He was most often associated with a 1953 Fender Telecaster, serial number 2324, nicknamed "Nancy."

[NNN0LHI]

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Roy Buchanan - The Messiah Will Come Again

Roy Buchanan

Roy Buchanan (September 23, 1939 – August 14, 1988) was an American guitarist and blues musician. A pioneer of the Telecaster sound, Buchanan was a sideman and solo artist, with two gold albums early in his career, and two later solo albums that made it on to the Billboard chart. Despite never having achieved stardom, he is still considered a highly influential guitar player. Ranked #57 on the Rolling Stone list "100 Greatest Guitarists of all Time," Guitar Player praised him as having one of the "50 Greatest Tones of all Time."

Early careerRoy Buchanan was born in Ozark, Arkansas, and was raised there and in Pixley, California, a farming area near Bakersfield. His father was a sharecropper in Arkansas and a farm laborer in California.Buchanan told interviewers that his father was also a Pentecostal preacher, a note repeated in Guitar Player magazine but refuted by his older brother J.D. Buchanan told how his first musical memories were of racially mixed revival meetings he attended with his mother Minnie. "Gospel," he recalled, "that's how I first got into black music." He in fact drew upon many disparate influences while learning to play his instrument (though he later claimed his aptitude derived from being "half-wolf&quot . He initially showed talent on steel guitar before switching to guitar in the early 50s, and started his professional career at age 15, in Johnny Otis's rhythm and blues revue.

Buchanan's life changed in 1971, when he gained national notoriety as the result of an hour-long PBS television documentary. Entitled Introducing Roy Buchanan, and sometimes mistakenly called The Best Unknown Guitarist in the World, it earned a record deal with Polydor and praise from John Lennon and Merle Haggard, besides an alleged invitation to join the Rolling Stones (which he turned down).

He released the twelfth and last album of his career, Hot Wires, in 1987. According to his agent and others, Buchanan was doing well, having gained control of his drinking habit and playing again, when he was arrested for public intoxication after a domestic dispute. He was found hanged from his own shirt in a jail cell on 14 August 1988 in the Fairfax County, Virginia Jail. According to Jerry Hentman, who was in a cell nearby Buchanan's, the Deputy Sheriff opened the door early in the morning and found Buchanan with the shirt around his neck.

His cause of death was officially recorded as suicide, a finding disputed by Buchanan's friends and family. One of his friends, Marc Fisher, reported seeing Roy's body with bruises on the head.

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My wife and I used to go to his concerts whenever he came to Chicago during the 1970's. After every show he used to come out to where the crowd was at and talk to the fans for a half hour or so. He was a real nice person. You could tell. Roy always said, "Time for my medicine.", before he left. It sure was a sad day at our house when we heard he had died.

[hifiguy]

1. I asked "Who is Roy Buchanan?" even before

clicking on the thread. One of the greats.

[Scuba]

2. I've got a screamin' version of Hey, Joe that he did. Mmmmmm.