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.