Monday, November 21, 2005
Maryland's Own Passes Away
Posted by James Sullivan, but I am not sure what newspaper it comes from:
Guitarist Link Wray Dies
"Father of the power chord" was seventy-six
Link Wray, the electric guitar innovator who is oftencredited as the father of the power chord, died earlier this month at his home in Copenhagen,apparently of natural causes. He was seventy-six.
He may have died quietly, but Wray's life was notablefor its enthusiastic devotion to volume. "Rumble," the guitarist's 1958 signature song, had the uniquedistinction of being widely banned by radio stations across America despite the fact that it had no words.As legend has it, Wray poked a pencil through the coneof his amplifier to achieve the song's groundbreakingfuzz tone.
Its ragged, ominous chords, overdriven anddragged to a crawl, sounded like an invitation to aknife fight. At a time of national hysteria overjuvenile delinquency, many cultural scolds took thesong's implied threat literally.Wray's early, highly stylized instrumental swagger,further evidenced in follow-up hits such as "Raw-Hide"and "Jack the Ripper," would prove to be a greatinspiration for some of the most potent guitarists ofthe classic rock era, including Pete Townshend, NeilYoung and Bruce Springsteen.
Bob Dylan, another teenage fan, opened his show in London Sunday night byplaying "Rumble" in tribute. Link Wray was born Frederick Lincoln Wray Jr. in Dunn,North Carolina, on May 2, 1929. He claimed to have learned to play guitar at the age of eight from a traveling circus performer named Hambone.
Afterserving in the Army and contracting tuberculosis,which led to the loss of a lung, Wray played in asuccession of groups with names such as the Lazy PineWranglers and Lucky Wray and the Palomino Ranch Hands,often with his brothers Vern and Doug and a cousin,Shorty Horton.By the mid-1950s the Wraymen, as they were then known(sometimes billed as the Raymen), were regular guestson Milt Grant's Washington, D.C., dance program.
When one fan asked the band to play a stroll, Wray,unfamiliar with the term, improvised on the spot. The prowling riff he came up with got such a positiveresponse that Grant took a demo to Archie Bleyer atCadence, the label then nurturing the Everly Brothers."Rumble," despite the radio bans, eventually reachedNumber Sixteen on the national pop charts.Subsequent labels cast about wildly in trying toduplicate the success of "Rumble" and "Raw-Hide,"which reached Number Twenty-three in 1959.
"They had me in the studio with Mitch Miller," Wray said in1998, at the outset of one of his frequent comebacktours. "I did 'Clair de Lune.' They wanted me to do'Zorba the Greek.' Can you imagine Link Wray doing'Zorba the Greek'?" With his brother Doug, he formedhis own label, Rumble Records, selling copies of "Jackthe Ripper" out of the trunk of his car until the songwas picked up by the Swan label. By the mid-Sixtieshe'd announced his retirement from music, declaringhis intention to become a farmer.But Wray, who proudly described himself asthree-quarters Shawnee Indian, set up a crudethree-track recording studio in a chicken coop on hisproperty in rural Maryland. In 1971, Polydor releaseda self-titled album from those gutbucket sessions tocritical acclaim, if disappointing sales. (Link Wrayand two subsequent albums were recently reissued on atwo-CD set called Wray's Three Track Shack.) Featuringswampy guitar, gospel-style choruses and Wray's ownsoulful singing, the albums marked a surprising newphase; there are appealing, Americana-style echoes ofthe Band, Van Morrison's pastoral period and theRolling Stones circa Exile on Main Street.The resurrection took Wray for a time to SanFrancisco, where he often performed with survivors ofthe Summer of Love. Later in the 1970s, he worked withthe rockabilly revivalist Robert Gordon; a lateNineties comeback tour found him backed by theeccentric San Francisco band Dieselhed.Over the years Wray's early instrumentals have becomenatural favorites of soundtrack producers, appearingin John Waters' Pink Flamingos, the 1983 remake ofBreathless, Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction and manyother films. A flurry of soundtrack activity in themid-Nineties helped convince the guitarist -- thenresettled with his wife, Olive, and son, OliverChristian, on a remote island in Denmark -- to returnonce again to the stage."I like to get personal with the kids with my rock &roll," he said at the time.After performing forty North American dates this yearto celebrate the release of Wray's Three Track Shack,Wray died at his home in Copenhagen on November 5th.He was buried in a private family ceremony on November18th.Guitarist Link Wray Dies"Father of the power chord" was seventy-sixLink Wray, the electric guitar innovator who is oftencredited as the father of the power chord, diedearlier this month at his home in Copenhagen,apparently of natural causes. He was seventy-six.He may have died quietly, but Wray's life was notablefor its enthusiastic devotion to volume. "Rumble," theguitarist's 1958 signature song, had the uniquedistinction of being widely banned by radio stationsacross America despite the fact that it had no words.As legend has it, Wray poked a pencil through the coneof his amplifier to achieve the song's groundbreakingfuzz tone. Its ragged, ominous chords, overdriven anddragged to a crawl, sounded like an invitation to aknife fight. At a time of national hysteria overjuvenile delinquency, many cultural scolds took thesong's implied threat literally.Wray's early, highly stylized instrumental swagger,further evidenced in follow-up hits such as "Raw-Hide"and "Jack the Ripper," would prove to be a greatinspiration for some of the most potent guitarists ofthe classic rock era, including Pete Townshend, NeilYoung and Bruce Springsteen. Bob Dylan, anotherteenage fan, opened his show in London Sunday night byplaying "Rumble" in tribute.Link Wray was born Frederick Lincoln Wray Jr. in Dunn,North Carolina, on May 2, 1929. He claimed to havelearned to play guitar at the age of eight from atraveling circus performer named Hambone. Afterserving in the Army and contracting tuberculosis,which led to the loss of a lung, Wray played in asuccession of groups with names such as the Lazy PineWranglers and Lucky Wray and the Palomino Ranch Hands,often with his brothers Vern and Doug and a cousin,Shorty Horton.
By the mid-1950s the Wraymen, as they were then known(sometimes billed as the Raymen), were regular guestson Milt Grant's Washington, D.C., dance program. Whenone fan asked the band to play a stroll, Wray,unfamiliar with the term, improvised on the spot. Theprowling riff he came up with got such a positiveresponse that Grant took a demo to Archie Bleyer atCadence, the label then nurturing the Everly Brothers."Rumble," despite the radio bans, eventually reached Number Sixteen on the national pop charts.Subsequent labels cast about wildly in trying to duplicate the success of "Rumble" and "Raw-Hide,"which reached Number Twenty-three in 1959. "They hadme in the studio with Mitch Miller," Wray said in1998, at the outset of one of his frequent comebacktours. "I did 'Clair de Lune.' They wanted me to do'Zorba the Greek.' Can you imagine Link Wray doing'Zorba the Greek'?" With his brother Doug, he formedhis own label, Rumble Records, selling copies of "Jackthe Ripper" out of the trunk of his car until the songwas picked up by the Swan label.
By the mid-Sixtieshe'd announced his retirement from music, declaringhis intention to become a farmer. But Wray, who proudly described himself as three-quarters Shawnee Indian, set up a crude three-track recording studio in a chicken coop on his property in rural Maryland. In 1971, Polydor releaseda self-titled album from those gutbucket sessions tocritical acclaim, if disappointing sales. (Link Wrayand two subsequent albums were recently reissued on atwo-CD set called Wray's Three Track Shack.)
Featuring swampy guitar, gospel-style choruses and Wray's ownsoulful singing, the albums marked a surprising newphase; there are appealing, Americana-style echoes ofthe Band, Van Morrison's pastoral period and theRolling Stones circa Exile on Main Street.The resurrection took Wray for a time to SanFrancisco, where he often performed with survivors ofthe Summer of Love. Later in the 1970s, he worked withthe rockabilly revivalist Robert Gordon; a lateNineties comeback tour found him backed by theeccentric San Francisco band Dieselhed.
Over the years Wray's early instrumentals have becomenatural favorites of soundtrack producers, appearingin John Waters' Pink Flamingos, the 1983 remake ofBreathless, Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction and manyother films. A flurry of soundtrack activity in themid-Nineties helped convince the guitarist -- thenresettled with his wife, Olive, and son, OliverChristian, on a remote island in Denmark -- to returnonce again to the stage."I like to get personal with the kids with my rock &roll," he said at the time.After performing forty North American dates this yearto celebrate the release of Wray's Three Track Shack,Wray died at his home in Copenhagen on November 5th. He was buried in a private family ceremony on November18th.
Guitarist Link Wray Dies
"Father of the power chord" was seventy-six
Link Wray, the electric guitar innovator who is oftencredited as the father of the power chord, died earlier this month at his home in Copenhagen,apparently of natural causes. He was seventy-six.
He may have died quietly, but Wray's life was notablefor its enthusiastic devotion to volume. "Rumble," the guitarist's 1958 signature song, had the uniquedistinction of being widely banned by radio stations across America despite the fact that it had no words.As legend has it, Wray poked a pencil through the coneof his amplifier to achieve the song's groundbreakingfuzz tone.
Its ragged, ominous chords, overdriven anddragged to a crawl, sounded like an invitation to aknife fight. At a time of national hysteria overjuvenile delinquency, many cultural scolds took thesong's implied threat literally.Wray's early, highly stylized instrumental swagger,further evidenced in follow-up hits such as "Raw-Hide"and "Jack the Ripper," would prove to be a greatinspiration for some of the most potent guitarists ofthe classic rock era, including Pete Townshend, NeilYoung and Bruce Springsteen.
Bob Dylan, another teenage fan, opened his show in London Sunday night byplaying "Rumble" in tribute. Link Wray was born Frederick Lincoln Wray Jr. in Dunn,North Carolina, on May 2, 1929. He claimed to have learned to play guitar at the age of eight from a traveling circus performer named Hambone.
Afterserving in the Army and contracting tuberculosis,which led to the loss of a lung, Wray played in asuccession of groups with names such as the Lazy PineWranglers and Lucky Wray and the Palomino Ranch Hands,often with his brothers Vern and Doug and a cousin,Shorty Horton.By the mid-1950s the Wraymen, as they were then known(sometimes billed as the Raymen), were regular guestson Milt Grant's Washington, D.C., dance program.
When one fan asked the band to play a stroll, Wray,unfamiliar with the term, improvised on the spot. The prowling riff he came up with got such a positiveresponse that Grant took a demo to Archie Bleyer atCadence, the label then nurturing the Everly Brothers."Rumble," despite the radio bans, eventually reachedNumber Sixteen on the national pop charts.Subsequent labels cast about wildly in trying toduplicate the success of "Rumble" and "Raw-Hide,"which reached Number Twenty-three in 1959.
"They had me in the studio with Mitch Miller," Wray said in1998, at the outset of one of his frequent comebacktours. "I did 'Clair de Lune.' They wanted me to do'Zorba the Greek.' Can you imagine Link Wray doing'Zorba the Greek'?" With his brother Doug, he formedhis own label, Rumble Records, selling copies of "Jackthe Ripper" out of the trunk of his car until the songwas picked up by the Swan label. By the mid-Sixtieshe'd announced his retirement from music, declaringhis intention to become a farmer.But Wray, who proudly described himself asthree-quarters Shawnee Indian, set up a crudethree-track recording studio in a chicken coop on hisproperty in rural Maryland. In 1971, Polydor releaseda self-titled album from those gutbucket sessions tocritical acclaim, if disappointing sales. (Link Wrayand two subsequent albums were recently reissued on atwo-CD set called Wray's Three Track Shack.) Featuringswampy guitar, gospel-style choruses and Wray's ownsoulful singing, the albums marked a surprising newphase; there are appealing, Americana-style echoes ofthe Band, Van Morrison's pastoral period and theRolling Stones circa Exile on Main Street.The resurrection took Wray for a time to SanFrancisco, where he often performed with survivors ofthe Summer of Love. Later in the 1970s, he worked withthe rockabilly revivalist Robert Gordon; a lateNineties comeback tour found him backed by theeccentric San Francisco band Dieselhed.Over the years Wray's early instrumentals have becomenatural favorites of soundtrack producers, appearingin John Waters' Pink Flamingos, the 1983 remake ofBreathless, Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction and manyother films. A flurry of soundtrack activity in themid-Nineties helped convince the guitarist -- thenresettled with his wife, Olive, and son, OliverChristian, on a remote island in Denmark -- to returnonce again to the stage."I like to get personal with the kids with my rock &roll," he said at the time.After performing forty North American dates this yearto celebrate the release of Wray's Three Track Shack,Wray died at his home in Copenhagen on November 5th.He was buried in a private family ceremony on November18th.Guitarist Link Wray Dies"Father of the power chord" was seventy-sixLink Wray, the electric guitar innovator who is oftencredited as the father of the power chord, diedearlier this month at his home in Copenhagen,apparently of natural causes. He was seventy-six.He may have died quietly, but Wray's life was notablefor its enthusiastic devotion to volume. "Rumble," theguitarist's 1958 signature song, had the uniquedistinction of being widely banned by radio stationsacross America despite the fact that it had no words.As legend has it, Wray poked a pencil through the coneof his amplifier to achieve the song's groundbreakingfuzz tone. Its ragged, ominous chords, overdriven anddragged to a crawl, sounded like an invitation to aknife fight. At a time of national hysteria overjuvenile delinquency, many cultural scolds took thesong's implied threat literally.Wray's early, highly stylized instrumental swagger,further evidenced in follow-up hits such as "Raw-Hide"and "Jack the Ripper," would prove to be a greatinspiration for some of the most potent guitarists ofthe classic rock era, including Pete Townshend, NeilYoung and Bruce Springsteen. Bob Dylan, anotherteenage fan, opened his show in London Sunday night byplaying "Rumble" in tribute.Link Wray was born Frederick Lincoln Wray Jr. in Dunn,North Carolina, on May 2, 1929. He claimed to havelearned to play guitar at the age of eight from atraveling circus performer named Hambone. Afterserving in the Army and contracting tuberculosis,which led to the loss of a lung, Wray played in asuccession of groups with names such as the Lazy PineWranglers and Lucky Wray and the Palomino Ranch Hands,often with his brothers Vern and Doug and a cousin,Shorty Horton.
By the mid-1950s the Wraymen, as they were then known(sometimes billed as the Raymen), were regular guestson Milt Grant's Washington, D.C., dance program. Whenone fan asked the band to play a stroll, Wray,unfamiliar with the term, improvised on the spot. Theprowling riff he came up with got such a positiveresponse that Grant took a demo to Archie Bleyer atCadence, the label then nurturing the Everly Brothers."Rumble," despite the radio bans, eventually reached Number Sixteen on the national pop charts.Subsequent labels cast about wildly in trying to duplicate the success of "Rumble" and "Raw-Hide,"which reached Number Twenty-three in 1959. "They hadme in the studio with Mitch Miller," Wray said in1998, at the outset of one of his frequent comebacktours. "I did 'Clair de Lune.' They wanted me to do'Zorba the Greek.' Can you imagine Link Wray doing'Zorba the Greek'?" With his brother Doug, he formedhis own label, Rumble Records, selling copies of "Jackthe Ripper" out of the trunk of his car until the songwas picked up by the Swan label.
By the mid-Sixtieshe'd announced his retirement from music, declaringhis intention to become a farmer. But Wray, who proudly described himself as three-quarters Shawnee Indian, set up a crude three-track recording studio in a chicken coop on his property in rural Maryland. In 1971, Polydor releaseda self-titled album from those gutbucket sessions tocritical acclaim, if disappointing sales. (Link Wrayand two subsequent albums were recently reissued on atwo-CD set called Wray's Three Track Shack.)
Featuring swampy guitar, gospel-style choruses and Wray's ownsoulful singing, the albums marked a surprising newphase; there are appealing, Americana-style echoes ofthe Band, Van Morrison's pastoral period and theRolling Stones circa Exile on Main Street.The resurrection took Wray for a time to SanFrancisco, where he often performed with survivors ofthe Summer of Love. Later in the 1970s, he worked withthe rockabilly revivalist Robert Gordon; a lateNineties comeback tour found him backed by theeccentric San Francisco band Dieselhed.
Over the years Wray's early instrumentals have becomenatural favorites of soundtrack producers, appearingin John Waters' Pink Flamingos, the 1983 remake ofBreathless, Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction and manyother films. A flurry of soundtrack activity in themid-Nineties helped convince the guitarist -- thenresettled with his wife, Olive, and son, OliverChristian, on a remote island in Denmark -- to returnonce again to the stage."I like to get personal with the kids with my rock &roll," he said at the time.After performing forty North American dates this yearto celebrate the release of Wray's Three Track Shack,Wray died at his home in Copenhagen on November 5th. He was buried in a private family ceremony on November18th.
