davy graham 1

[mashedown]

awesome stuff.

[TheRamblinjack]

Would love to see more videos. Apparently he used to drink in the bar I work in, The Prince Albert in Camden.

[NeilThompson30]

@TheRamblinjack - I was playing the Prince Albert about ten years ago and Davey was there - I sat outside and had a pint with him and he got up and did a few instrumentals in the second set - lovely bloke - RIP Davey

[Blake788]

search nicolas and the iceni vassal song. they write beautiful folk music which has echoes of davy and the early folk revival of the sixties.

[Zepster77]

Crikey - he never lost it, that's for sure!!!

[80066448]

does anyone know of any Davey graham books? or where I may find some tabalature? I'm really struggling, he's a massive inspiration, but his style is so intricate I find it impossible to figure songs out properly

[gtrfinger]

@80066448

Stefan Grossmans guitar workshop - British fingerstyle guitar

[getarslim]

A great virtuoso , above all Davey was an amazing player and a great influence to many of us. Among the first tunes I learned was Anji, a great talenteted guitarist, up there with the best.

[jackwhitesguitar]

I just found out that he died - R.I.P I should have seen him play a couple of years back but I was in hospital and had to forfeit the tickets.

[Funloverdude]

Bugger he died last year, I just went checking for tour dates! Crap!

[grimobo]

nice posting

[handymf1]

Was there that night...thanks Jill & Steve God bless R. and met him afterwards at last before he sadly passed.

[coade123]

Hm

This stuff is pretty hard to play, Ive been playing for 40 years and probably wouldnt do it as well. You really have to play publicly every other day to get on top of this difficult classical stuff

[asteist]

davey inspired millions mistakes and all.he was cursed with severe drug problems all his life.the tortured genuis?not for me to say but "anji" has become a "folk hymn"god bless you davey.

[swirlcrop]

This guy is good.

[TimTimmenycharoo]

ah he's dead! damn, i went to see him a few years ago, shame, hes a legend.

[MartinGuitarLover1]

Beautifull!!!!!

[sboatyhead]

I found a book on the street (a pre-release editors edition!) of a book called "Guitar Man" The author hunts down Davey Graham in it and talks to him and it's just a great intro into his weird bio. I think the date said 2005 so he was definitley alive then. Anyways if that book ever came out I recomend it and if not I got a hell of a find!

[jimmythepope]

Yes "Guitar Man" by Will Hodgkinson is what has just led me to Davy Graham. It is a great book about the authors odyssey to discover the guitar and play a gig from scratch in 6 months. He meets all sorts of guitar heroes and Davey Graham is held in the highest esteem above many household names.

[coade123]

I pretty much learned to play the guitar off Folk Roots and Beyond in 1966, Davy was the god in our circle. I still play 3 or 4 numbers from that record, plus Anji/Angie which is a standard. He couldnt sing much unfortunately - but neither can I.

[neilus]

Hmmm, i gotta disagree with you there, i think DG had a wonderful voice and along with Ray Davies and Syd Barrett was one of the first people who werent trying to sound American and let their English accent come through their vocals...but you knew DG? Was he really such an oddbod? I would imagine he was...

[ADumbUsername]

died last year, R.I.P.

[99ZARDOZ]

A great musician in his day. I went to see him live in 2007 and he was to put it politely, not that great. He isn't too bad here though in comparison.

I am a great fan of his recorded work in general and would have loved to have been there when he was at his peak in the 60s.

[irelephant]

By 1966, Paul Simon's growing popularity in the US brought his cover of Davey Graham's "Angie" to larger audiences. As many of us went out and bought Guild and Martin guitars, we properly capo'd the fourth fret and proceeded to find out how challenging this style is to play, and deepened our appreciation of the UK's acoustic guitar geniuses such as Graham, Jansch, & Renbourne without whom Simon's work would have been much diminished.

[singsingprisonblues]

Man I wished to have seen him live...

R.I.P. mr. Graham

[shaarang566]

is he dead?? idk that.

[mariuscipolla]

Rest in peace, Davy

[neilus]

Sublime...my bro saw him lst year and said the same as many of you,very sad to see him struggling.a)this is beautifully played, and b)i think the roughness tells a story.Many say its so sad he didnt get the recognition he deserves.Well, he cudv been a good boy, toured and recorded regularly,and he wudda been world famous for sure,but he chose a different path and that is why the guy is so fucking special.Anyone who thinks he still had something to prove is a fucking idiot.

RIP Davey Graham

[irelephant]

Your points are good, yet they might be better received by deleting a few expletives. I never heard Graham speaking, but others in his league.....John Renbourne comes to mind...are always quite dignified and proper in their manner of speaking. Why not emulate their gentleness instead of coming across like a common thug?

[neilus]

Ha ha, point taken. Theres a wonderful DG 'sita ram/40 ton parachute' on here somewhere with a short interview, and yep DG is eloquent and articulate. I think i had been watching a lot of Gordon Ramsay at the time!

[irelephant]

And then there was the six pints of Guiness. LOL

[ponynose]

rigtheous twat

[irelephant]

Don't you mean "righteous twat"? You Brits invented the language and now some of you don't even know how to spell or express yourselves properly and without resorting to crudeness and vulgarity. And the term you're looking for is "self-righteous" . The term "righteous" by itself simply means morally upright, a concept apparently alien to you.

[fiendishfreddie]

Nice version man. Keep it up!

It's crazy that there's not been much notice paid to the death of such a huge influence. There were times you couldnt get a folk gig unless you could play this tune!

RIP Davey...

[BigGNo1]

RIP : Davy Graham was a British guitar virtuoso whose bluesy folk broke down the barriers of the genre and influenced some of the biggest names in music.He died on 15 December, 2008, aged 68, having spent his life as an undercurrent, largely unseen but still stirring the music of the world. He learnt the guitar at the age of 12 and was a devotee of the eclectic playing of Steve Benbow.

Finnaly, DAVY GRAHAM has his rights to the Stairway to Heaven, (which derives from one of his pieces)!

[wigantojapan]

i was only recently introduced to Davys music after hearing his name get mentioned numerous times when talking about music.I saw Davy in Edinburgh last year for the first time and it was immense very very sad to hear of his death,but hopefully this will create a revival and interest in his music.

[roggrrr]

He is playing 'My Lady Hunsdons Puffe'by John Dowland'born 1563.Dowland is the really the father of the folk guitar style we know today.

[rach196640]

It is with great sadness that I heard this evening of the death of this legend. RIP Davy.

Gordon Giltrap. December 16 2008

[roggrrr]

Sorry to hear that sad news.I never saw Davy play live but Angie must be one of the most played guitar pieces of all time,which speaks for itself.

[xsnappax]

the sound quality might be a bit dodgy but the musicianship is brilliant still.

[ddsmboy]

My video response shows how brilliant Davy was in his youth

[ANIMAL115]

give up Davy - I feel bad encouraging this standard of playing

[Gettheledoutstyle]

DAVY is the reason the intro to stairway to heaven exists and he didnt write white summer but page found it cuz of davy.. i am the biggest zeppelin fan in the world and i am grateful to knowthat davy influenced page like that.. and cry me a river was the song page based it on..(the intro to stairway i mean)it wasnt taurus by the band spirit they based that on cry me a river as well.. davy was a beast.. was a great influence on the mastermind jimmy page!!

[ellisandy]

Before Davy Graham the ability to fingerpick freight train with thumb and index finger made you a genius. He raised the bar above all our heads. He is the creator of a musical form and there are not many of those in the world, his influence changed musicians who aren't even aware his existance. Whatever his difficulties in life are or whatever the demons are, support and celebrate him, don't denigrate him or his performances because there are just not that many like him

[jtaylor475]

I'm shocked to see this. I didn't believe it was him at first, until I saw another recent video and saw the same gums-chewing expression. As a player myself i don't see him as being beyond his abilities at all. Depending on how you see it, this may be more, or less, distressing: that he appears not to really care. The way he's holding the guitar makes certain reaches difficult. If he REALLY thought about it he might sit down, or let the guitar set differently against his body.

[davinort]

FWIW, the piece he's playing is "Lady Hunsdon's Puffe", by the Elizabethan lutenist John Dowland.

[gtq838]

I guess I just don't get it... the music isn't complicated, it doesn't have beautiful melodies and he consistantly misses notes and gets finger tied... he sounds even worse than he did when he was young...

[AlanSturgess]

Sadly - or maybe it's 'happily' (??) - Davy's recent career is a mirror of Peter Green's. I've been a fan of both since the 1960's and have seen both. They HAVE both recovered from frying their heads with drugs, but virtually all their old magic has gone. But hey - let's accept and praise them both for the inspiration that they gave to so many of today's great guitarists. Here's hoping they both continue to recover their health and stability.

[sellobic]

utter twaddle, the guy's 70 odd and never played seriously for years. You might want him to be forever green but eventually the faculties are bound to diminish.

[AlanSturgess]

Grow up sellobic - read what I wrote. He hasn't played because he fried his brains, but at least he's making the effort to come back, despite idiots like you who'd be happy to write him off. Prat!

[sellobic]

Have you always been an angry person?

[MandoMohan]

Mind you, he's still the father of English folkies like John Renbourn and Bert Jansch, and Alexis Korner and John Mayal from the blues world, who all have struggled in their latter days to capture the imagination and complexity of their earlier years. Their brains are more ancient than fried, as you say.

[PoorFormNorbert]

I've only just stumbled across Davy today (the beautiful "I Cannot Keep From Crying Sometimes" was included on a dubstep podcast by appleblim). Bummer to hear that he's fallen on hard times. Hope he can sort himself out before time runs out.

[frankvyvyan]

Glad you posted it - still good viewing. This is real life folks! We might like to see our heroes go from strength to strength, but that's not realistic. He's an old man now, and still doing what he enjoys doing. Now that's something to celebrate!

[HenfieldWill]

It's good that DG is getting exposure on YouTube, but - like Karlosfunkster - I do find it a little saddening. I did the odd jam with Davy down at the Cousins allniters (49 Greek St) in the late '60s - and he was superb. Sadly, the drugs kicked in and I haven't seen him live since a disastrous Cousins gig in '69. However, he is still The Man - an innovator and inspirer to generations.

[PomBare]

He has the sort of Alex Higgins effect about him. Ok so his coordination is not what it was, but there's nothing like seeing the master ply his trade because he is the original. He is an almost ghostly but impeccable figure as he stands

[Wilthomer66]

The GODFATHER!

[STECOXO]

Have listen to Broken Biscuits and find it inspiring. I hope Davey doesn't give up. Look forward to his nextgigis in April.

[gamanil]

Got my Broken Biscuits CD today and I like it

[dickmilesmusic]

I think this TRACK is reasonably good.

[karlosfunkster]

Very sad, I gained no pleasure from seeing him like that. I wonder what the Broken Biscuits album sounds like?

[eoineddwardmcgurren]

i have another 4 or 5 videos from this gig and 2 of the support, john smith and i shall post them if there is any interest. These are the sorts of comment i was expecting and i share a saddness with Davy and his fans.

[faulmuetze]

maybe it is better to keep the videos - it might be too much voyourism watching the Legend down on the ground

[sellobic]

please post these videos, we all have davy on cd and record so we know how he could play but for me its a pleasure to see him live whether good or bad.

[watfordkev]

Hi there. I saw DG play at the Stables and it was a similar story - during the first piece I kept waiting for it to come together and it just didnt, yet I really agree with the others here, it's still somehow great to have seen him, and perhaps he may yet get back on track. I met him afterwards and he was indeed a charming man... all very very sad. John Smith was fantastic - I'd certainly like to see the John Smith videos if you still have them.

[karlosfunkster]

Before the gig I spotted him outside and he was jovial and astonishingly friendly -- offering me free tickets and offered me a drink. He came over and grabbed a seat whilst I got him a pint. The alarm bells went off when he finished it in 4 sips! I thought it was my fault, but it looks like he's an alcoholic who will get wasted wherever and whenever, sadly.

Well, I don't think any of us will bother seeing him again after the embarrassment of that performance.

[faulmuetze]

Hi, got some more stuff?

This one does not sound too bad - saw him at Burgess Hill - that was kind of desaster.