Guitar great Danny Gatton to be celebrated at the Birchmere

August 26, 2024

A lot of people consider Danny Gatton the greatest guitar player to ever come from Washington and one of the best to come from anywhere. I asked David Chappell, a pretty good guitarist in his own right, how he would describe Gatton to someone who’d never heard of him.

“That’s a good question,” Chappell said. “I would say there’s horses and then there’s a unicorn.”

Gatton was that unicorn.

“To me, one of the fascinating things about Danny — besides being a great guy and open and giving — was just the fact that he could do so many things so well,” Chappell said. “It would be like an ace pitcher that’s also an ace batter and an ace catcher and an ace in the outfield.

“Stylistically, most people have one bag they’re really good at — and it takes a lifetime to be a great finger-style player, or to play country or blues — but Danny did all of that stuff in a sort of superhuman way.”

Gatton took his own life in 1994. Had Gatton lived, he would have turned 78 on Sept. 4. The musicians of Washington won’t soon forget him. His birthday is the inspiration for a Gatton-inspired show on Saturday at the Birchmere.

Chappell organizes the annual tribute, which this year will include guitarists Anthony Pirog, Rick Whitehead, Steven Windsor and Redd Volkaert, along with rhythm sections that played with Gatton, including drummers Dave Elliott, Pete Ragusa and Big Joe Maher, and bassist John Previti.

Gatton grew up in Anacostia and was one of a group of homegrown guitar players celebrated for their skill: Roy Buchanan, Link Wray, Roy Clark, Chick Hall Sr. and his son, Chick Hall Jr. The title of a 1978 album exemplified Gatton’s breadth: “Redneck Jazz.”

The first time Chappell saw Gatton play was in 1977 at a club in Waldorf called the Mouse Trap.

“A friend of mine had told me about him,” said Chappell, who became a regular in the audience. “I just started showing up there and watching him. He was nice enough to say, ‘I keep seeing you in here. What are you doing? You must be a guitar player.’”

Chappell gulped and said, “Yeah, but I don’t play like you.”

Gatton eventually invited Chappell over for what Chappell thought would be a 45-minute lesson. It turned into a four-hour session, trading licks and shooting the breeze.

Over time, Chappell got to play alongside Gatton, first at Baltimore’s 8x10 club.

“He was just nice enough to guide you along, say, ‘Do this; don’t do that,’” Chappell said. “One magic day he said, ‘You played some good stuff tonight. I think you stole it from me, but it sounded good.’”

Gatton released multiple albums, including on Elektra Records, performed with various combos and appeared on “Austin City Limits.” And though he never had the widespread fame some wished for him, he didn’t seem bothered by that.

“Danny, he made his mark,” said Chappell. “I think Danny was brilliant. Brilliance like that — that broad-based — is hard to package.”

Few people can play guitar like Danny Gatton.

“He was like a father figure to a lot of us,” Chappell said. “He’d slap you around when you did something wrong and pat you on the back when you did something right. He gave us himself and his take on music and just kind of broadened everybody’s horizons.”

If there was one message in Gatton’s music, said Chappell, it was this: Don’t get stuck in one bag.

Who wants to be a one-trick pony?

In other Gatton news

The first Danny Gatton celebration at the Birchmere, in 2015, inspired the 2020 documentary “Anacostia Delta: The Legacy of DC’s TeleMasters.” Another Gatton film is nearing completion. It’s called “The Humbler: Danny Gatton” and is directed by Virginia Quesada.

A private screening of “The Humbler” — the title refers to Gatton’s ability to humble any other guitarist — will be held Nov. 1 at the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in Silver Spring. Free tickets may still be available. To sign up for a ticket — and to get added to the mailing list for information on future screenings — visit thehumblermovie.com/spread-the-word/.

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