The Song of Today Is From Roy Buchanan

Or, "How to Play a Fender Telecaster"

We recently said goodbye to the great Robbie Robertson. He was one of the many musicians who credited the great, but less well-known, Roy Buchanan (1939-1988) as a powerful influence. Robertson said:

He was amazing. A lot of people didn’t understand Roy and thought he was weird, but I really liked him, and he was very generous. A lot of guitar players displayed jealousy and wouldn’t show you things: 'I had to learn myself – and so do you.' He wasn’t like that.

He’d show me something on his guitar, then hand it to me, but I couldn’t play his guitar! The strings were an inch off the fretboard, and I didn’t even know how he played that thing, but it just sang beautifully when he put his fingers on it.

Buchanan didn’t sing. His music was still deeply lyrical, however, and I found it moving in the same way I am moved by gospel music. Roy was the son of an Arkansas, Pentecostal preacher. It shows.