Career
Danny Gatton began his career playing in bands
while still a teenager. He began to attract wider interest in
the 1970s while playing guitar and banjo
for the group Liz Meyer & Friends. He made his name as a
performer in the Washington, DC, area during the 1980s, both as
a solo performer and with his Redneck Jazz Explosion, in which
he would trade
licks with virtuoso
pedal steel player
Buddy Emmons over a tight bass-drums rhythm which drew from
blues,
country,
bebop
and
rockabilly influences. He also backed
Robert Gordon and
Roger Miller. He contributed a cover of "Apricot Brandy", a
song by
Elektra Records-supergroup
Rhinoceros, to the 1990 compilation album
Rubáiyát.
Playing
style
Gatton's playing combined musical styles such as jazz,
blues
and
rockabilly in an innovative fashion, and he was known by
some as "the Telemaster" (a
portmanteau of "Telecaster",
Gatton's guitar of choice, and "Master"). He was also called
"the world's greatest unknown guitarist". His most common
nickname was "The Humbler", owing to his ability to "humble" or
out-play anyone willing to go up against him in "head cutting"
jam sessions. A photo published in the October 2007 issue of
Guitar Player magazine shows Gatton playing in front of a
neon sign that says "Victims Wanted".
However, he never achieved the commercial
success that his talent arguably deserved. His album 88
Elmira Street was up for a 1990
Grammy Award for the song "Elmira Street Boogie" in the
category Best Rock Instrumental Performance, but was
beaten out by
Eric Johnson for "Cliffs
of Dover".
His skills were most appreciated by his peers
such as Eric Clapton,
Willie Nelson,
Steve Earle, and his childhood idol
Les Paul. During his career, Gatton appeared on stage with
guitar heroes such as
Alvin Lee and
Jimmie Vaughan, the latter literally walking in one night on
a Gatton club gig. There is also an apocryphal rumor about an
onstage "head-cutting" jam between Gatton and fellow Washington,
DC-area resident (and Telecaster player)
Roy Buchanan. (Gatton had roomed with Buchanan in Nashville
in the mid '60s and became frequent "jamming partners" according
to Guitar Player Magazine's October 2007 issue). In 1993, Gatton
was invited by rocker
Chris Isaak to record tracks for Isaak's San Francisco
Days CD. Reports of where Gatton's playing can be heard on
the CD vary, with unconfirmed reports placing him on either
"Can't Do A Thing (To Stop Me)", "5:15" or "Beautiful Houses".
Gatton reportedly brought a customized Fender Telecaster and
Stratocaster to the recording session.
He usually played a 1953 Fender
Telecaster (Fender now manufactures a replica of his heavily
customized instrument), with Joe Barden
pickups and Fender Super 250L's, or Nickel Plated Steel
(.010 to .046 with a .015 for the G) strings. As a
slide Gatton would often use a beer bottle or mug (still
half full of beer) without regard to whether it might spill all
over stage or his guitar (most likely, a clever gimmick by the
showman).
During a 1991 performance on
Austin City Limits he follows this by wiping the guitar neck
with a rag, then holding the rag between his fingers and the
frets, all the while playing flawlessly.
He always played with a jazz style teardrop
pick, and was capable of intricate passages combining
Bluegrass, bebop, and garage sounds, executed with amazing
clarity and at dizzying speeds. His picking technique was a
hybrid combination of pick and fingers, primarily his middle
and ring fingers on his right hand. The basis of his picking
technique was banjo rolls—he was an accomplished banjo player
and learned the traditional (Scruggs
style) right hand technique from playing the banjo.
Also among his admirers are
Les Paul,
James Burton,
Lenny Breau,
Joe Bonamassa,
Vince Gill,
Evan Johns (of "Evan Johns and His H-Bombs"),
Chris Cheney,
Bill Kirchen,
Albert Lee,
Steve Vai,
Buckethead,
Arlen Roth,
Ricky Skaggs,
Slash ("Guns N' Roses"), and
Richie Sambora.