatest "unknown" guitarists in the late 80s and his speed and dexterity on the Telecaster was hard to complete with. Roy Buchanan crossed paths with Dale Hawkins before he was 20 cutting the lead on Hawkins' timeless cover of My Babe in the late 1950s. That set him off on a path singularly focused on all the edgy elements of playing the blues. He went so deep that he turned down a offer from the Stones after Brian Wilson died. Their first offer. He said no thanks. Jimi Hendrix went and saw Buchanan at a DC bar with his off time when he had a stint at the Ambassador in DC in the late 1960s. This was who Jimi was digging. These two guitars greats obviously went beyond their influence on people who may have caught them at stints and jams in the DMV. Their influence was felt by guitar players and music lovers around the world.