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The 70s guitarist that Ritchie Blackmore called brilliant
Ritchie Blackmore is one of the biggest guitar heroes of all time, who had success as part of Deep Purple and with his own band Rainbow. He is a crucial part of the evolution of guitar playing and Hard Rock music. His riffs and solos inspired countless generations of guitar players and are part of Rock history.
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Besides being known as a talented guitarist, Blackmore is also remembered as a really sincere person. He always gave his real opinion on his peers and back in the 70s he named a guitarist that he believed was brilliant.
The 70s guitarist that Ritchie Blackmore called brilliant
Blackmore talked with the then future famous movie director Cameron Crowe, when he was still a journalist working for Creem magazine in 1975. Blackmore was asked about other players and mentioned the American guitarist Roy Buchanan as a brilliant musician.
“Roy Buchanan is brilliant. He goes way above people’s heads, and that’s what worries me. I think, what’s the point of being up there, if it’s going to go over everyone’s heads? You’re not going to get anywhere. Pete Townshend once said that it’s great to progress, but unless you take your audience with you, it’s pointless. I think sometimes Buchanan is too far up front. People don’t know what he’s doing,” Ritchie Blackmore said.
Roy Buchanan
Although he was a really influential player, Roy Buchanan sadly didn’t have the commercial success many other artists had around that time. Born in Ozark, Arkansas in 1939, he started his musical career back in 1955 and his debut album would be released only in 1971. Buchana would release 11 more albums until his tragic death in 1987.
He struggled during his life with alcohol addiction and in 1988 was arrested for public intoxication after a domestic dispute. He was later found hanged from his own shirt in a jail cell in Fairfax County in Virginia. Although his death was officially recorded as suicide, Buchanan’s friends and family didn’t agree with that. They believe that someone might have killed him at the age of 48.
He was known for playing a Fender Telecaster and influenced artists. Some of them were Robbie Robertson, Gary Moore, David Gilmour, Jerry Garcia and Jeff Beck. Beck even dedicated his version of “‘Cause We’ve Ended as Lovers” to Buchanan.
Some of his most famous tracks are “Wayfaring Pilgrim”, “Sweet Dreams”, “The Chokin’ Kind”, “Baby, Baby, Baby” and “The Messiah Will Come Again”. He is frequently listed as one of the greatest guitarists of all time.
Buchanan also worked as a sideman for a few artists but as a solo act he had two gold albums early in his career. Also two later solo records that appeared on the Billboard chart.
