One of the great guitarists that doesn’t get nearly enough attention, in my opinion, is Rory Gallagher. Gallagher was a great blues rock guitarist in the 1960s, 70s and 80s that came out of the music scene in Ireland.
Gallagher was a powerhouse on stage who influenced some of the greatest guitarists in music including Jimi Hendrix. I put together a few videos in this post that I think you’ll enjoy. There’s even a great interview I came across with Gallagher in 1978 that some of the questions that we’re all interested in asking great guitarists like Gallagher. I hope you enjoy the Gallagher as much as I always have!
I’d like to start off the post with the article I mentioned before with Rory Gallagher. Stefan Grossman, from GuitarPlayer conducted a great interview with Gallagher in which he asks about Gallagher’s history, influences, and gear. Find the entire interview at http://www.guitarplayer.com/article/gp-flashback-rory-gallagher-march-1978/147744.
Blues is said to be a universal experience—as Albert King once preached, “Everybody understands the blues”—and Rory Gallagher is surely a case in point. Born in Ballyshannon, County Donegal, Ireland, the first pieces Rory attempted to play were cowboy songs and Irish folk tunes on acoustic guitar beginning at age nine. American rock and rollers such as Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran, Elvis Presley, and Chuck Berry had an early impression on Rory, though he discovered blues—a la Leadbelly and Woody Guthrie—by way of Lonnie Donegan’s British skiffle hits.
At 15, Gallagher joined the Fontana Show Band, which toured England and Ireland. The constant work helped refine Rory’s playing, but the commercial nature of the repertoire caused him to look elsewhere for artistic satisfaction. In 1965, Rory formed Taste, the now-legendary blues-rock trio comprised of Eric Kitteringham on bass, Norman Damery drums, and Gallagher on guitar, vocals, and, occasionally, saxophone. Though the power trio preceded Cream by several years, comparisons with the English supergroup were inevitable.In 1969, the band signed with Polydor Records, but by 1970, the group had disbanded, and Rory pursued a solo career. To date, Gallagher has appeared on over 20 albums, either as leader or sideman, and has graced sessions featuring such notables as Muddy Waters, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Albert King. What Gallagher has to say about blues and rock and roll should be required reading for any aspiring guitarists, just as his many records and live performances should be required listening.
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20 replies to "Celebrating Blues And Rock Guitar With Rory Gallagher"
I was fortunate enough to see Rory 6 or 7 times in the early to mid-70s and it was a
joy to watch the most underrated guitarist on the planet leave all of these audiences with their jaws dropped! Outside of Peter Green (in his prime with Fleetwood Mac, Mayall, Otis Spann, etc.) Rory was at the top of my list of favorite
guitarists. And it wasn’t just his beloved beat up ’61 Strat that was magic in his
hands, but also the wide array of stringed instruments…mandolin, banjo, dobro,
6 and 12 string acoustic guitars, dulcimer, mandola and God knows what else he mastered. He was a master showman and he was eclectic in his musical tastes. Listen to “Crest Of A Wave” and you hear a wonderful Irish jig in his slide solo…jazz,
zydeco, swamp blues, boogie woogie, pre-war and post-war blues, country, and his
nod to his Celtic folk roots. Anybody who ever saw Rory in concert has to be
wondering how it is that he is NOT in the Rock’n’Roll Hall Of Fame. Something
tells me that he wouldn’t be losing any sleep over that issue. Almost 22 years
since his “Flight To Paradise” and he is very much alive to this set of ears!
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Thank You Griff , Rorry Gallagher is my #1 Guitar Player of all Time . Cheers !!
One of the best.
Griff-
I’m with you 100% on the Hall of Fame. The man was incredible, and should have been as big in the U.S. as he was in Europe. He had the whole package, and I have to put him at the very top. Have all of his music, have been to his tribute concerts in Ireland, but never had the opportunity to see him live. One of my biggest disappointments in life! The great John Lennon had him sized up as the best guitarist of the time…pretty good praise. The hugely talented man is greatly missed.
Thanks for showcasing Rory!
I first saw Rory Galleger on stage with Bonnie and Delany(with Dave Mason and Leon Russel) and Blind Faith(with Eric Clapton) in the 60’s at a rock festival(before Woodstock). It was him and Taste that really blew away the audience. Very heavy band. Very Good. I was impressed and went on to collect his albums. I am glad that Griff has recognized this man for what he is and has been. Very important figure to my mind.
Rory Gallagher never tried to have a #1 hit & at times deliberatly did not record songs that he thought to be ‘Top of the Pop’ type tunes. Rory wanted his whole career to be his legacy not just one song he would be remembered for, which is of course the way any person of influence or skill should be remembered.
The fact that such a great musician and guitarist can be so little known, outside of Britain & Europe, less than 20 years after he passed is a tragedy and maybe just 1 hit may have been the way to re-energise Rory’s legacy to new generations as time passed?
Ask 10 Rory fans what thier favourite Rory song is & I’ll bet you get 10 different answers. Maybe thats exactly what Rory wanted? For me: ‘Mississippi Shieks’ – pure Rory.
On his night, Rory Gallagher left them all in his dust. Master showman, fantastic songwriter, absolute great guitarist.
Been a fan of Rory’s since the seventies, one of the greatest powerhouse players ever
Tremendously underrated muscian/song writer. He could do it all. I heard him for the first time playing on one of those PBS small studio/audience things that were popular in the 70’s (time flies). He started with I Take What I Want off of Against the Grain. I was stunned. The next day I bought that album (time flies) and wore it out. Bought everyting I could find by him. I say his name as one of the greatest and am shocked people never heard of him. A great injustice there. I like his live work better than studio as it has more life. Love the BBC stuff he did.
I first saw Rory with some new guy named Rod Stewart opening for him in LA. It still is in my top 5 concerts I’ve seen. From the early Taste years and beyond, he just kept getting better and better. I always wonder why he isn’t rated higher in polls, but opinions are personal and don’t mean alot to me. It’s fun to see younger gens find him and enjoy some great music.
I bring up Rory all the time and folks look at me like I am on another planet. This is still the best rock n roll going. In fact I was listening to Rory the other day and then relized that Skynard had copied a song to a tee, but changed the words to I know a little about love. Most bands have copied some of his stuff and if you listen to Rory you will here other bands songs come out, however it came out of Rory first. If I want to listen to Rock I put Rory on.
Thanks for bringing Rory back.
You’re a man after me own heart Griff!
Rory is without doubt a Hall of Famer. He has shown them ALL how it’s done!
I’ve intro’d him to my granchild and daughters and they all went ape over him… well he’s a good lookin’ dude too!
Thanks to the net we can hear him any time we want. His “Toredown” is huge!
thanks heaps – let’s all vote!!!
bilA
…one very, very under-rated blues act who never got the attention he deserved. Listen to him sing the blues…he has the magic in his vocals, not to mention his innovative and raw, blues style in is powerful guitar riffs and his hi-powered rhythms. Just fantastic! Another one that left us long before his time. So young. So talented. A real breat of fresh air!
Hi Griff. I am delighted to see you quote and give prominence to Rory. I saw him for the first time in 1972 in the National Stadium in Dublin,j ust after Live in Europe was released. He was fantastic. Being Irish, we are very proud of him, and I totally agree that he is up there with the likes of Jimi, Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton in the top 5 guitar players of all time (or at least to date). Best Albums from my perspective are his live ones – Live in Europe (1972), Irish Tour 74 and Stage Struck (1980). In addition check out his Taste Live at the Isle of Wight (1971) and Live Taste (1970) though the production values on this last are not too good. The last time I saw Rory was in 1992, when he played a free concert (he was that kind of guy) for his Irish fans in front of Trinity College in Dublin. My kids didn’t really want to go, but admitted afterwards that it was fantastic. I had my 12 year old son on my shoulders for the duration,and he was convinced that Rory was singing directly to him at one stage. My youngest son Ruairi (Gaelic version of Rory) was born in the year of Rory’s sad demise. A major loss to the Irish and World music scene. DVDs are available relatively widely too. Check out the Rockpalast in 1982. Once again, thanks Griff. And thanks for your lessons too.
In 1975 or ’76 I went to see “Ladies & Gentlemen, The Rolling Stones” at a cinema in Melbourne.
There was a film on before that it was called ‘Rory Gallagher : Irish Tour ’74’ I like many others did not know who he was & was thinking to myself “I hope this goes fast ’cause I wanna see the Stones !” …well when the music started it was like “who are the Stones ?” Totally fantastic movie of that tour so much so I went in search of that particular album later that week.
No longer have that album with me (left behind with so many others after moving to the U.S.) but I’ll have to see if I can get hold of it again.
LP
Yes, Rory was the consummate blues/rock guitarist. My first “taste” of him was from my older brother when he bought a live Taste album. I was 14 yrs old and “Bullfrog Blues” just bowled me over. After a few years I learned how to play a few of his songs. But nobody heard of him, let a lone his tunes! I just started to play guitar and I knew only one thing that was necessary. Find as much of his vinyl as possible! He just came out with “Against the Grain” (“Souped-Up Ford”: yeeessss!) and he was backing up Kiss. (The concert recorded for their first live album.) I already had tickets when I found out that Rory was to back them up. When he came on, kids around me were like “Who the f**k is Rory Gallagher?, and so on. I casually mentioned that he kicks ass playing and is quite energetic. After the first song there was a collective Whoa! After a few songs those same kids were now in agreement. Rory actually was called out for an encore. Very few bands can do that at a Kiss gig. The only two I know of were him and Rush. I am a big Rush fan and was delighted when Rory backed them up. Both parties enjoyed the arrangement. They both watched each other from stageside and sometimes jammed together during soundchecks. As a sidebar, Rush always got great acts as back ups. Max Webster/Kim Mitchell, Pat Travers, Rory, Mr. Big/Paul Gilbert, Eric Johnson, Primus. I don’t mean to make this a write up for Rush, just showing how I got to see Mr. Gallagher. Saw him everytime he came to Detroit and surrounding area. The only show I missed was his last time around before he passed away. Everyone said it was enjoyable but you could tell he was very sick. The Rolling Stones wanted him to fill in the Mick Taylor void. Though scared his brother convinced him to go and jam with them in Paris. He said it was good, but he diplomatically turned it down. He was convinced that him and Keith would butt heads because of different work ethics (Keith was a junkie then) and styles. And he was afraid of being a Rolling Stone. The publicity and the (at that time) the insane circus of their tours. Jeff Beck and Stevie Ray Vaughn did the same for the same reasons. Seems the only people who know of him are guitarists. Influenced Alex Lifeson, Paul Gilbert, Slash and most probably many others. Slash was interviewed on a Toronto Classic Rock station and mentioned that Rory played at his dad’s nightclub. Slash got to talk to him and get some lessons/pointers from him backstage! Slash you lucky s.o.b.!!! Rory was such a nice, cool guy. If the time was right, you could always get a few words from him. Didn’t care for the media, but loved the people. And also, if you had to get just one of his albums, get “Stagestruck”!!!! Just has the amps smokin’ and rippin’!!!!! Love ya Rory!!!!!!!
Saw Rory @ the long since defunct Sgt. Peppers club in Jacksonville, FL in the Fall of ’74. WOW, there were maybe 300 people there tops. Wilgar Campbell on drums, and Gerry McAvoy on bass made for a mighty, mighty power trio. The G/F and I were at a table about 10′ from the stage. They did 3 sets, electric – acoustic – electric, and absolutely tore the house down. I will never forget that evening. Very possibly the very best guitar exhibition I’ve ever seen, and I’ve witnessed a lot, including Clapton, SRV, Joe Bonamassa, Hendrix, and Pete Townsend among many others.
I am so sorry we lost him in ’95 to cirrhosis from a hard life on the road. Rory is easily one of the top 5 blues/rock guitarists ever to play the instrument in my book…and I don’t care WHAT Rolling Stone says, 57th out of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time, BAH! R.I.P, bro.
Finally! I couldn’t agree more that Rory often gets overlooked. He played with such commitment, such fire, such passion. I grew up in Ireland and in those pre-U2 days, Rory, Van Morrison and Thin Lizzy were the pretty much the only home-grown heroes we had who had broken internationally.
The first real rock gig I went to was Rory at the National Stadium, Dublin, – an old boxing venue that only held about 1100 people. It was 1976, and I was 14. I came out with my ears ringing and every cell in my body buzzing. I saw Rory again in 1987, and he still played with the same intensity. On his battered old strat, a National dobro, or on mandolin Rory was one of those rare players whose love for the music really shone through.
There’s some great footage of Rory on YouTube. In my opinion, live was the way to really get Rory. Check out the YouTube clip of ‘Cradle Rock’.
There’s a story that an interviewer once asked Jimi Hendrix what it was like to be the greatest guitarist in the world and Jimi, another beautifully humble man, answered, “I don’t know. Ask Rory Gallagher”.
I first heard about Rory back in the late ’70s probably from the Guitar Player article mentioned above, after finding and listening to an album (I’m not sure which one) I then bought every recording that I could find. I still love his music and his playing, there are not many who put as much passion into his music as Rory did. I really started thinking of blues differently after that.
Listening to Rory’s Album “Blueprint” in the 1970s was a turning point in my musical preference. I could not even imagine someone else who could put so much into a song as Rory did.