Unfinished Business: The Life and Times of Danny Gatton

Customer Reviews

But this book also has a few problems, I think. The worst being that, in an effort to give Gatton the status he thinks he deserves, sometimes the author goes a little overboard with stuff hyping Gatton's guitar playing prowess.

For example, on page 76, we learn it was 'ironic' that Chet Atkins took an interest in Lenny Breau instead of Gatton, after seeing both play, and that Atkins surely had to have been 'scared' by Gatton's ability. We see this kind of thing at times throughout the book, and at one point it even reaches as far as Eric Clapton. (Only Clapton's manager has lunch with Gatton, so of course we conclude Clapton was scared of him too!)

But this happens most often in relation to Roy Buchanan, and I can only assume that is because Gatton traditionally has been eclipsed by Buchanan's shadow. Based on my listening experience, this is probably for good reason -- Buchanan conveyed power and intense emotion in his playing, while still showing awesome creatively and technique; this really isn't the case with Gatton, and at times he even sounds like someone aping Buchanan -- but at the very least it's debatable and the relative status of the two should be presented fairly as such, as was done in Phil Carson's Roy Buchanan: American Axe.

This is a very worthwhile book though, despite the (mostly) minor drawbacks. You may want to supplement the book with some CDs to get a better feel for Gatton's status as an elite guitar player, and who his influences were. Of course that starts with Danny Gatton CDs, but I would also suggest picking CDs by the following: Roy Buchanan, Hank Garland, Lenny Breau, and Tal Farlow.

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