SECOND ALBUM – ROY BUCHANAN

Polydor Records
1973
Lead Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Vocals – Roy Buchanan
Bass – Don Payne
Drums – Jerry Mercer (tracks: A1 to B3), Ned Davis (tracks: B4)
Piano, Organ – Dick Heintze
Rhythm Guitar – Teddy Irwin
Vocals – Chuck Tilley (tracks: B1)
Tracklist
A1 Filthy Teddy 3:11
A2 After Hours 6:13
A3 Five String Blues 6:23
A4 Thank You Lord 2:23
B1 Treat Her Right 2:43
B2 I Won't Tell You No Lies 6:35
B3 Tribute To Elmore James 3:25
B4 She Once Lived Here 3:00
Roy Buchanan was no doubt a amazing axe slinger. The fact that he remains even to this day virtually unknown fascinates me. His life was a walking blues song. His inner battles took him from us, but it was this struggle that made his playing so rough, raw and emotional. A player this amazing and emotionally driven should have garnered more attention in his short life.
Roy played his '53 Fender Telecaster (TeleRoy, or Nancy as Roy called it) like it was easy. He hit licks that remain unchallenged to this day.
The album opens up strong with the upbeat Filthy Teddy, a song that brings capo and string bending to a whole new high. The guitar sounds like it is REALLY crying. I find blues muscians that can make their instruments talk, extremely enjoyable.
Ol' Roy proved he could hit low down and dirty blues too on tracks like Thank You Lord. This painful, slow low down, dirty bottom of the 1/5 of booze blues is what Roy was best known for.
This album might seem short, being that it is only 8 tracks. But, Roy packs so much guitar, emotion and blues into those 8 tracks that you don't feel slighted or denied anything.
This is one blues album that requires no second thought when purchasing. If you don't know Roy, then maybe you should! (Review by Brendan Munoz)

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