Cliff Gallup

Clifton E. "Cliff" Gallup (June 17, 1930 - October 9, 1988) was an American electric guitarist, who played rock and roll in Gene Vincent's band The Blue Caps in the 1950s.

In February 1956, local radio DJ "Sheriff Tex Davis" (aka William Douchette, 1914-2007) heard Gene Vincent performing at a talent show in Norfolk, Virginia, became his manager, and put together a band of local musicians to back him. These included Gallup, who had previously played in a local band called The Virginians, and who was older than Vincent and the other band members. In May 1956, the band recorded in Nashville, Tennessee. Producer Ken Nelson had session musicians standing by in case the band was not up to par, but as soon as Gallup played the solos on "Race with the Devil" they knew they would not be needed.

Gallup played on 35 tracks with Vincent, including his biggest hit "Be-Bop-A-Lula", and established a reputation as one of the most technically proficient guitarists in early rock and roll. He used a flat pick in conjunction with fingerpicks on his middle and ring fingers, using his little finger to work the vibrato bar. According to one source, Gallup's trademark sound was produced by echo units he constructed himself from old tape recorder parts, but according to another source it was created in the studio by Nelson.

As a married man, Gallup was reluctant to tour with Vincent, and left the band in late 1956, returning only for some more studio sessions that same year for the second Gene Vincent & The Bluecaps LP. In the mid 1960s Gallup made a solo album for the local Pussy Cat record label in Norfolk, Straight Down the Middle, in a more mellow instrumental style akin to Chet Atkins and Les Paul. He occasionally played with local bands, while working in school maintenance. He played guitar up until the day he died. He last played in Norfolk with a group called the H-Lo's 48 hours before he suffered a fatal heart attack.

At the time of his death from a heart attack in 1988, he was the Director of Maintenance and Transportation for the Chesapeake, Virginia city school system, where he worked for almost 30 years. At the request of his widow, obituaries in local newspapers made no mention of his time with The Blue Caps. He is remembered principally for his influence on such guitarists as Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck. The latter recorded an album of Gene Vincent songs, Crazy Legs, in 1993 considered by music critics to be a tribute to Gallup and Vincent.

Gallup was ranked 79th in Rolling Stone magazine list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time"

Gallup is a Rockabilly Hall of Fame inductee.

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Posted in: Guitarists

Chuck Berry

Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry (born October 18, 1926) is a guitarist, singer, and songwriter, and considered one of the pioneers of rock and roll music. With songs such as "Maybellene" (1955), "Roll Over Beethoven" (1956), "Rock and Roll Music" (1957) and "Johnny B. Goode" (1958), Chuck Berry refined and developed rhythm and blues into the major elements that made rock and roll distinctive, with lyrics focusing on teen life and consumerism and utilizing guitar solos and showmanship that would be a major influence on subsequent rock music.

Born into a middle class family in St. Louis, Missouri, Berry had an interest in music from an early age and gave his first public performance at Sumner High School. While still a high school student he served a prison sentence for armed robbery between 1944 and 1947. On his release, Berry settled into married life and worked at an automobile assembly plant. By early 1953, influenced by the guitar riffs and showmanship techniques of blues player T-Bone Walker, he was performing in the evenings with the Johnnie Johnson Trio. His break came when he traveled to Chicago in May 1955, and met Muddy Waters, who suggested he contact Leonard Chess of Chess Records. With Chess he recorded "Maybellene"—Berry's adaptation of the country song "Ida Red"—which sold over a million copies, reaching #1 on Billboard's Rhythm and Blues chart. By the end of the 1950s, Berry was an established star with several hit records and film appearances to his name, as well as a lucrative touring career. He had also established his own St.
Louis-based nightclub, called Berry's Club Bandstand. But in January 1962 Berry was sentenced to three years in prison for offenses under the Mann Act—he had transported a 14-year-old girl across state lines.

After his release in 1963 Berry had several more hits, including "No Particular Place To Go", "You Never Can Tell", and "Nadine", but these did not achieve the same success, or lasting impact, of his 1950s songs, and by the 1970s he was more in demand as a nostalgic live performer, playing his past hits with local backup bands of variable quality. His insistence on being paid cash led to a jail sentence in 1979—four months and community service for tax evasion.

Berry was among the first musicians to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on its opening in 1986, with the comment that he "laid the groundwork for not only a rock and roll sound but a rock and roll stance." Berry is included in several Rolling Stone "Greatest of All Time" lists, including being ranked fifth on their 2004 list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.[6] The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll included three of Chuck Berry's songs: "Johnny B. Goode", "Maybellene", and "Rock and Roll Music". Today - at the age of 84 - Berry continues to play live.

Early life and apprenticeship with Johnnie Johnson (1926–54)

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Berry was the fourth child in a family of six. He grew up in the north St. Louis neighborhood known as "The Ville", an area where many middle class St. Louis people lived at the time. His father Henry was a contractor and a deacon of a nearby Baptist church, his mother Martha was a qualified principal. His middle class upbringing allowed him to pursue his interest in music from an early age and he gave his first public performance in 1941 while still at Sumner High School. Just three years later, in 1944, while still at Sumner High School, he was arrested and convicted of armed robbery after robbing three shops in Kansas City and then stealing a car at gunpoint with some friends. Berry's own account in his autobiography is that his car broke down and he then flagged down a passing car and stole it at gunpoint with a non-functional pistol. Berry was sent to the Intermediate Reformatory for Young Men at Algoa, near Jefferson City, Missouri, where he formed a singing quartet and did
some boxing.

After his release from prison on his 21st birthday in 1947, Berry married Themetta "Toddy" Suggs on 28 October 1948, who gave birth to Darlin Ingrid Berry on 3 October 1950. Berry supported his family doing a number of jobs in St. Louis: working briefly as a factory worker at two automobile assembly plants, as well as being janitor for the apartment building where he and his wife lived. Afterwards he trained as a beautician at the Poro College of Cosmetology, founded by Annie Turnbo Malone. He was doing well enough by 1950 to buy a "small three room brick cottage with a bath" in Whittier Street, which is now on the National Register of Historic Places.

By the early 1950s, Berry was working with local bands in the clubs of St. Louis as an extra source of income. He had been playing the blues since his teens, and he borrowed both guitar riffs and showmanship techniques from blues player T-Bone Walker, as well as taking guitar lessons from his friend Ira Harris that laid the foundation for his guitar style. By early 1953 Berry was performing with Johnnie Johnson's trio, starting a long-time collaboration with the pianist. Although the band played mostly blues and ballads, the most popular music among whites in the area was country. Berry wrote, "Curiosity provoked me to lay a lot of our country stuff on our predominantly black audience and some of our black audience began whispering 'who is that black hillbilly at the Cosmo?' After they laughed at me a few times they began requesting the hillbilly stuff and enjoyed dancing to it."

Berry's calculated showmanship, along with mixing country tunes with R&B tunes, and singing in the style of Nat "King" Cole to the music of Muddy Waters, brought in a wider audience, particularly affluent white people.

Signing with Chess: "Maybellene" to "Come On" (1955–62)
In May 1955, Berry traveled to Chicago where he met Waters, who suggested he contact Leonard Chess of Chess Records. Berry thought his blues material would be of most interest to Chess, but to his surprise it was an old country and western recording by Bob Wills, entitled "Ida Red" that got Chess's attention. Chess had seen the rhythm and blues market shrink and was looking to move beyond it, and he thought Berry might be the artist for that purpose. So on May 21, 1955 Berry recorded an adaptation of "Ida Red"—"Maybellene"—which featured Johnnie Johnson on piano, Jerome Green (from Bo Diddley's band) on the maracas, Jasper Thomas on the drums and Willie Dixon on the bass. "Maybellene" sold over a million copies, reaching #1 on Billboard's Rhythm and Blues chart and #5 on the 10 September 1955 Billboard Best Sellers in Stores chart.

At the end of June 1956, his song "Roll Over Beethoven" reached #29 on the Billboard Top 100 chart, and Berry toured as one of the "Top Acts of '56". He and Carl Perkins became friends. Perkins said that "I knew when I first heard Chuck that he'd been affected by country music. I respected his writing; his records were very, very great." As they toured, Perkins discovered that Berry not only liked country music, but knew about as many songs as he did. Jimmie Rodgers was one of his favorites. "Chuck knew every Blue Yodel and most of Bill Monroe's songs as well," Perkins remembered. "He told me about how he was raised very poor, very tough. He had a hard life. He was a good guy. I really liked him."

In late 1957 Berry took part in Alan Freed's "Biggest Show of Stars for 1957" United States tour with the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, and others. He also guest starred on ABC's The Guy Mitchell Show, having sung his hit song "Rock 'n' Roll Music". The hits continued from 1957 to 1959, with Berry scoring over a dozen chart singles during this period, including the top 10 U.S. hits "School Days", "Rock and Roll Music", "Sweet Little Sixteen", and "Johnny B. Goode". He appeared in two early rock and roll movies. The first was Rock Rock Rock, released in 1956. He is shown singing "You Can't Catch Me." He had a speaking role as himself in the 1959 film Go, Johnny, Go! along with Alan Freed, and was also shown performing his songs "Johnny B. Goode," "Memphis, Tennessee," and "Little Queenie." His performance of "Sweet Little Sixteen" at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1958 is captured in the motion picture Jazz on a Summer's Day.

By the end of the 1950s, Berry was an established star with several hit records and film appearances to his name, as well as a lucrative touring career. He had established a racially integrated St. Louis-based nightclub, called Berry's Club Bandstand, and was investing in real estate.  But in December 1959, Berry was arrested under the Mann Act after an allegation that he had sex with a 14-year-old Apache waitress whom he had transported over state lines to work as a hat check girl at his club. After an initial two-week trial in March 1960, Berry was convicted, fined $5,000, and sentenced to five years in prison. Berry's appeal that the judge's comments and attitude were racist and prejudiced the jury against him was upheld, and a second trial was heard in May and June 1961,  which resulted in Berry being given a three-year prison sentence. After another appeal failed, Berry served one and one half years in prison from February 1962 to October 1963. Berry had continued recording and performing during the tria
ls, though his output had slowed down as his popularity declined; his final single released before being imprisoned was "Come On".

"Nadine" and move to Mercury (1963–69)

When Berry was released from prison in 1963, he was able to return to recording and performing due to the British invasion acts of the 1960s—most notably the Beatles and the Rolling Stones—having kept up an interest in his music by releasing cover versions of his songs. along with other bands reworking his songs, such as the Beach Boys basing their 1963 hit "Surfin' USA" on Berry's "Sweet Little Sixteen". In 1964–65 Berry released eight singles, including three, "No Particular Place To Go" (a reworking of "School Day"), "You Never Can Tell", and "Nadine," which achieved commercial success, reaching the top 20 of the Billboard 100. Between 1966 and 1969 Berry released five albums on the Mercury label, including his first live album Live at Fillmore Auditorium in which he was backed by the Steve Miller Band.

While this was not a successful period for studio work, Berry was still a top concert draw. In May 1964, he did a successful tour of the UK, though when he returned in January 1965 his behavior was erratic and moody, and his touring style of using unrehearsed local backing bands and a strict non-negotiable contract was earning him a reputation as a difficult yet unexciting performer. He also played at large events in America, such as the Schaefer Music Festival in New York City's Central Park in July 1969, and the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival festival in October.

Back to Chess: "My Ding-a-Ling" to White House concert (1970–79)

Berry helped give life to a subculture... Even "My Ding-a-Ling", a fourth-grade wee-wee joke that used to mortify true believers at college concerts, permitted a lot of twelve-year-olds new insight into the moribund concept of "dirty" when it hit the airwaves...

Robert Christgau

Berry returned to Chess from 1970 to 1973. Although his 1970 album Back Home yielded no hit singles, in 1972 Chess released a new live recording of "My Ding-a-Ling", a song Berry had initially recorded years earlier on his 1968 LP "From St. Louie to Frisco" as "My Tambourine," a novelty track without nearly as much double entendre. The track became Berry's only No. 1 single. A live recording of "Reelin' And Rockin'" was also issued as a follow-up single that same year and would prove to be Berry's final top-40 hit in both the U.S. and the UK. Both singles were featured on the part-live/part-studio album The London Chuck Berry Sessions which was one of a series of London Sessions albums which included other Chess mainstay artists Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf. Berry's second tenure with Chess ended with the 1975 album Chuck Berry, after which he did not make a studio record until 1979's Rockit for Atco Records, his last studio album to date.

In the 1970s Berry toured on the basis of his earlier successes. He was on the road for many years, carrying only his Gibson guitar, confident that he could hire a band that already knew his music no matter where he went. Allmusic has said that in this period his "live performances became increasingly erratic, [...] working with terrible backup bands and turning in sloppy, out-of-tune performances" which "tarnished his reputation with younger fans and oldtimers" alike. Among the many bandleaders performing a backup role with Chuck Berry were Bruce Springsteen and Steve Miller when each was just starting his career. Springsteen related in the video Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll that Berry did not even give the band a set list and just expected the musicians to follow his lead after each guitar intro. Berry neither spoke to nor thanked the band after the show. Nevertheless, Springsteen backed Berry again when he appeared at the concert for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995. At the request of Jimmy Carter, Chuc
k Berry performed at the White House on June 1, 1979.

Berry's type of touring style, traveling the "oldies" circuit in the 1970s (where he was often paid in cash by local promoters) added ammunition to the Internal Revenue Service's accusations that Berry was a chronic income tax evader. Facing criminal sanction for the third time, Berry pleaded guilty to tax evasion and was sentenced to four months in prison and 1,000 hours of community service—doing benefit concerts—in 1979.[45]

Still on the road (1980 to present)

Berry continued to play 70 to 100 one-nighters per year in the 1980s, still traveling solo and requiring a local band to back him at each stop. In 1986, Taylor Hackford made a documentary film, Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll, of a celebration concert for Berry's sixtieth birthday, organised by Keith Richards, in which Berry reveals his bitterness at the fame and financial success that Richards achieved on the back of Berry's songs. Eric Clapton, Etta James, Julian Lennon, Robert Cray and Linda Ronstadt, among others, appeared with Berry on stage and film. During the concert, Berry played a Gibson ES-355, the luxury version of the ES-335 that he favored on his 1970s tours. Richards played a black Fender Telecaster Custom, Cray a Fender Stratocaster and Clapton a Gibson ES 350T, the same guitar Berry used on his early recordings.

In the late 1980s, Berry bought a restaurant in Wentzville, Missouri, called The Southern Air, and in 1990 he was sued by several women who claimed that he had installed a video camera in the ladies' bathroom. Berry claimed that he had the camera installed to catch red-handed a worker who was suspected of stealing from the restaurant. Though his guilt was never proven in court, Berry opted for a class action settlement with 59 women. Berry's biographer, Bruce Pegg, estimated that it cost Berry over $1.2 million plus legal fees. It was during this time that he began using Wayne T. Schoeneberg as his legal counsel. Reportedly, a police raid on his house did find videotapes of women using the restroom, and one of the women was a minor. Also found in the raid were 62 grams of marijuana. Felony drug and child-abuse charges were filed. In order to avoid the child-abuse charges, Berry agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor possession of marijuana. He was given a six-month suspended jail sentence, two years' unsupervi
sed probation, and ordered to donate $5,000 to a local hospital.

In November 2000, Berry again faced legal charges when he was sued by his former pianist Johnnie Johnson, who claimed that he co-wrote over 50 songs, including "No Particular Place to Go", "Sweet Little Sixteen" and "Roll Over Beethoven", that credit Berry alone. The case was dismissed when the judge ruled that too much time had passed since the songs were written.

Currently, Berry usually performs one Wednesday each month at Blueberry Hill, a restaurant and bar located in the Delmar Loop neighborhood in St. Louis. In 2008, Berry toured Europe, with stops in Sweden, Norway, Finland, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Ireland, Switzerland, Poland, and Spain. In mid-2008, he played at Virgin Festival in Baltimore, MD. He presently lives in Ladue, Missouri, approximately 10 miles west of St. Louis. On Saturday January 1, 2011, he was taken off stage in Chicago in the middle of a performance at the Congress Theater. Patrons attending said he was in a clearly weakened condition. On Wednesday January 19, 2011, Berry performed his usual monthly gig at Blueberry Hill, but frequently appeared disoriented, several times singing into a microphone stand from which the microphone had been removed without realizing it. At one point he started to play the standard "(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons" but aborted it after the first verse, admitting he couldn't finish it. He also pl
ayed the song "Johnny B. Goode" a second time without realizing he was repeating it.

Legacy

While no individual can be said to have invented rock and roll, Chuck Berry comes the closest of any single figure to being the one who put all the essential pieces together. It was his particular genius to graft country & western guitar licks onto a rhythm & blues chassis in his very first single, “Maybellene.”

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

A pioneer of rock music, Berry was a significant influence on the development of both the music and the attitude associated with the rock music lifestyle. With songs such as "Maybellene" (1955), "Roll Over Beethoven" (1956), "Rock and Roll Music" (1957) and "Johnny B. Goode" (1958), Chuck Berry refined and developed rhythm and blues into the major elements that made rock and roll distinctive, with lyrics successfully aimed to appeal to the early teenage market by using graphic and humorous descriptions of teen dances, fast cars, high-school life, and consumer culture, and utilizing guitar solos and showmanship that would be a major influence on subsequent rock music. His records are a rich storehouse of the essential lyrical, showmanship and musical components of rock and roll; and, in addition to the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, a large number of significant popular-music performers have recorded Berry's songs. Though not technically accomplished, his guitar style is distinctive - he incorporated electron
ic effects to mimic the sound of bottleneck blues guitarists, and drew on the influence of guitar players such as Charlie Christian, and T-Bone Walker, to produce a clear and exciting sound that many later guitar musicians would acknowledge as a major influence in their own style. Berry's showmanship has been influential on other rock guitar players, particularly his one-legged hop routine, and the "duck walk",which he first used as a child when he walked "stooping with full-bended knees, but with my back and head vertical" under a table to retrieve a ball and his family found it entertaining; he used it when "performing in New York for the first time and some journalist branded it the duck walk."

The rock critic Robert Christgau considers him "the greatest of the rock and rollers," while John Lennon said that "if you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it 'Chuck Berry'." Ted Nugent said "If you don't know every Chuck Berry lick, you can't play rock guitar." Status Quo, The Georgia Satellites and AC/DC were heavily influenced by Berry, and all three bands have covered his songs from time to time.[citation needed] Among the honors he has received, have been the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1984, the Kennedy Center Honors in 2000, and being named seventh on Time Magazine's 2009 list of the 10 best electric guitar players of all-time. On May 14, 2002, Chuck Berry was honored as one of the first BMI Icons at the 50th annual BMI Pop Awards. He was presented the award along with BMI affiliates Bo Diddley and Little Richard.

Berry is included in several Rolling Stone "Greatest of All Time" lists. In September 2003, the magazine named him number 6 in their list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". This was followed in November of the same year by his compilation album The Great Twenty-Eight being ranked 21st in the Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. The following year, in March 2004, Berry was ranked fifth out of "The Immortals - The 100 Greatest Artists of All Time". In December 2004, six of his songs were included in the "Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time", namely "Johnny B. Goode" (# 7), "Maybellene" (# 18), "Roll Over Beethoven" (# 97), "Rock and Roll Music" (#128), "Sweet Little Sixteen" (# 272) and "Brown Eyed Handsome Man" (# 374). In June 2008, his song "Johnny B. Goode" ranked first place in the "100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time".

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Chris DeGarmo

Chris DeGarmo (born Christopher Lee DeGarmo, June 14, 1963, in Wenatchee, Washington) is an American heavy metal and hard rock guitarist. He co-founded Queensrÿche in 1981 and played with the group during their most commercially successful period. Since departing from the band, DeGarmo has continued his involvement in the music business in a much smaller capacity. He is now a professional charter pilot.

Career

DeGarmo is best known for his seventeen-year tenure (1981-1998) as a lead and rhythm guitarist in the progressive metal band Queensrÿche. He was a founding member of the Seattle/Bellevue-based band, and together with fellow guitarist Michael Wilton and vocalist Geoff Tate, was largely responsible for writing the band’s intricate compositions. He was the sole writer for the band's 1991 hit "Silent Lucidity," which reached the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and earned the guitarist a BMI songwriter's award. DeGarmo left the band for undisclosed reasons following the band's 1997 tour in support of the Hear in the Now Frontier album. DeGarmo returned briefly in 2003 to record on Queensrÿche's Tribe. He also wrote and recorded the song "Justified" with Queensrÿche for their 2007 greatest hits album, Sign of the Times.

His post-Queensrÿche career includes collaborations with Jerry Cantrell (as a touring guitarist and an appearance on the 2002 Degradation Trip studio album) and with Mike Inez, Sean Kinney, and Vinnie Dombrowski in the open project Spys4Darwin.

On February 18, 2005, DeGarmo joined the remaining members of the popular rock band Alice in Chains and other Seattle area artists for the Tsunami Continued Care Relief Concert. His most recent studio work involved assisting the rock band Dredg for the production and arrangement of their 2005 studio album Catch Without Arms. DeGarmo currently lives in the Seattle area with his wife and children, and works full time as a professional pilot. He holds an Airline Transport Pilot certificate, Hawker (HS125), IA-Jet and Learjet 45 type ratings from the FAA.

Discography

Queensrÿche

•    Queensrÿche (1983)
•    The Warning (1984)
•    Rage for Order (1986)
•    Operation: Mindcrime (1988)
•    Empire (1990)
•    Operation: LIVEcrime (1991)
•    Promised Land (1994)
•    Hear in the Now Frontier (1997)
•    Greatest Hits (2000)
•    Classic Masters (2003)
•    Tribe (2003)
•    Sign of the Times (2007)

Spys4Darwin
•    microfish (2001)

Jerry Cantrell

•    Degradation Trip (2002)

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Carlos Santana

Carlos Augusto Selva Santana Ph.D. (born July 20, 1947) is a Mexican American rock guitarist. Santana became famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band, Santana, which pioneered rock, salsa and jazz fusion. The band's sound featured his melodic, blues-based guitar lines set against Latin and African rhythms featuring percussion instruments such as timbales and congas not generally heard in rock music. Santana continued to work in these forms over the following decades. He experienced a resurgence of popularity and critical acclaim in the late 1990s. Rolling Stone named Santana number 15 on their list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time in 2003. He has won 10 Grammy Awards and 3 Latin Grammy Awards.

Biography

Early life
Santana was born in Autlán de Navarro, Jalisco, Mexico. His father was a mariachi violinist, and Carlos learned to play the violin at age five and the guitar at age eight. His younger brother, Jorge Santana, would also become a professional guitarist. Young Carlos was heavily influenced by Ritchie Valens at a time when there were very few Latinos in American rock and pop music. The family moved from Autlán de Navarro to Tijuana, the city on Mexico's border with California, and then San Francisco. Carlos stayed in Tijuana but joined his family in San Francisco later and graduated from James Lick Middle School and Mission High School there. He graduated from Mission High in 1965. Javier Bátiz, a famous guitarist from Tijuana, said to have been Carlos's guitar teacher who taught him to play a different style of guitar soloing. After learning Batiz's techniques, Santana would make them his own as well.

"The 60′s were a leap in human consciousness. Mahatma Gandhi, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Che Guevara, Mother Teresa, they led a revolution of conscience. The Beatles, The Doors, Jimi Hendrix created revolution and evolution themes. The music was like Dalí, with many colors and revolutionary ways. The youth of today must go there to find themselves."
 

Carlos Santana

In San Francisco, he got the chance to see his idols, most notably B.B. King, perform live. He was also introduced to a variety of new musical influences, including jazz and folk music, and witnessed the growing hippie movement centered in San Francisco in the 1960s. After several years spent working as a dishwasher in a diner and busking for spare change, Santana decided to become a full-time musician. In 1966, he gained prominence by a series of accidental events all happening on the same day. Santana was a frequent spectator at Bill Graham's Fillmore West. During a Sunday matinee show, Paul Butterfield was slated to perform there but was unable to do so as a result of being intoxicated. Bill Graham assembled an impromptu band of musicians he knew primarily through his connections with the Grateful Dead, Butterfield's own band and Jefferson Airplane, but he had not yet picked all of the guitarists at the time. Santana's manager, Stan Marcum, immediately suggested to Graham that Santana join the impromptu band and Graham assented. During the jam session, Santana's guitar playing and solo gained the notice of both the audience and Graham. During the same year, Santana formed the Santana Blues Band, with fellow street musicians, David Brown and Gregg Rolie (bassist and keyboard player, respectively).

With their highly original blend of Latin-infused rock, jazz, blues, salsa, and African rhythms, the band (which quickly became known simply as Santana) gained an immediate following on the San Francisco strip club. The band's early success, capped off by a memorable performance at Woodstock in 1969, led to a recording contract with Columbia Records, then run by Clive Davis.

Santana

Santana was signed by CBS Records and went into the studio to record their first album. They were not satisfied with the release and decided changes needed to be made. This resulted in the dismissal of Bob Livingston. Santana replaced him with Mike Shrieve, who had a strong background in both jazz and rock. Marcus Malone was forced to quit the band due to personal problems, and the band re-enlisted Michael Carabello. Carabello brought with him percussionist Jose Chepito Areas, who was already well-known in his country, Nicaragua, and, with his skills and professional experience, was a major contributor to the band.

Bill Graham, who had been a fan of the band from the start, convinced the promoters of the Woodstock Music and Art Festival to let them appear before their first album was even released. They were one of the surprises of the festival; their set was legendary and, later, the exposure of their eleven-minute instrumental "Soul Sacrifice" in the Woodstock film and soundtrack albums vastly increased Santana's popularity. Graham also gave the band some key advice to record the Willie Bobo song "Evil Ways", as he felt it would get them radio airplay. Their first album, simply titled Santana, became a huge hit, reaching number four on the U.S. album charts, and the catchy single "Evil Ways" reached number nine on the Billboard Hot 100.

In 1970, the group reached its early commercial peak with their second album, Abraxas, which reached number one on the album charts and went on to sell over four million copies. Instrumental in the production of the album was pianist Alberto Gianquinto, who advised the group to stay away from lengthy percussion jams and concentrate on tighter song structures. The innovative Santana musical blend made a number-four hit out of the English band Fleetwood Mac's "Black Magic Woman" and a number-thirteen hit out of salsa legend Tito Puente's "Oye Como Va".

However, Woodstock and the band's sudden success put pressure on the group, highlighting the different musical directions in which Rolie and Santana were starting to go. Rolie, along with some of the other band members, wanted to emphasize a basic hard rock sound which had established the band in the first place. Santana on the other hand was growing musically beyond his love of blues and rock and wanted more jazzy, ethereal elements in the music, which were influenced by his fascination with Miles Davis and John Coltrane, as well as his growing interest in spirituality and meditation. To further complicate matters, Chepito Areas was stricken with a near-fatal brain hemorrhage, and Santana wanted the band to continue performing by finding a temporary replacement (first Willie Bobo, then Coke Escovedo), while others in the band, especially Michael Carabello, felt it was wrong to perform publicly without Areas. Cliques formed, and the band started to disintegrate.

Teenage San Francisco Bay Area guitar prodigy Neal Schon was asked to join the band in 1971, in time to complete the third album, Santana III. The band now boasted a powerful dual-lead-guitar act that gave the album a tougher sound. The sound of the band was also helped by the return of a recuperated Chepito Areas and the assistance of Coke Escovedo in the percussion section. Enhancing the band's sound further was the support of popular Bay Area group Tower of Power's horn section, Luis Gasca of Malo, and a number of friends who helped with percussion and vocals, injecting more energy to the proceedings. Santana III was another success, reaching number one on the album charts, selling two million copies, and yielding the hits "Everybody's Everything" and "No One to Depend On".

But tension in the band continued. Along with musical differences, drug use became a problem, and Santana was deeply worried it was affecting the band's performance. Coke Escovedo encouraged Santana to take more control of the band's musical direction, much to the dismay of some of the others who thought that the band and its sound was a collective effort. Also, financial irregularities were exposed while under the management of Stan Marcum, whom Bill Graham criticized as being incompetent. Growing resentments between Santana and Michael Carabello over lifestyle issues resulted in his departure on bad terms. James Mingo Lewis was hired at the last minute as a replacement at a concert in New York City. David Brown later left due to substance abuse problems. A South American tour was cut short in Lima, Peru, due to student protests against U.S. governmental policies and unruly fans. The madness of the tour convinced Santana that changes needed to be made in the band and in his life.

In January 1972, Santana, Neal Schon and Coke Escovedo joined former Band of Gypsys drummer Buddy Miles for a concert at Hawaii's Diamond Head Crater, which was recorded for a live album. The performance was erratic and uneven, but the album managed to achieve gold-record status on the weight of Santana's popularity.

Caravanserai

In early 1972, Santana and the remaining members of the band started working on their fourth album, Caravanserai. During the studio sessions, Santana and Michael Shrieve brought in other musicians: percussionists James Mingo Lewis and Latin-Jazz veteran, Armando Peraza replacing Michael Carabello, and bassists Tom Rutley and Doug Rauch replacing David Brown. Also assisting on keyboards were Wendy Haas and Tom Coster. With the unsettling influx of new players in the studio, Gregg Rolie and Neal Schon decided that it was time to leave after the completion of the album, even though both made spectacular contributions to the session. Rolie left and went home to Seattle, opening a restaurant with his father, and later became a founding member of Journey (which Schon would later join as well).

When Caravanserai did emerge in 1972, it marked a strong change in musical direction towards jazz fusion. The album received critical praise, but CBS executive Clive Davis warned Santana and the band that it would sabotage the band's position as a "Top 40" act. Nevertheless, over the years, the album would achieve platinum status. The difficulties Santana and the band went through during this period were chronicled in Ben Fong-Torres' Rolling Stone cover story "The Resurrection of Carlos Santana".

Around this time, Santana met Deborah King, whom he later married in 1973. She is the daughter of the late blues singer and guitarist Saunders King. They have three children: Salvador, Stella and Angelica. Together with wife Deborah, Santana founded a not-for-profit organization, the Milagro Foundation, which provides financial aid for educational, medical, and other needs.

Spiritual journey

In 1972, Santana became a huge fan of the pioneering fusion band The Mahavishnu Orchestra and its guitarist John McLaughlin. Aware of Santana's interest in meditation, McLaughlin introduced Santana and Deborah to his guru, Sri Chinmoy. Chinmoy accepted them as disciples in 1973. Santana was given the name "Devadip" – meaning "The lamp, light and eye of God." Santana and McLaughlin recorded an album together, Love, Devotion, Surrender with members of Santana and the Mahavishnu Orchestra, along with percussionist Don Alias and organist Larry Young, who both had made appearances on Miles Davis' classic Bitches Brew in 1969.

In 1973, Santana, having obtained legal rights to the band's name, formed a new version of Santana, with Armando Peraza and Chepito Areas on percussion, Doug Rauch on bass, Michael Shrieve on drums, and Tom Coster and Richard Kermode on keyboards. Santana was later able to recruit jazz vocalist Leon Thomas for a tour of Japan, which was recorded for the live, sprawling, high-energy fusion album Lotus. CBS records would not allow its release unless the material was condensed. Santana did not agree to those terms, and the album was available in the U.S. only as an expensive, imported, three-record set. The group later went into the studio and recorded Welcome, which further reflected Santana's interests in jazz fusion and his commitment to the spiritual life of Sri Chinmoy.

Shifting styles in the 1970s

A collaboration with John Coltrane's widow, Alice Coltrane, Illuminations, followed. The album delved into avant-garde esoteric free jazz, Eastern Indian and classical influences with other ex-Miles Davis sidemen Jack DeJohnette and Dave Holland. Soon after, Santana replaced his band members again. This time Kermode, Thomas and Rauch departed from the group and were replaced by vocalist Leon Patillo (later a successful Contemporary Christian artist) and returning bassist David Brown. He also recruited soprano saxophonist, Jules Broussard to the lineup. The band recorded one studio album Borboletta, which was released in 1974. Drummer Leon "Ndugu" Chancler later joined the band as a replacement for Michael Shrieve, who left to pursue a solo career.

By this time, the Bill Graham's management company had assumed the affairs of the group. Graham was critical of Santana's direction into jazz and felt he needed to concentrate on getting Santana back into the charts with the edgy, street-wise ethnic sound that had made them famous. Santana himself was seeing that the group's direction was alienating many fans. Although the albums and performances were given good reviews by critics in jazz and jazz fusion circles, sales had plummeted.

Santana along with Tom Coster, producer David Rubinson, and Chandler formed yet another version of Santana, adding vocalist Greg Walker. The 1976 album Amigos, which featured the songs "Dance, Sister, Dance" and "Let It Shine", had a strong funk and Latin sound. The album also received considerable airplay on FM album-oriented rock stations with the instrumental "Europa (Earth's Cry Heaven's Smile)" and re-introduced Santana back into the charts. Rolling Stone Magazine ran a second cover story on Santana entitled "Santana Comes Home".

The albums conceived through the late 1970s followed the same formula, although with several lineup changes. Among the personnel who came and left the band was percussionist Raul Rekow, who joined in early 1977 and remains to this day. Most-notable of the band's commercial efforts of this era was a version of the 1960s Zombies hit, "She's Not There", on the 1977 album Moonflower.

The relative success of the band's albums in this era allowed Santana to pursue a solo career funded by CBS. First, Oneness, Silver Dreams, Golden Reality in 1979 and The Swing of Delight in 1980, which featured some of his musical heroes: Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter and Tony Williams from Miles Davis' legendary 1960s quintet.

The pressures and temptations of being a high-profile rock musician and requisites of the spiritual lifestyle which guru Sri Chinmoy and his followers demanded, were great sources of conflict to Santana's lifestyle and marriage. He was becoming increasingly disillusioned with what he thought was Chinmoy's unreasonable rules imposed on his life, in particular, his refusal to allow Santana and Deborah to start a family. He felt too that his fame was being used to increase the guru's visibility. Santana and Deborah eventually ended their relationship with Chinmoy in 1982.

The 1980s

More radio-pleasing singles followed from Santana and the band. "Winning" in 1981 and "Hold On" (a remake of Canadian artist Ian Thomas' song) in 1982 both reached the top twenty. After his break with Sri Chinmoy, Santana went into the studio to record another solo album with Keith Olson and legendary R&B producer Jerry Wexler. The 1983 album revisited Santana's early musical experiences in Tijuana with Bo Diddley's "Who Do You Love" and the title cut, Chuck Berry's "Havana Moon". The album's guests included Booker T. Jones, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Willie Nelson and even Santana's father's mariachi orchestra. Santana again paid tribute to his early rock roots by doing the film score to La Bamba, which was based on the tragically short life of rock and roll legend Ritchie Valens and starred Lou Diamond Philips.

Although the band had concentrated on trying to produce albums with commercial appeal during the 1980s, changing tastes in popular culture began to reflect in the band's sagging record sales of their latest effort Beyond Appearances. In 1985, Bill Graham had to once again pull strings for Santana to convince principal Live Aid concert organizer Bob Geldof to allow the band to appear at the festival. The group's high-energy performance proved why they were still a top concert draw the world over despite their poor performance on the charts. Santana retained a great deal of respect in both jazz and rock circles, with Prince and guitarist Kirk Hammett of Metallica citing him as an influence.

The band Santana returned in 1986 with a new album Freedom. Buddy Milles, who was trying to revive his music career after spending much of the late 1970s and early 1980s incarcerated for drug charges, returned for lead vocals. His onstage presence provided a dose of charisma to the show; but, once again, the sales of the album fell

Growing weary of trying to appease record company executives with formulaic hit records, Santana took great pleasure in jamming and making guest appearances with notables such as the jazz fusion group Weather Report, jazz pianist McCoy Tyner, Blues legend John Lee Hooker, Frank Franklin, Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid, and West African singer Salif Keita. He and Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead later recorded and performed with Nigerian drummer Babatunde Olatunji, who conceived one of Santana's famous 1960s drum jams, "Jingo". In 1988, Santana organized a reunion with past members from the Santana band for a series of concert dates. CBS records released a 20-year retrospective of the band's accomplishments with Viva Santana.

That same year Santana formed an all-instrumental group featuring jazz legend Wayne Shorter on tenor and soprano sax. The group also included Patrice Rushen on keyboards, Alphonso Johnson on bass, Armando Peraza and Chepito Areas on percussion, and Leon "Ndugu" Chancler on drums. They toured briefly and received much acclaim from the music press, who compared the effort with the era of Caravanserai. Santana released another solo record, Blues for Salvador, which won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.

In 1990, Santana left Columbia Records after twenty-two years and signed with Polygram. The following year, he made a guest appearance on Ottmar Liebert's album Solo Para Ti, on the songs "Reaching out 2 U" and on a cover of his own song, "Samba Pa Ti". In 1992, Santana hired jam band Phish as his opening act.

Return to commercial success

Santana's record sales in the 1990s were very low.[citation needed] Toward the end of the decade, he was without a contract. However, Arista Records' Clive Davis, who had worked with Santana at Columbia Records, signed him and encouraged him to record a star-studded album with mostly younger artists. The result was 1999's Supernatural, which included collaborations with Everlast, Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty, Eric Clapton, Lauryn Hill, Wyclef Jean, Cee-Lo, Maná, Dave Matthews, K. C. Porter, J. B. Eckl, and others.

However, the lead single was what grabbed the attention of both fans and the music industry. "Smooth", a dynamic cha-cha stop-start number co-written and sung by Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty, was laced throughout with Santana's guitar fills and runs. The track's energy was immediately apparent on radio, and it was played on a wide variety of station formats. "Smooth" spent twelve weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming in the process the last #1 single of the 1990s. The music video, set on a hot barrio street, was also very popular. Supernatural reached number one on the US album charts and the follow-up single, "Maria Maria", featuring the R&B duo The Product G&B, also hit number one, spending ten weeks there in the spring of 2000. Supernatural eventually sold over 15 million copies in the United States, making it Santana's biggest sales success by far.

Carlos Santana, alongside the classic Santana lineup of their first two albums, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. He performed "Black Magic Woman" with the writer of the song, Fleetwood Mac's founder Peter Green. Green was inducted the same night.

In 2000 Supernatural won nine Grammy Awards (eight for Santana personally), including Album of the Year, Record of the Year for "Smooth", and Song of the Year for Thomas and Itaal Shur. Santana's acceptance speeches described his feelings about music's place in one's spiritual existence. Later that year at the Latin Grammy Awards he won three awards including Record of the Year. In 2001, Santana's guitar skills were featured in Michael Jackson's song "Whatever Happens", from the album Invincible.

In 2002, Santana released Shaman, revisiting the Supernatural format of guest artists including P.O.D. and Seal. Although the album was not the runaway success its predecessor had been, it produced two radio-friendly hits. "The Game of Love" featuring Michelle Branch, rose to number five on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent many weeks at the top of the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart, and "Why Don't You & I" written by and featuring Chad Kroeger from the group Nickelback (the original and a remix with Alex Band from the group The Calling were combined towards chart performance) which reached number eight on the Billboard Hot 100. "The Game of Love" went on to win the Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals.

In early August 2003, Santana was named fifteenth on Rolling Stone magazine's "List of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".

On April 21th, 2005, Santana was honored as a BMI Icon at the 12th annual BMI Latin Awards. Santana was the first songwriter designated a BMI Icon at the company's Latin Awards. The honor is given to a creator who has been "a unique and indelible influence on generations of music makers."

In 2005, Herbie Hancock approached Santana to collaborate on an album again using the Supernatural formula. Possibilities was released on August 30, 2005, featuring Carlos Santana and Angélique Kidjo on "Safiatou". Also, in 2005, fellow Latin star Shakira invited Santana to play the soft rock guitar ballad "Illegal" on her second English-language studio album Oral Fixation Vol. 2.

Santana's 2005 album All That I Am consists primarily of collaborations with other artists; the first single, the peppy "I'm Feeling You", was again with Michelle Branch and The Wreckers. Other musicians joining the mix this time included Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, Kirk Hammett from Metallica, hip-hop/reggae star Sean Paul and R&B singer Joss Stone. In April and May 2006, Santana toured Europe, where he promoted his son Salvador Santana's band as his opening act.

In 2007, Santana appeared, along with Sheila E. and José Feliciano, on Gloria Estefan's album 90 Millas, on the single "No Llores". He also teamed again with Chad Kroeger for the hit single "Into the Night".

In 2008, Santana started working with his long-time friend, Marcelo Vieira, on his solo album Marcelo Vieira's Acoustic Sounds, which is due to be released at the end of the year. It features tracks such as "For Flavia" and "Across the Grave", the latter featuring heavy melodic riffs by Santana.

Carlos Santana performed at the 2009 American Idol Finale with the top 13 finalists, which starred many acts such as KISS, Queen and Rod Stewart. On July 8, 2009, Carlos Santana appeared at the Athens Olympic Stadium in Athens with his 10-member all-star band as part of his "Supernatural Santana – A Trip through the Hits" European tour. On July 10, 2009, he also appeared at Philip II Stadium in Skopje. With 2.5 hours concert and 20 000 people, Santana appeared for the first time in that region. "Supernatural Santana – A Trip through the Hits" is currently playing at The Hard Rock hotel in Las Vegas, where it will play through 2011.

Santana is featured as a playable character in the music video game Guitar Hero 5. A live recording of his song "No One To Depend On" is included in game, which was released on September 1, 2009.

Carlos recently opened a chain of upscale Mexican restaurants called "Maria Maria". It is a combined effort with Chef Roberto Santibañez. They are located in Tempe, Arizona, Mill Valley (now closed), Walnut Creek and Danville, California, Austin, Texas, and Boca Raton, Florida.

Influences
Around the age of 8, Santana "fell under the influence" of blues performers like B.B. King and John Lee Hooker. He also credits Jimi Hendrix, Mike Bloomfield and Peter Green as important influences; he considered Bloomfield a direct mentor, writing of a key meeting with Bloomfield in San Francisco in the foreword he wrote to a biography of Bloomfield, Michael Bloomfield: If You Love These Blues-An Oral History in 2000.

Equipment

Guitars and effects

Santana played a red Gibson SG Special with P-90 pickups at the Woodstock festival. From 1976 until 1982, his main guitar was a Yamaha SG 175B and sometimes a white Gibson SG Custom with 3 open coil pick-ups. In 1982 he started to use a custom made PRS guitar, which became his main instrument around 1988. Santana currently uses a Santana II model guitar using PRS Santana III pickups with nickel covers and a tremolo, with .009-.042 gauge D'Addario strings. Santana's guitar necks and fretboards are constructed out of a single solid piece of Brazilian Rosewood; this helps create the smooth, singing, glass-like tone that he is famous for.

Carlos Santana also uses a classical guitar, the Alvarez Yairi CY127CE with Alvarez tension nylon strings.

Santana does not use many effects pedals. His PRS guitar is connected to a Mu-Tron wah wah pedal (or, more recently, a Dunlop 535Q wah) and a T-Rex Replica delay pedal, then through a customized Jim Dunlop amp switcher which in turn is connected to the different amps or cabinets.

Previous setups include an Ibanez Tube Screamer right after the guitar.

In the song "Stand Up" from the album Marathon, Santana uses a Heil talk box in the guitar solo.

Amplifiers

Carlos Santana's distinctive lead guitar tone is produced by PRS Santana signature guitars plugged into a multi-amp setup. The rig consists of a Mesa Boogie Mark I, Dumble Overdrive Reverb and more recently a Bludotone amplifier. Carlos often blends the sounds from each amp in various combinations to achieve a more complex tone. He also literally put the Boogie in Mesa Boogie: 'Santana exclaimed to Smith, "Shit, man. That little thing really Boogies!" It was this statement that brought the Boogie name to fruition.'

Specifically, Santana combines a Mesa/Boogie Mark I head running through a Boogie cabinet with Altec 417-8H (or recently JBL E120s) speakers, and a Dumble Overdrive Reverb and/or a Dumble Overdrive Special running through a Brown or Marshall 4x12 cabinet with Celestion G12M "Greenback" speakers, depending on the desired sound. Shure KSM-32 microphones are used to pick up the sound, going to the PA. Additionally, a Fender Cyber-Twin Amp is mostly used at home.

Personal life

Carlos Santana became a naturalized American citizen in 1965.

On October 19, 2007, his wife of 34 years, Deborah, filed for divorce citing "irreconcilable differences".

Carlos Santana became engaged to Cindy Blackman, after proposing to her during a concert of the Universal Tone Tour at Tinley Park, Illinois, Chicago on July 9, 2010. The two were married in December 2010.

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Posted in: Guitarists

Carl Perkins

Carl Lee Perkins (April 9, 1932 – January 19, 1998) was an American rockabilly musician who recorded most notably at Sun Records Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, beginning during 1954. His best known song is "Blue Suede Shoes".

According to Charlie Daniels, "Carl Perkins' songs personified the rockabilly era, and Carl Perkins' sound personifies the rockabilly sound more so than anybody involved in it, because he never changed." Perkins' songs were recorded by artists (and friends) as influential as Elvis Presley, the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, and Johnny Cash, which further cemented his place in the history of popular music.

Called "the King of Rockabilly", he was inducted into the Rock and Roll, the Rockabilly, and the Nashville Songwriters Halls of Fame; and was a Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipient.

Biography

Early life
Perkins was the son of poor sharecroppers near Tiptonville, Tennessee. He grew up hearing Southern gospel music sung by whites in church, and by black field workers when he started working in the cotton fields at age six. During spring and autumn, the school day would be followed by several hours of work in fields. During the summer, workdays were 12–14 hours, "from can to can't." Carl and his brother Jay together would earn 50 cents a day. With all family members working and not having any credit, there was enough money for beans and potatoes, some tobacco for Carl's father Buck, and occasionally the luxury of a five-cent bag of hard candy.

During Saturday nights Carl would listen to the radio with his father and hear the Grand Ole Opry, and Roy Acuff's broadcasts on the Opry inspired him to ask his parents for a guitar. Because they couldn't afford a real guitar, Carl's father fashioned one from a cigar box and a broomstick. When a neighbor in tough straits offered to sell his dented and scratched Gene Autry model guitar with worn-out strings, Buck purchased it for a couple of dollars.

For the next year Carl taught himself parts of Acuff's "Great Speckled Bird" and "The Wabash Cannonball", which he had heard on the Opry. He also cited the fast playing and vocals of Bill Monroe as an early influence.

Carl began learning more about playing his guitar from a fellow field worker named John Westbrook who befriended him. "Uncle John," as Carl called him, was an African American in his sixties who played blues and gospel on his battered acoustic guitar. Most famously, "Uncle John" advised Carl when playing the guitar to "Get down close to it. You can feel it travel down the strangs, come through your head and down to your soul where you live. You can feel it. Let it vib-a-rate." Because Carl couldn't afford new strings when they broke, he retied them. The knots would cut into his fingers when he tried to slide to another note, so he began bending the notes, stumbling onto a type of "blue note."

Carl was recruited to be a member of the Lake County Fourth Grade Marching Band, and because of the Perkins' limited finances, was given a new white shirt, cotton pants, white band cap and red cape by Miss Lee McCutcheon, who was in charge of the band. During January 1947, Buck Perkins moved his family from Lake County to Madison County. A replacement radio which operated by electricity rather than a battery and the proximity of Memphis made it possible for Carl to hear a greater variety of music. At age fourteen years, using the I IV V chord progression common to country songs of the day, he wrote what came to be known around Jackson as "Let Me Take You To the Movie, Magg" (the song would convince Sam Phillips to sign Perkins to his Sun Records label).

Beginnings as a performer

Perkins and his brother Jay had their first paying job (in tips) as entertainers at the "Cotton Boll" tavern on Highway 45 some twelve miles south of Jackson, starting on Wednesday nights during late 1946. Carl was only 14 years old. One of the songs they played was an uptempo, country blues shuffle version of Bill Monroe's "Blue Moon of Kentucky". Free drinks were one of the perks of playing in a tavern, and Carl drank four beers that first night. Within a month Carl and Jay began playing Friday and Saturday nights at the Sand Ditch tavern near the western boundary of Jackson. Both places were the scene of occasional fights, and both of the Perkins Brothers gained a reputation as fighters.

During the next couple of years the Perkins Brothers began playing other taverns, including El Rancho, The Roadside Inn, and the Hilltop around Bemis and Jackson as they became well known. Carl persuaded his brother Clayton to play the bass fiddle to complete the sound of the band.

Perkins began performing regularly on WTJS-AM in Jackson during the late 1940s as a sometime member of the Tennessee Ramblers. He also appeared on Hayloft Frolic where he performed two songs, sometimes including "Talking Blues" as done by Robert Lunn on the Grand Ole Opry. Perkins and then his brothers began appearing on The Early Morning Farm and Home Hour. Overwhelmingly positive listener response resulted in a 15-minute segment sponsored by Mother's Best Flour. By the end of the 1940s, the Perkins Brothers were the best-known band in the Jackson area.

Perkins had day jobs during most of these early years, working first at picking cotton, then at Day's Dairy in Malesus, then at a mattress factory and in a battery plant. He then worked as a pan greaser for the Colonial Baking Company from 1951 through 1952.

During January 1953, Perkins married a woman he had known for a number of years, Valda Crider. When his job at the bakery was reduced to part-time, Valda, who had her own job, encouraged Carl to begin working the taverns full-time. He began playing six nights a week. Late the same year he added W.S. "Fluke" Holland to the band as a drummer, who had not any previous experience as a musician but had a good sense of rhythm.

Malcolm Yelvington remembered the Perkins brothers from 1953 when they played in Covington, Tennessee. He noted that Carl had a very unusual blues-like style all his own. One of Carl's friends had a tape recorder, and he had used it to make tapes of his materials that he sent to Columbia and RCA. He never heard back from them.

During July 1954, Perkins and his wife heard a new release of "Blue Moon of Kentucky" by Elvis Presley, Scotty Moore and Bill Black on the radio. Valda exclaimed, "Listen! They play like y'all! It sounds like you!" After recording the take of the song that was released, Presley exclaimed, "That sounds like Carl Perkins!" As "Blue Moon of Kentucky faded out, Carl said, "There's a man in Memphis who understands what we're doing. I need to go see him."

Sun Records

Perkins successfully auditioned for Sam Phillips at Sun Records during early October 1954. "Movie Magg" and "Turn Around" were released on the Phillips-owned Flip label (151) March 19, 1955, with "Turn Around" becoming a regional success. With the song getting airplay across the South and Southwest, Perkins was booked to appear along with Elvis Presley at theaters in Marianna and West Memphis, Arkansas. Commenting on the audience reaction to both Presley and himself Perkins said, "When I'd jump around they'd scream some, but they were gettin' ready for him. It was like TNT, man, it just exploded. All of a sudden the world was wrapped up in rock."

Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two were the next musicians to be added to the performances by Sun musicians. During the summer of 1955 there were junkets to Little Rock, Forrest City, Arkansas, Corinth and Tupelo, Mississippi. Again performing at El Rancho, the Perkins brothers were involved in an automobile accident. A friend, who had been driving, was pinned by the steering wheel. Perkins managed to drag him from the car, which had begun burning. Clayton had been thrown from the car, but was not injured seriously.

Another Perkins' tune, "Gone Gone Gone", released in October 1955 by Sun, was also a regional success. It was backed by the more traditional "Let The Juke Box Keep On Playing," complete with fiddle, "Western Boogie" bass line, steel guitar and weepy vocal.

That same autumn, Perkins wrote "Blue Suede Shoes" after seeing a dancer in a tavern get angry with his date for scuffing up his blue suede shoes. Several weeks later, on December 19, 1955, Perkins and his band recorded the song during a session at Sun Studio in Memphis. Phillips suggested changes to the lyrics ("Go, cat, go") and the band changed the end of the song to a "boogie vamp".

Presley left Sun for a larger opportunity with RCA in November, and on December 19, 1955, Phillips, who had begun recording Perkins in late 1954, told Perkins, "Carl Perkins, you're my rockabilly cat now." Released on January 1, 1956, "Blue Suede Shoes" was a massive chart success. In the United States, it scored No. 1 on Billboard magazine's country music charts (the only No. 1 success he would have) and No. 2 on Billboard's Best Sellers popular music chart. On March 17, Perkins became the first country artist to score No. 3 on the rhythm & blues charts. That night, Perkins performed the song during his television debut on ABC-TV's Ozark Jubilee (Presley performed it for the second time that same night on CBS-TV's Stage Show; he'd first sung it on the program on February 11).

In the United Kingdom, the song became a Top Ten success, scoring No. 10 on the British charts. It was the first record by a Sun label artist to sell a million copies. The B side, "Honey Don't", was covered by The Beatles, Wanda Jackson and (in the 1970s) T. Rex. John Lennon sang lead on the song when the Beatles performed it before it was given to Ringo Starr to sing. Lennon also performed the song on the Lost Lennon Tapes.

The accident

After playing a show in Norfolk, Virginia on March 21, 1956, the Perkins Brothers Band headed to New York City for a March 24 appearance on NBC-TV's Perry Como Show. Shortly before sunrise on March 22 near Dover, Delaware, Stuart Pinkham (aka Richard Stuart and Poor Richard) assumed duties as driver. After hitting the back of a pickup truck, their car went into a ditch of water about a foot deep, and Carl was lying face down in the water. Drummer Holland rolled Carl over, saving him from drowning. He had suffered 3 fractured vertebrae in his neck, a severe concussion, a broken collar bone, and lacerations all over his body in the crash. Carl remained unconscious for an entire day. The driver of the pickup truck, Thomas Phillips, a 40-year old farmer, died when he was thrown into the steering wheel. Carl's brother Jay had a fractured neck along with severe internal injuries.

On March 23, Bill Black, Scotty Moore and D.J. Fontana visited Perkins on their way to New York to appear with Presley the next day. D.J. Fontana recalled Perkins saying, "Of all the people, I looked up and there you guys are. You looked like a bunch of angels coming to see me." Black told him, "Hey man, Elvis sends his love," and lit a cigarette for him, even though the patient in the next bed was in an oxygen tent. A week later, Perkins was given a telegram from Presley (which had arrived on the 23rd), wishing him a speedy recovery.

Sam Philips had planned to surprise Perkins with a gold record on The Perry Como Show. "Shoes" had already sold more than 500,000 copies by March 22. Now, while Carl recuperated from the accident, "Blue Suede Shoes" scored number one on most popular, R&B, and country regional music charts. It also scored number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and country charts. Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel" scored number one on the pop and country charts, while "Shoes" did better than "Heartbreak" on the R&B charts. By mid-April, more than one million copies of "Blue Suede Shoes" had been sold.

On April 3, while still recuperating in Jackson, Perkins would see Presley perform "Blue Suede Shoes" on his first Milton Berle Show appearance, which was his third performance of the song on national television. He also made references to it twice during an appearance on The Steve Allen Show. Although his version became more famous than Perkins', it only scored No. 20 on Billboard's popular music chart.

Return to recording and touring

Perkins returned to live performances on April 21, 1956 beginning with an appearance in Beaumont, Texas with the "Big D Jamboree" tour. Before resuming touring, Sam Phillips arranged a recording session at Sun with Ed Cisco filling in for the still- recuperating Jay. By mid-April, "Dixie Fried", "Put Your Cat Clothes On", "Right String, Wrong Yo-Yo", "You Can't Make Love to Somebody", "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby", and "That Don't Move Me" had been recorded.

Carl Perkins (2nd from left) performing "Glad All Over" with (left-right) Clayton Perkins, W.S. "Fluke" Holland, and Jay Perkins in the movie Jamboree.

Beginning during early summer, Perkins was paid $1,000 to play just two songs a night on the extended tour of "Top Stars of '56." Other performers on the tour were Chuck Berry and Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers. When Perkins and the group entered the stage in Columbia, South Carolina, he was appalled to see a teenager with a bleeding chin pressed against the stage by the crowd. During the first guitar intermission of "Honey Don't" they were waved off stage and into a vacant dressing room behind a double line of police officers. Perkins was quoted as saying, "It was dangerous. Lot of kids got hurt. There was a lot of rioting going on, just crazy, man! The music drove 'em insane." Appalled by what he had seen and experienced, Perkins left the tour.

Sun issued more Perkins songs in 1956: "Boppin' the Blues"/"All Mama's Children" (Sun 243), the B side co-written with Johnny Cash, "Dixie Fried"/"I'm Sorry, I'm Not Sorry" (Sun 249). "Matchbox"/"Your True Love" (Sun 261) came out in February 1957. "Boppin' the Blues" reached no. 47 on the Cash Box pop singles chart, no. 9 on the Billboard country and western chart, and no. 70 on the Billboard Top 100 chart.

"Matchbox" is considered a rockabilly classic. The day it was recorded, Elvis Presley visited the studio. Along with Johnny Cash (who left early), Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis and Presley spent more than an hour singing gospel, country and rhythm-and-blues songs while a tape rolled. The casual session was called The Million Dollar Quartet by a local newspaper the next day, and it was eventually released on CD in 1990.

On February 2, 1957, Perkins again appeared on Ozark Jubilee, singing "Matchbox" and "Blue Suede Shoes". He also made at least two appearances on Town Hall Party in Compton, California in 1957 singing both songs. Those performances were included in the Western Ranch Dance Party series filmed and distributed by Screen Gems.

The 1957 film Jamboree included a Perkins performance of "Glad All Over" (not to be confused with The Dave Clark Five song of the same name), that ran 1:55. "Glad All Over," written by Aaron Schroeder, Sid Tepper, and Roy Bennett, was released by Sun in January 1958.

Life after Sun

During 1958, Perkins moved to Columbia Records where he recorded songs such as "Jive After Five", "Rockin' Record Hop", "Levi Jacket (And a Long Tail Shirt)", "Pop, Let Me Have the Car", "Pink Pedal Pushers", "Anyway the Wind Blows", "Hambone", "Pointed Toe Shoes", and "Sister Twister".

He performed often in The Golden Nugget Casino in Las Vegas during 1962 and 1963, and also in nine Midwestern states and a tour of Germany.

During May 1964, Perkins toured England along with Chuck Berry. The Animals backed the two performers. On the last night of the tour, Perkins attended a party that turned out to be for him, and ended up sitting on the floor sharing stories, playing guitar, and singing songs while surrounded by The Beatles. Ringo Starr asked if he could record "Honey Don't". "Man," answered Perkins, "go ahead, have at it." The Beatles would cover "Matchbox", "Honey Don't" and "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby" recorded by Perkins but adapted from a song originally recorded by Rex Griffin during 1936, a song also recorded by Roy Newman. The Beatles recorded two versions of "Glad All Over" in 1963. Although he had been trying to rehabilitate himself by drinking only beer (but large amounts of it), during 1968, while on tour with the Johnny Cash troupe, Perkins began a four-day drunk in Tulsa, Oklahoma starting with a bottle of Early Times. Nevertheless, with the urging of Cash, he opened a show in San Diego, California by playing four songs after seeing "four or five of me in the mirror," and while being able to see "nothin' but a blur." After drinking yet another pint of Early Times, he passed out on the tour bus. By morning he started hallucinating "big spiders, and dinosaurs, huge, and they were gonna step on me." The bus was parked on a beach at the ocean. He was tempted by yet another pint of whiskey that he had hidden. He took the bottle with him onto the beach and fell on his knees and said, "Lord... I'm gonna throw this bottle. I'm gonna show You that I believe in You. I sailed it into the Pacific... I got up, I knew I had done the right thing." Perkins and Cash, who had his own problems with drugs, then gave each other support to refrain from their drug of choice.

During 1968, Cash recorded the Perkins-written "Daddy Sang Bass" (which incorporates parts of the American standard "Will the Circle Be Unbroken") and scored No. 1 on the country music charts for six weeks. Glen Campbell also covered the song, as did The Statler Brothers and Carl Story. "Daddy Sang Bass" was also a Country Music Association nominee for Song of the Year. Perkins also played lead guitar on the Cash smash single "A Boy Named Sue" which was No. 1 for five weeks on the country chart and No. 2 on the popular music chart. Perkins spent a decade in Cash's touring revue and appeared on The Johnny Cash Show. He played "Matchbox" with Cash and Derek and the Dominoes. Cash also featured Perkins in rehearsal jamming with José Feliciano and Merle Travis.

A Kraft Music Hall episode hosted by Cash on April 16, 1969 had Perkins singing his song "Restless". Country music fans may recognize The Statler Brothers' song, "Flowers on the Wall", which was also featured on the show.

During February 1969, Perkins joined with Bob Dylan to write "Champaign, Illinois". Dylan was recording in Nashville from February 12 through February 21 for an album that would be titled Nashville Skyline, and met Perkins when he appeared on The Johnny Cash Show on June 7. Dylan had written one verse of a song, but was stuck. After Perkins worked out a loping rhythm and improvised a verse ending lyric, Dylan said, "Your song. Take it. Finish it." The co-authored song was included in Perkins' 1969 album On Top.

Perkins was also united in 1969 by Columbia's Murray Krugman with a "rockabilly" group based in New York's Hudson Valley, the New Rhythm and Blues Quartet. Carl and NRBQ recorded "Boppin' the Blues" which featured the group backing him on songs like his staples "Turn Around" and "Boppin' the Blues" and included songs recorded separately by Perkins and NRBQ.  One of his TV appearances with Cash was on the popular country series Hee Haw on February 16, 1974.

After a long legal struggle with Sam Phillips over royalties, Perkins gained ownership of his songs during the 1970s.

Later years

During 1981 Perkins recorded the song "Get It" with Paul McCartney, providing vocals and playing guitar with the former Beatle. This recording was included on the chart-topping album Tug Of War released in 1982. This track also comprised the B-side of the title track single in a slightly edited form. One source states that Perkins "wrote the song with Paul McCartney." The song ends with a fade-out of Perkins' impromptu laughter.

The "rockabilly" revival of the 1980s helped bring Perkins back into the limelight. During 1985, he re-recorded "Blue Suede Shoes" with Lee Rocker and Jim Phantom of the Stray Cats, as part of the soundtrack for the movie, Porky's Revenge. That same year, George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Dave Edmunds, Lee Rocker, Rosanne Cash and Ringo Starr appeared with him on a television special taped in London called Blue Suede Shoes: A Rockabilly Session. Perkins and his friends ended the session by singing his most famous song, 30 years after its writing, which brought Perkins to tears. The concert special was a memorable highlight of Perkins' later career and has been highly praised by fans for the spirited performances delivered by Perkins and his famous guests.

During 1985, Perkins was inducted to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, and in 1987, wider recognition of his contribution to music came with his induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In addition, "Blue Suede Shoes" was chosen as one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll, and as a Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipient. His pioneering contribution to the genre was also recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.

Perkins' only notable film performance as an actor was in John Landis' 1985 film Into the Night, a cameo-laden film that includes a scene where characters played by Carl and David Bowie die at each other's hand.

As a guitarist Perkins used: finger picking, imitations of the pedal steel guitar, right-handed damping (muffling strings near the bridge with the palm), arpeggios, advantageous use of open strings, single and double string bending (pushing strings across the neck to raise their pitch), chromaticism (using notes outside of the scale), country and blue licks, and tritone and other tonality clashing licks (short phrases that include notes from other keys and move in logical, often symmetric patterns). A rich vocabulary of chords including sixth and thirteenth chords, ninth and add nine chords, and suspensions, show up in rhythm parts and solos. Free use of syncopations, chord anticipations (arriving at a chord change before the other players, often by a 1/8 note) and crosspicking (repeating a three 1/8 note pattern so that an accent falls variously on the upbeat or downbeat) are also in his bag of tricks.

During 1986, he returned to the Sun Studio in Memphis, joining Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Roy Orbison on the album Class of '55. The record was a tribute to their early years at Sun and, specifically, the Million Dollar Quartet jam session involving Perkins, Presley, Cash, and Lewis in 1956.

During 1989, Perkins co-wrote and played guitar on The Judds' No. 1 country success, "Let Me Tell You About Love". During 1989, Perkins also signed a record deal with Platinum Records LTD for an album with the title Friends, Family, and Legends, featuring performances by Chet Atkins, Travis Tritt, Steve Wariner, Joan Jett and Charlie Daniels, along with Paul Shaffer and Will Lee. During 1992, during the production of this CD, Perkins developed throat cancer.

He returned to Sun Studios to record with Scotty Moore, Presley's first guitar player. The CD was called 706 ReUNION, released on Belle Meade Records, and featured D.J. Fontana, Marcus Van Storey and The Jordanaires. During 1993, Perkins performed with the Kentucky Headhunters in a music video remake, filmed in Glasgow, Kentucky, of his song "Dixie Fried." In 1994, Perkins teamed up with Duane Eddy and The Mavericks to contribute "Matchbox" to the AIDS benefit album Red Hot + Country produced by the Red Hot Organization.

Perkins' last album, Go Cat Go!, was released during 1996, and featured new collaborations with many of the above artists, as well as George Harrison, Paul Simon, John Fogerty, Tom Petty, and Bono. It was released by the independent label Dinosaur Records and distributed by BMG.

His last major concert performance was the Music for Montserrat all-star charity concert at London's Royal Albert Hall on September 15, 1997.

Perkins died four months later, on January 19, 1998 at the age of 65 at Jackson-Madison County Hospital in Jackson, Tennessee from throat cancer after suffering several strokes. Among mourners at the funeral at Lambuth University were George Harrison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Wynonna Judd, Garth Brooks, Nashville Agent Jim Dallas Crouch, Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash. Perkins was interred at Ridgecrest Cemetery in Jackson.

His widow, Valda deVere Perkins, died November 15, 2005 in Jackson.

Legacy

Perkins collaborated on a 1996 biography, Go, Cat, Go, with New York–based music writer David McGee. Plans for a biographical film were announced by Santa Monica-based production company Fastlane Entertainment. The Carl Perkins Story[49] was slated for release in 2009.

During 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Perkins number 69 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

His version of "Blue Suede Shoes" was included by the National Recording Preservation Board in the Library of Congress National Recording Registry in 2006.

The Perkins family still owns his songs, which are administered by former Beatle Paul McCartney's company MPL Communications.

Drive-By Truckers, on their album The Dirty South, recorded "Carl Perkins' Cadillac" that has a history of the artist and his relationships.

George Thorogood & the Destroyers covered "Dixie Fried" on their 1985 album, Maverick. The Kentucky Headhunters also covered the song as did Keith de Groot on a 1968 album entitled No Introduction Necessary that featured Jimmy Page on lead guitar and John Paul Jones on bass.

Ricky Nelson covered Perkins' "Boppin' The Blues" and "Your True Love" on his 1957 debut album Ricky.

Perkins was portrayed by Johnny Saint Holiday in the 2005 Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line.

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Posted in: Guitarists

Buckethead

Brian Carroll (born May 13, 1969), better known by his stage name Buckethead, is a virtuoso guitarist, and multi instrumentalist who encompasses several genres of music. He has released 30 studio albums, four special releases and an EP as of 2010. He has performed on over 50 more albums by other artists. His music spans such diverse areas as progressive metal, funk, blues, jazz, bluegrass, ambient, and avant-garde music.

When performing in his theatrical persona, Buckethead used to wear a KFC bucket on his head, emblazoned with an orange bumper sticker that reads FUNERAL in capital black block letters, and an expressionless plain white costume mask. More recently, he has switched to a plain white bucket no longer bearing the KFC logo. He also incorporates nunchucks, robot dancing, and toy trading into his stage performances. Buckethead's persona represents a character who was "raised by chickens" and has made it his "mission in life to alert the world to the ongoing chicken holocaust in fast-food joints around the globe."

An instrumentalist, Buckethead is best known for his electric guitar playing. He has been voted number 8 on a list in GuitarOne magazine of the "Top 10 Greatest Guitar Shredders of All Time" as well as being included in Guitar World's lists of the "25 all-time weirdest guitarists" and is also known for being in the "50 fastest guitarists of all time list".

Buckethead performs primarily as a solo artist. He has collaborated extensively with a wide variety of high profile artists such as Bill Laswell, Bootsy Collins, Bernie Worrell, Iggy Pop, Les Claypool, Serj Tankian, Bill Moseley, Mike Patton, Viggo Mortensen, and was a member of Guns N' Roses from 2000 to 2004. Buckethead has also written and performed music for major motion pictures, including: Saw II, Ghosts of Mars, Beverly Hills Ninja, Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, Last Action Hero, and the main soundtrack of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie.

Career

Early life

Buckethead was born as Brian Carroll on May 13 1969. His father was Tom Carroll, an athletic director at Damien High School, and has three sisters Lynn, Lisa, Laurie, and one brother, John. Buckethead began playing at the age of twelve. He had been quoted as saying, however, that he did not become serious until a year later when he moved from Huntington Beach, CA to Claremont, CA. His playing began improving by taking private lessons from various teachers at a local music store, Styles Music. His early teachers included Max McGuire, the late Johnny Fortune (1943–2006), Mark Hammond, and then many years with Pebber Brown. Buckethead played a quick tribute to all his early teachers on a popular internet video filmed in 2003 when the Deli Creeps played a show at Styles Music's 25th anniversary. Buckethead then later began making demo recordings of both his playing as well as his writing styles, which would be released as acoustic albums in the future.

1988–1994: Early solo career and Praxis

In 1988 after leaving the band Class-X, Carroll entered a song called "Brazos" into a Guitar Player magazine contest. It was a runner-up:

An astonishingly skilled guitarist and bassist, he demonstrates post-Paul Gilbert speed and accuracy filtered through very kinky harmonic sensibilities. His psychotronic, demonic edge is very, very far removed from the clichés of classical metal and rock. A real talent to watch, also known as "Buckethead."

In the same year, the magazine's editor, Jas Obrecht, came to know of Buckethead when Brian and his parents left a demo recording at the magazine's reception desk for Obrecht. Impressed with this demo, he rushed into the restaurant where Buckethead and his parents were having lunch and encouraged him to make the most of his talent. They soon became friends. In 1989 a song called "Sowee" by Buckethead got honorable mention in another song contest. In 1991, Buckethead moved into Obrecht's basement (this is also where the "Buckethead in the Basement" footage for the Young Buckethead DVD was filmed). The song "Brazos" was eventually released on the 1991 demo tape of his band Deli Creeps, titled "Tribal Rites," and again as bonus material in Buckethead's Secret Recipe DVD in 2006. Luke Sacco was his teacher.

After his first two demo tapes, called Giant Robot (demo) and Bucketheadland Blueprints, Buckethead released Bucketheadland on John Zorn's Japanese Avant record label in 1992. Though available only as a pricey import, the record received positive reviews and earned some attention. At about this time, Buckethead fell into the orbit of prolific bassist/producer Bill Laswell, himself an occasional Zorn collaborator; Buckethead (as a performer, producer, or composer) was introduced to Laswell with the help of Limbomaniacs drummer Bryan "Brain" Mantia, who gave Laswell a video of Buckethead playing in his room. Buckethead soon became Laswell's second staple guitar player, besides Nicky Skopelitis.

In 1992, Buckethead, with Bill Laswell, Bernie Worrell, Bootsy Collins, and Bryan "Brain" Mantia, formed the supergroup Praxis. Their first album, Transmutation (Mutatis Mutandis), released the same year, was well-received. The project was Bill Laswell's concept, and has since involved other guests such as Serj Tankian of System of a Down, among many others. Buckethead did participate in all releases except the initial 1984 release and Mold (1998).

In 1994, Buckethead released an album called Dreamatorium under the name of Death Cube K (an anagram of "Buckethead"). The name was created by Tom "Doc" Darter to circumvent legal complications with Sony Music Entertainment. About his style, the official FAQ says,

Many believe, however, that Death Cube K is a separate entity that looks like a photographic negative version of Buckethead with a "black chrome mask, like Darth Vader." This apparition haunts Buckethead and appears in his nightmares.

Science fiction author William Gibson later borrowed "Death Cube K" as the name of a bar in his novel Idoru (1996). Gibson explained the reference in an interview for Addicted to Noise:

Death Cube K is actually the title of an album. I'm sorry I can't remember the name of the group, but Bill Laswell, who I don't really know but out of the kindness of his heart occasionally sends me big hunks of his output, groups that come out on his label. And Death Cube K was the title of some vicious ambient group that he had produced. And when I saw it, I thought: a Franz Kafka theme bar in Tokyo.

Also in 1994, Buckethead released his second studio album, Giant Robot, which features many guest appearances by artists such as Iggy Pop and Bill Moseley. The name of the album came from the Japanese series Johnny Sokko and his Flying Robot, of which Buckethead is a fan. He also released two other albums with Praxis, their second and third studio efforts: Sacrifist and Metatron.

According to Anthony Kiedis' autobiography, Scar Tissue, Buckethead once auditioned to play guitar for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, shortly after John Frusciante left the band, without having heard any of their songs. The band's bassist Flea noted that:

When he finished, the band applauded raucously. He was "sweet and normal", but they wanted someone "...who could also kick a groove."

1995–1998: Collaboration work, movie soundtracks and Praxis

In 1995, Buckethead did not release any solo albums but collaborated with several artists like Jonas Hellborg and Michael Shrieve (Octave of the Holy Innocents). He also contributed to several movie soundtracks, such as Johnny Mnemonic and Mortal Kombat.

Later, in 1996, Buckethead released his solo album The Day of the Robot with the help of English producer DJ Ninj and Laswell, plus another album with Brain and keyboardist Pete Scaturro on the small Japanese label NTT Records, called Giant Robot. Both albums were printed only in small quantities and are collectors' items now. A second demo tape by the Deli Creeps was also recorded.

Also in 1996 several Sega Saturn television ads featuring a screaming mask-like face pressing through the blue orb of the Saturn logo was released, with music by Buckethead.

In 1997, Buckethead began working on the album Buckethead Plays Disney, but the album has not yet been released. According to his Web page:

This highly anticipated album, once listed in an Avant catalog, has yet to be completed. It is Buckethead's most precious personal project, so he won't record or release it until he knows he is ready.

Also in 1997, Buckethead continued to contribute to movie soundtracks, appearing on Beverly Hills Ninja and Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, the sequel to Mortal Kombat.

Further releases were Arcana's second and final studio album Arc of the Testimony and the one-off project Pieces, with Brain. Two live albums by Praxis, called Transmutation Live and Live in Poland (featuring recordings from European concerts) were also issued.

Death Cube K released an album that year called Disembodied.

In 1998, Buckethead released Colma, an album dedicated to his mother, who was sick during this time with colon cancer. The same year saw a compilation album by Praxis called Collection.

1999–2004: New projects, Guns N' Roses, and public recognition

In 1999, Buckethead released his fifth album, a collaboration with Les Claypool from the band Primus, entitled Monsters and Robots — currently the best-selling album of his career. This album includes the song "The Ballad of Buckethead," for which his first music video ever was made.

Also in this year, he started three new projects, the first being the band Cornbugs, a collaboration with actor Bill Moseley, drummer Pinchface, and later keyboardist Travis Dickerson. Another project, Cobra Strike with an album called The 13th Scroll, featured Pinchface, Bryan "Brain" Mantia, DJ Disk, and Bill Laswell. Buckethead also recorded with actor Viggo Mortensen, whom he first met through a recording project called Myth: Dreams of the World in 1996. Together they released One Man's Meat, One Less Thing to Worry About, and The Other Parade. Those releases are quite rare now, but a compilation album called This, That, and The Other was issued in 2004 to compensate for this. A reworked version of Live in Poland by Praxis, called Warszawa, plus the soundtrack of the movie Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, also came out this year. Furthermore Buckethead offered fans to buy special half hour long "personalized recordings" for a price of $50 each. Buyers could choose content out of several categories.

A third Death Cube K release followed, titled Tunnel, this time without Laswell but featuring Travis Dickerson instead. In 2000, Buckethead released the second and last album by Cobra Strike, called Cobra Strike II - Y, Y+B, X+Y.

Buckethead achieved a higher public profile as lead guitarist for Guns N' Roses from 2000 to 2004. He recorded the often-delayed album Chinese Democracy with the band and appeared live on stage in 2001 and 2002, including Rock in Rio 3, MTV's Video Music Awards, and parts of the Chinese Democracy Tour.

Despite being a member of GN'R, Buckethead released his sixth studio album, called Somewhere Over the Slaughterhouse in 2001, and also his only EP, called KFC Skin Piles. He also released two albums with his band Cornbugs, Cemetery Pinch and How Now Brown Cow. He joined two new projects, the first being Thanatopsis, with Dickerson, releasing a self-titled debut album; the other one with Laswell and Japanese producer Shin Terai, released as Unison.

In 2002, Buckethead released three studio albums: Funnel Weaver, a collection of 49 short tracks, Bermuda Triangle, and finally, Electric Tears, a calming album that is similar to his earlier release, Colma. When Laswell was not able to play with Praxis at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts festival, Les Claypool asked to jam with Brain, Bernie Worrell, and Buckethead, forming a new supergroup called Colonel Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains. The jamband experiment was successful enough to do some further live dates.

Later, in 2003, marking the release of his tenth studio album, Buckethead released the sequel of his debut Bucketheadland, simply called Bucketheadland 2. Together with actor Viggo Mortensen, he did Pandemoniumfromamerica, and with Thanatopsis, its second release, called Axiology.

In March 2004 Buckethead left Guns N' Roses, according to his manager, because of Guns' inability to complete an album or tour.

Guns N' Roses' response after Buckethead's departure was as follows:

During his tenure with the band, Buckethead has been inconsistent and erratic in both his behavior and his commitment, despite being under contract, creating uncertainty and confusion and making it virtually impossible to move forward with recording, rehearsals, and live plans with confidence. His transient lifestyle has made it near impossible for even his closest friends to have nearly any form of communications with him whatsoever.

Since that time, his cult following in the underground music communities has steadily increased. He frequently performs at festivals and in clubs nationwide and often tours as the feature performer.

The year 2004 saw the release of three new studio albums: Island of Lost Minds, which was his first tour-only album being later re-released by TDRS Music Population Override, a blues-rock tour de force with Dickerson; and The Cuckoo Clocks of Hell, considered his heaviest effort to date. The latter includes "Spokes for the Wheel of Torment," for which Syd Garon and Eric Henry made a music video based on the famous triptychs by Hieronymus Bosch. Buckethead also recorded the final two albums by the Cornbugs, Brain Circus and Donkey Town as well as another release with Viggo Mortensen called Please Tomorrow and a second with Shin Terai, entitled Heaven & Hell. C2B3 also released their only album, The Big Eyeball in the Sky, and toured it in North America.

In an interview with Revolver, Ozzy Osbourne stated that he had offered to have Buckethead play guitar in his band at Ozzfest. Ozzy quickly changed his mind after meeting with him, and realizing that Buckethead would not remove his costume to be accepted by Ozzy, said:

"I tried out that Buckethead guy. I met with him and asked him to work with me, but only if he got rid of the fucking bucket. So I came back a bit later, and he's wearing this green fucking Martian's-hat thing! I said, 'Look, just be yourself.' He told me his name was Brian, so I said that's what I'd call him. He says, 'No one calls me Brian except my mother.' So I said, 'Pretend I'm your mum, then!' I haven't even got out of the room and I'm already playing fucking mind games with the guy. What happens if one day he's gone and there's a note saying, 'I've been beamed up'? Don't get me wrong, he's a great player. He plays like a motherfucker."

Ozzy Osbourne, Revolver.

2005–2006: Buckethead & Friends

In 2005, Buckethead released an album as "Buckethead & Friends," called Enter the Chicken, through Serj Tankian's record label, Serjical Strike. The album features Tankian himself, Maximum Bob (of the Deli Creeps), Death by Stereo singer Efrem Shulz, Bad Acid Trip, and others. It is marked by its leaning toward more traditional song structures while still featuring typical Buckethead guitar skills. "We Are One" was released as a single and also appeared on the soundtrack of Masters of Horror. "Three Fingers" was used for the soundtrack of the horror movie Saw II. The final track, "Nottingham Lace," was first made public via his home page and soon became a concert staple and one of his most popular songs. Buckethead also released two further solo albums in 2005, Kaleidoscalp and Inbred Mountain — the latter being the first album as a solo artist released on the label TDRS Music. Both albums originally were sold exclusively at concerts and only later got an official release through the label's website.

Also the same year, Buckethead released his first DVD, Secret Recipe, originally sold only on tour; the only places for other fans (those who either didn't go to a show or who lived abroad) to obtain it were auction sites such as eBay. Eventually, Travis Dickerson held a raffle for copies of the DVD on his website. Those who wanted to "win" a copy had to enter their name and e-mail address. When entries were closed, he picked 200 names at random from those who entered, and they were allowed to buy a copy of the DVD from his website. In March 2006, the DVD was finally made widely available.

Also, Buckethead released albums with other bands: with Cornbugs, he released two compilation albums, called Rest Home for Robots and Skeleton Farm; he also released (with the band Deli Creeps) their first and only album, called Dawn of the Deli Creeps. Buckethead also released self-titled album Gorgone with studio project Gorgone. This album was recorded from one of the recording sessions from the album Population Override that Buckethead released on 2004. The guitarist also released an album with the actor Viggo Mortensen called Intelligence Failure, and with the band Praxis, released a live album called Zurich.

In 2006, the highlight of the year was the cross-console video game Guitar Hero II, featuring Buckethead's song "Jordan" as an unlockable bonus track. Although the song has been performed live in the past, the video game version is the only known studio recording of the song. Also, the live version almost always contains just the verse and chorus of "Jordan"; then goes into another song, usually "Post Office Buddy"; then returns to the verse and chorus of "Jordan." However, the Guitar Hero II version contains a special solo created specifically for the game. Since late 2007, Buckethead has been known to perform the Guitar Hero version of "Jordan" within his concerts, including the solo.

Also the same year, Buckethead released two DVDs, entitled Young Buckethead Vol. 1 and Young Buckethead Vol. 2, featuring rare footage from 1990 and 1991. The DVD also contains three complete Deli Creeps shows, a sound check, backstage footage, and solo footage of just Buckethead. He also released the albums The Elephant Man's Alarm Clock and Crime Slunk Scene, both sold on his tours but later sold on the TDRS Music website. The last album has the song "Soothsayer (Dedicated to Aunt Suzie)"; this song (along with "Jordan" and "Nottingham Lace") is one of his most popular songs and is often played live.

In the same year, Buckethead released his final compilation album with the band Cornbugs, called Celebrity Psychos. He also released an album with producer, keyboardist, and owner of the label TDRS Music, Travis Dickerson, called Chicken Noodles, which was inspired by the track "Cruel Reality of Nature," from the album Population Override. He also released an album with the band Thanatopsis, called Anatomize.

2007–2009: Continued Solo Work and Michael Jackson Tribute

The massive In Search of The box set, a set of 13 albums by Buckethead, along with each copy's cover being hand-drawn differently.

In 2007, Buckethead released an unprecedented amount of new material. In February, a box set entitled In Search of The, containing 13 albums of original material, was released. It was handcrafted, numbered, and monogrammed by Buckethead and contained over nine hours of music. A regular solo album, called Pepper's Ghost, was released in March. A disc of acoustic improvisations called Acoustic Shards was also released, becoming the twentieth studio album that the artist had released so far in his solo career. In midyear, he reissued his demo tape Bucketheadland Blueprints, with two alternative album covers: a special edition with a hand-drawn cover made by him, or a standard edition with the original cover art. In October, he released his final two albums of the year, called Decoding the Tomb of Bansheebot and Cyborg Slunks. The latter again came in both a hand-drawn limited edition and (some weeks later) as a normal CD.

As Death Cube K, Buckethead released two albums in 2007: an album called DCK, limited to 400 hand-numbered copies and released in August; and in December, the 5-CD box set Monolith, which consisted of one unbroken track per CD.

During 2007, Buckethead also collaborated and appeared on numerous albums with other artists. The sequel to Chicken Noodles (a collaboration with Travis Dickerson), simply called Chicken Noodles II, was issued by TDRS in December. A live record by Praxis, entitled Tennessee 2004; the third album with Shin Terai, called Lightyears; and another album with drummer Bryan Mantia, called Kevin's Noodle House, were also released through the year.

Buckethead also created five paintings, each limited to 100 reproductions each and sold through TDRS.

That same year, it was revealed that Buckethead joined a project by the name of Science Faxtion, a band featuring bassist Bootsy Collins and drummer Bryan "Brain" Mantia, with Greg Hampton supplying lead vocals. Their first album, called Living on Another Frequency, was delayed several times and was finally released in November 2008.

On January 1, 2008, the band Praxis released the long-awaited album Profanation (Preparation for a Coming Darkness) in Japan. The album had actually been recorded in 2005, but had to be put on hold when the original label went bankrupt.

2008 started with the release of From the Coop through the label Avabella (where he released Acoustic Shards), consisting of the demos Buckethead gave to Jas Obrecht back in 1988. This CD also included the first ever "official" biography of/by the artist. Later that same year, he announced the release of the album called Albino Slug (a tour-only CD until official release on December of the same year). Along with this album, he appeared on the album The Dragons of Eden, with Dickerson and Mantia, and in collaboration with That 1 Guy as the Frankenstein Brothers, an album called Bolt on Neck was released. That 1 Guy and Buckethead toured together through fall 2008, playing songs from this album.

Buckethead also appeared in the documentary American Music: Off the Record, in which he appears only playing. Serj Tankian's label, Serjical Strike, reissued the album Enter the Chicken with an extra song. Furthermore, Buckethead contributed to one track of actor Viggo Mortensen's album At All, and with Travis Dickerson and filmmaker Alix Lambert on the album Running After Deer.

Buckethead appeared with Bootsy Collins in Cincinnati, Ohio, to promote the vote for the United States presidential election, 2008 for the organization Rock the Vote. He also joined Collins on Fallen Soldiers Memorial, an album with proceeds going to the National Fallen Heroes Foundation.

More than four years after his departure from the band Guns N' Roses, Chinese Democracy was made available. Buckethead appears on all but two songs and was given writing credits on "Shackler's Revenge" (which appeared in the popular video game Rock Band 2); "Scraped"; and "Sorry," which features guest singer Sebastian Bach. The album features eleven of Buckethead's guitar solos.

On December 30, 2008, Buckethead released two new tracks via his website to honor the 24th birthday of basketball player LeBron James.[35][36] These tracks were later made available on the album, Slaughterhouse on the Prairie which was released a month later through TDRS Music. Then, in May 2009 he released the album A Real Diamond in the Rough, and later another album called Forensic Follies, which was first sold at some of his tour dates but later released on TDRS.

Buckethead released a song entitled "The Homing Beacon" on his website, along with a drawing of Michael Jackson to serve as a tribute to the late singer after he saw the news of his death.

Following the sound of Forensic Follies, in September he released Needle in a Slunk Stack and a month later he released the long awaited album as Death Cube K, called Torn from Black Space.

By the end of the year, on November 13, Gibson announced a Buckethead signature Les Paul.  The guitar was part of the series of releases made through the whole month. In December he collaborated on the debut album of Travis Dickerson (founder of the label TDRS Music where he has released many of his albums to date), called Iconography.

2010: Break for Illness, Return & New Albums

On February 5, 2010, Buckethead released an album called Shadows Between the Sky and later that month, Gibson released the Buckethead Signature Les Paul, .

On April 29, 2010, Buckethead's Web site was updated with a picture with the message "Greetings from Bucketheadland... Buckethead wants you to know he appreciates your support all these years, it means so much to him. Buckethead is having some animatronic parts replaced, Slip Disc snuck into the park and caused some mayhem." The reference to Slip Disc is a reference to a Bucketheadland nemesis found on the Bucketheadland album. Bootsy Collins continued to update his twitter Web site about Buckethead's condition, stating that he had recently gone into therapy for a few months.

Nevertheless, after return from injury, on July 15, 2010, Buckethead, along with Brain and Melissa Reese, has released the first volume out of three 5-CD box sets called Best Regards. Although it is currently a limited edition, a regular edition will possibly be made, according to Travis Dickerson. On August 25, 2010, Buckethead announced his 28th studio album titled Spinal Clock, which showcases his banjo skills. On September 2, 2010, Buckethead released 23 ink drawings that were sold off through TDRS' Web site. A second batch consisting of 67 drawings was released the following week. Along with the drawings, Buckethead auctioned off the three original paintings released in 2007 with two new paintings.

In October, two albums in collaboration with Brain were released, the first called Brain as Hamenoodle, and the second installment of the "Regards" series with Brain and Melissa Reese called, Kind Regards. Eventually, both projects were released on October 13.

In Mid-October Travis Dickerson announced that he has been working on several new projects via the TDRS Music forum, one of them turn out to be Left Hanging and Buckethead is collaborating on this album with him. On October 20, Buckethead released a new album entitled Captain EO's Voyage first available only on iTunes but has been announced that a physical edition will be released on December 1. Eventually, both CD's were released on November 29.

A third batch of ink drawings was released on December 8 and on the same day, Travis Dickerson announced a coop sale at TDRS. The first item for auction was Buckethead's Crafter D8/N acoustic guitar used for practice and warm ups during his 2008 tour, the guitar was signed. More paintings had been added over the course of the next days making a total of 227 drawings and 12 paintings (5 in 2007 and 7 in 2010).

On December 20, Buckethead's Web site was updated with a new song and pictures of Rammellzee, a visual artist, graffiti writer, performance artist, hip hop musician, art theoretician and sculptor from New York, with the words "Hero of the Abyss" appearing above the photos. Much speculation had arisen about this new song. It was considered to be a tribute to Rammellzee, as the artist died in his birthplace of Far Rockaway, Queens, New York, on June 28, 2010 at the age of 49.

On December 21, Buckethead released a limited-edition album titled Happy Holidays From Buckethead, with a holiday greeting card included. It was announced that a regular version of the album would be released in or around February. The tribute song Buckethead had done for Rammellzee was also included on this release.

2011: New Songs & Albums

Following the release of Happy Holidays From Buckethead, on February 17, Buckethead's webpage was updated with a new song dedicated to Blake Griffin of the Los Angeles Clippers, with the message "Best of Luck on All-Star Weekend." On March 10, Buckethead's webpage was again updated with a new song called "Lebrontron", his fourth tribute dedicated to basketball player LeBron James, after "King James" from Crime Slunk Scene, "Lebron" and "Lebron's Hammer" from Slaughterhouse on the Prairie.

Influences

Buckethead cites a wide variety of musical influences, including Pebber Brown, Michael Jackson, Parliament-Funkadelic, Shawn Lane, Michael Schenker, Uli Jon Roth, Paul Gilbert, Yngwie Malmsteen, Eddie Hazel, Randy Rhoads, Larry LaLonde, Mike Patton, Louis Johnson, Jimi Hendrix, Jennifer Batten, The Residents, Eddie Van Halen and Angus Young, as well as the many artists he has collaborated with over the years.  In addition to his musical influences, Buckethead cites a diverse range of non-musical influences including basketball players Michael Jordan, George Gervin, and LeBron James and numerous science fiction and horror TV shows and movies including Giant Robot.

Current projects

•    On February 17, Buckethead released a song as tribute to Blake Griffin of the Los Angeles Clippers via his website.
•    Buckethead will collaborate with Viggo Mortensen on the upcoming album, Reunion.
•    On March 10, Buckethead released another track in tribute to basketball player LeBron James called "Lebrontron".
•    On March 16th, a third batch of the limited edition version of the Untitled album was released.
•    On March 18th, Buckethead released the track "The Rising Sun" in tribute to the people in Japan after their earthquake and tsunami. The track was released on Itunes and all the profits go towards relief efforts.

Equipment

Guitars

•    Gibson Buckethead Signature Les Paul
•    Custom built Gibson Les Paul
•    Steinberger GS (a.k.a. "Kaiser's Gift")
•    Custom built ESP MV(Air Jordan guitar)
•    ESP M-II (Headstock broken)
•    Gibson Chet Atkins
•    Ibanez X-Series Flying V
•    Ibanez X-Series Rocket Roll II
•    Ibanez RG-550 (Purple)
•    Takamine Acoustic EAN40C
•    Yamaha AES920
•    Gibson 1959 Les Paul Custom
•    Gibson Les Paul Standard Plus
•    Gibson SG
•    Gibson SST
•    Gibson 1969 Les Paul Custom
•    Custom built Jackson Y2KV
•    Custom built Jackson KV2
•    Custom built Jackson Doubleneck
•    Vigier Excess Indus 4-String BassHeartfield Talon II model (by Fender)
•    Aria Pro II Bass

Effects

•    Digitech Whammy II
•    Digitech Whammy IV
•    Dunlop Cry Baby 535Q
•    Vox V847A Wah Pedal
•    Alesis MidiVerb II
•    BOSS NS-2 Noise Suppressor
•    BOSS RC-2 Loop Station
•    BOSS TU-2 Chromatic Tuner
•    BOSS DD-3 Digital Delay
•    BOSS RV-5 Digital Reverb
•    Electro-Harmonix Micro Synthesizer
•    Snarling Dogs Mold Spore Wah Pedal
•    Roger Mayer Octavia
•    DOD Electronics FX-25B envelope filter
•    AnalogMan Bicomprossor
•    MXR EVH Phase 90
•    MXR Phase 100
•    Line 6 FM4 Filter Modeler Effects Pedal
•    Line 6 MM4 Modulation Modeler Effects Pedal
•    Line 6 DL4 Delay Modeler Effects Pedal
•    Line 6 X2 XDR95 Wireless


Amplifiers

•    Peavey Renown
•    Peavey 5150
•    Marshall 1960 Slant 4x12 cabinet
•    Diezel Herbert
•    Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier
•    Mesa Boogie Stiletto Trident
•    Matt Wells 17½-watt head wired through a Harry Kolbe 4x12 cab

Picks

•    Dunlop .73mm

Discography

Studio albums

1.    1992: Bucketheadland
2.    1994: Giant Robot
3.    1996: The Day of the Robot
4.    1998: Colma
5.    1999: Monsters and Robots
6.    2001: Somewhere Over the Slaughterhouse
7.    2002: Funnel Weaver
8.    2002: Bermuda Triangle
9.    2002: Electric Tears
10.  2003: Bucketheadland 2
11.  2004: Island of Lost Minds
12.  2004: Population Override
13.  2004: The Cuckoo Clocks of Hell
14.  2005: Enter the Chicken
15.  2005: Kaleidoscalp
16.  2005: Inbred Mountain
17.  2006: The Elephant Man's Alarm Clock
18.  2006: Crime Slunk Scene
19.  2007: Pepper's Ghost
20.  2007: Decoding the Tomb of Bansheebot
21.  2007: Cyborg Slunks
22.  2008: Albino Slug
23.  2009: Slaughterhouse on the Prairie
24.  2009: A Real Diamond in the Rough
25.  2009: Forensic Follies
26.  2009: Needle in a Slunk Stack
27.  2010: Shadows Between the Sky
28.  2010: Spinal Clock
29.  2010: Captain Eo's Voyage
30.  2010: Untitled


Special releases

•    2007: In Search of The
•    2007: Acoustic Shards
•    2007: Bucketheadland Blueprints
•    2008: From the Coop

EP's

•    2001: KFC Skin Piles


Buckethead's bands
Note: As well as being a solo artist since 1992, Buckethead often releases albums as Death Cube K. He has used this name as an alias since 1994 (he used it most recently in 2009).

With artists

Current

•    with Viggo Mortensen (1999, 2003–2005, 2008–present)
•    with Travis Dickerson (2004–present)
•    with Brain (2007–present)

Former

•    with Jonas Hellborg and Michael Shrieve (1995)

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Posted in: Guitarists