Pretty Blue - Danny Gatton

The rain stopped just before I left the house this morning. It looked pretty grim across the water in Fife and by the time I got to work it was looking pretty miserable again however I got a burst of a pretty blue sky while I was waiting at the bus stop. It had cleared up when I left th ecollege, but by the time I got back home the rain was hammering down.

I appreciate that this picture probably misses the context of the song itself which is an instrumental 12 bar blues number off Danny Gatton's 88 Elmira Street album. Danny's story is a bit of a tragedy. a sometime friend of Roy Buchanan who inspired him to switch to a Telecaster rather than a Gibson, Danny was a guitar virtuoso. Every bit as technically proficient as people like Joe Satriani or Steve Vai but able to put a lot more of his soul into his music. Unfortunately he took his own life in 1994. He didn't leave any explaination but it's widely believed that he had grown tired of constant touring for little money and never achieving the degree of recognition or commercial sugges his staggering talent probably deserved. He was certainly up there with the best electric guitarists since Hendrix.

I can't find this track on youtube, but here's another from him. Here's a track in mp3 format from his website where you can find all sorts of goodies including an example of his amazing showmanship.