What's in your CDP tonight? the minority report

For Roy Buchanan lovers who haven' yet discovered him, be sure and give Danny Gatton a listen (start with the WB 2-disc CD collection). He was a good friend of Roy's, both having come up through the Washington D.C. Blues/Rockabilly/Hillbilly scene. Vince Gill nicknamed Danny "The Humbler" ;-).

Roy and Danny had another peer in D.C., the Telecaster maniac known as Evan Johns. Not as precise as his two pals, but a great guitarist, songwriter, and singer. Danny and Evan were in a couple of D.C. bands together before they hit the big-time individually.

gh, Evan made three albums for Rykodisc in the 90’s, with a backing band named The H-Bombs. In 2001 he did an album (entitled Moontan) for Big Cypress Records in Florida, with The Hillbilly Soul Surfers backing him. We recorded it over a week in Atlanta, GA---first takes only (in fact, the takes were the first and only time we played the songs. Oy!). Evan absolutely refused to do more than one take of any song. He played us his boombox demoes of the album songs once, the night before we started recording.

After two days in his hotel room, there were two 18-packs of empty Budweiser cans in the hallway outside his door. We were scheduled to hit the road to promote the album, but as the album was being mastered he fell into a coma, the doc saying his liver was failing. Evan proved him wrong, but only temporarily. He died last year in Austin, his liver finally giving out.

Damn gh, you nailed Evan's sound! His Surf element is what got us the gig for the album. By the way, the original drummer in The Hillbilly Soul Surfers was Pete Curry, now bassist in Los Straightjackets. Pete's an old friend of mine from San Jose (since '62!), and he switched from drums to bass in The HSS so we could play together. He got the offer from The 'Jackets before we recorded with Evan, and now gets to tour with Nick Lowe. Rat bastard!

You're right, Danny was a very technical player, Evan a more instinctual one. The guitarist many great players (including Danny and Evan) revere is not very well known to non-musicians: Merle Travis. Merle was the model for ALL the Country and Rockabilly (and many Rock 'n' Roll) guitarists who followed him, including Scotty Moore (early Elvis), Dave Edmunds, George Harrison, and Jeff Beck (who idolizes Merle). Danny was also a very Jazz-influenced player, Evan not so much. But Danny wasn't a songwriter, or a singer. When Danny and Evan were together, Danny "just" played guitar, Evan wrote and sang the songs. Never got to see them together, damnit.

I too love that first Mason Ruffner album, it's a beaut! I have it on LP, and his Evolution album on CD. Wonder what became of him?

First takes are fine, but it's nice to have played the song at least once before you're in the studio, or at least heard it! Dylan has written songs while the recording band sits around playing cards, but he has a big recording budget. On the Moontan album, the bass player and second guitarist didn't have a chance to learn the songs before recording began, so Evan and I played them alone---to get the basic rhythm tracks, and all other parts (and vocals) were overdubbed. Evan plugged his Telecaster into a Fender blackface Super Reverb, not his normal amp (a Deluxe Reverb, many player's favorite). The engineer put the amp in an isolation closet, and Evan turned it up to 10. If you've heard a Super (Stevie Ray Vaughan's choice of amp), you know how loud that is!

Speaking of Merle Travis, one song on Moontan is entitled "Shootin' The Merle", an instrumental tribute to the man. The album is half instrumental, half vocal, all Evan.