Danny Gatton

Danny Gatton was an American guitarist, often called "the world's greatest unknown guitarist". He was born 4 September 1945 in Washington D.C., and learned to play the guitar early on (in time favoring his customized, 1953 Fender Telecaster, of which Fender now produces a replica) with the assistance of his father, once himself a guitar player. Danny Gatton became known for mastering blues, rockabilly, rock'n'roll, country and jazz (which he called "hillbilly jazz"), and being a great showman and a guitar slinger with great speed and mindblowing technique. Another claim to fame was his stage outfit, all dressed up as it still was 1955. His versatility had him touring with and/or recording with such diverse artists as Robert Gordon, Tom Principato, Alvin Lee, Roy Buchanan, Roger Miller and Chris Isaak, as well as Jack Casady and Jorma Kaukonen, performing as Jack and the Degenerates. On 4 October 1994, Danny Gatton shot and killed himself in his garage in Newburg, Maryland, leaving no message or clue. Close family and friends however witnessed of a decades long bout with depression. He was 49. In 2019, a biopic, The Humbler, was made. The title stems from a bootleg tape of a 1981 show Danny did with Robert Gordon and his band The Wildcats (9) at the height of their popularity. It was recorded at the Berkeley Square nightclub in Berkeley, California, and in 1985 became an album - now known as The Humbler - that soon was passed around among young guitar students. The show comprised a mix of 50s classics like [r2349678], [m575411] and [m618484]. The cleaned-up bootleg received an official release in 1996 on NRG Records (3), a label owned by Danny’s mother Norma.