The Greatest Unknown Guitarist in the World - 7th in a Series

Roy Buchanan

I think this is it for me with this series. Over the last couple days I aimed to give this unheralded guitar god some deserved representation here on the MOG (Post 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6), but all I have had to work from are cuts from Roy's "Atlantic Sessions" , which was sort of the midpoint of his career. (maybe, I'll correct that soon) Now, I'm hoping another Mogger or two can help round things out with some of his earlier and later stuff.

I been skipping doing a "life story" and just putting up the links below for more info. kind of the easy way out I know, but the links should keep you busy for awhile if you're so inclined.

The title of this series was taken from a PBS documentary done about Roy in 1971.

The cut here: The Messiah Will Come Again, is one of Roy's songs and the studio version of it(I've read there's a killer live cut of it out there too). Kind of a slow, almost churchy sounding and give it about a minute fifteen to get past the intro. once it does there some incredible guitar work and all kinds of playing with harmonics. Yes, that's just one guitar (and no overdubbing)! However, the song sort of fades out somewhat unsatisfactorily for me. Maybe a bit of a metaphor. Roy battled with a lot of demons including heroin, and Roy's death in a jail cell on August 14, 1988, after being arrested for public drunkenness, was the end result.

"I've walked in a lot places that I never should have been"

Links for this series to more info on Roy Buchanan:

All Music, Wiki, Hotshot, Blue Notes, Sweet Dream of, TexasRat (fan blog), Smokestack, Encyclopedia of Arkansas