Davey Graham

Davey Graham ( * November 26, 1940 in Hinckley, † December 15, 2008 in London, actually David Michael Gordon Graham ) was an English folk and fingerstyle guitarist and composer.

Life

Graham's father came from the Isle of Skye, his mother from Guyana. The young David grew up in London's Notting Hill and received his first guitar at the age of 16 years.

Graham developed in the 1960s into one of the most influential guitarists in the folk and fingerpicking scene. From 1962, he released albums regularly. His music style is sometimes described as eclectic and diverse influences processed. So Graham was one of the first guitarists who used the DADGAD tuning. When traveling to Morocco, he tried to transfer to the guitar with the DADGAD tuning the playing style of the oud. On the album Dance for Two People Graham plays guitar and oud and sarod next.

He was regarded as an eccentric and obsessive musician, the material success was hardly important ( he lived in a small house in Camden Town) and could be completely absorbed by his music ( as reported by Robin Denselow, Graham was playing in his garden, without even noticed that the house next door began to burn ).

Graham is considered, along with John Renbourn, Bert Jansch, John Fahey and Martin Carthy, as seminal figure of fingerstyle sixties. Already on his first release, the EP 3/4 AD ( 1962), his most famous composition Angi was included. This piece was one of the standards of fingerstyle and often by other guitarists, also titled Anji or Angie, copied (eg by Bert Jansch on his 1965 released first album, or by Simon & Garfunkel on their 1966 released second album Sounds of Silence ).

In the early 1970s he married, already addicted to heroin, the American artist Holly Gwinn, with whom he remained married 24 years. Graham died in London in 2008 from cancer.

Discography (selection)

Graham's complete discography contains a series of re-releases and contributions to compilations that are not listed here.

  • From London To Hootenanny, Decca, 1963 ( EP)
  • Acetate, Pye Records, 1963 ( EP)
  • The Guitar Player, Golden Guinea, 1963 ( with Bobby Graham)
  • Folk, Blues and Beyond, Decca, 1964
  • Folk Roots, New Routes, Decca, 1964 ( with Shirley Collins)
  • Midnight Man, Decca, 1966
  • Large As Life & Twice As Natural, Decca, 1968 ( with Dick Heckstall -Smith, Jon Hiseman, Harold McNair and Danny Thompson)
  • Both Sides Now, Decca, 1968 ( with Danny Thompson)
  • Hat, Decca, 1969 ( with Shirley Collins)
  • The Holly Kaleidoscope, Decca, 1970 ( with Holly Gwyn )
  • Godington Boundry, President, 1970 ( with Holly Gwyn )
  • All That Moody, Eron, 1976
  • The Complete Guitarist, Kicking Mule, 1977
  • Dance for Two People, Kicking Mule, 1979
  • Playing In Traffic, Cracked sample, 1993
  • After-hours, Rollercoaster Rec, 1997 ( Live recording of 1967)
England Folk music London Borough of Camden John Fahey (musician) Extended Play Anji (instrumental) Alexis Korner Dick Heckstall-Smith
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