Davey Graham

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

Life

Graham's father was from the Isle of Skye and his mother from Guyana . He grew up in the Notting Hill neighborhood of London and received his first guitar at the age of 16.

In the 1960s he became one of the most influential guitarists in the folk and finger picking scene. From 1962 he released albums regularly. His style of music is sometimes described as eclectic and uses a wide variety of influences. Graham was one of the first guitarists to use the DADGAD tuning . During a trip through Morocco he tried to use the DADGAD mood to transfer the oud style of playing to the guitar. On the album Dance for Two People , Graham plays the guitar as well as the oud and sarod .

He was considered an eccentric and obsessive musician who was hardly concerned with material success (he lived in a small house in Camden Town ) and who could be completely absorbed by his music. Robin Denselow reports that Graham played in his garden and did not even notice that the neighboring house was starting to burn.

Graham, along with John Renbourn , Bert Jansch , John Fahey and Martin Carthy , are considered to be the defining figure of the fingerstyle of the sixties. His most famous composition Angi was already included on his first publication, EP 3/4 AD (1962) . This piece became one of the standards of fingerstyle and often played by other guitarists.

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

Discography (selection)

Graham's complete discography includes a number of re-releases and contributions on samplers not listed here.

• 3/4 AD , Topic Records, 1962 ( EP , with Alexis Korner )
• 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 Probe, 1993
• After Hours , Rollercoaster Rec., 1997 (live recording from 1967)

Web links

• Official website (English)
• Discography on folkblues.co.uk

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Obituary in The Guardian (English)
2. ↑ Review by Holly Gwinn Graham (English)