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Danny Gatton: Of Cars, Bars and Vintage Guitars

Geoffrey Himes, Downbeat, April 1991

IMAGINE THAT you're an English roots-rock guitarist — say, Dave Edmunds or Billy Bremner — and you've spent your whole life trying to look and sound like the mythic American guitarist of your imagination. An obscure player hailing from some backwater southern town like Bogalusa, Louisiana, or Accokeek, Maryland — a short, pudgy guy in cowboy boots with his hair greased back in a ducktail. You imagine a cat who grew up listening to Bob Wills, Benny Goodman, Les Paul, Bill Monroe, Elvis Presley, and Bo Diddley, who can play them all with both speed and finesse — a stay-at-home type who's content to perform in the local bar on weekends for the sheer love of the music and a few beers, spending his weekdays working on cars.

Total word count of piece: 1595

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