DC Week (actually, fortnight) concludes its special run with a joyous instrumental romp from the Federal City’s formidable guitarslinger, Danny Gatton, joined by pioneering pedal steel virtuoso, Buddy Emmons, from their short-lived incendiary partnership, The Redneck Jazz Explosion:
“Raisin’ the Dickens“
Redneck Jazz Explosion
(1978)
This performance of Buddy Emmons‘ composition “Raisin’ the Dickens” was recorded live at DC’s legendary Cellar Door between the years straddling 1978-79 (i.e., New Year’s Eve show – ain’t I a stinker?) with bassist, Steve Wolf, and drummer, Scott Taylor, rounding out the rhythm section.
The roots of The Redneck Jazz Explosion were laid in Nashville where the Danny Gatton Band went to record in 1977 and were joined by Emmons in the studio for “Rock Candy” – inspired by Brother Jack McDuff’s 1963 recording featuring a young George Benson on guitar. The inclusion of this one track on Gatton’s subsequent 1978 LP, Redneck Jazz, garnered strong word-of-mouth from players and fans alike, as well as enthusiastic praise from the likes of Guitar Player magazine and The Washington Post, who would write in their review, “In sheer technical terms, Gatton has few peers on the electric guitar … in good company, he is asserting his position as the preeminent guitarist of the post-World War II generation.”
1978
Danny and Buddy reunited for two nights in Nashville at Randy Wood’s Old Time Pickin’ Parlor on July 28-29, 1978 joined by Buddy Spicher on fiddle, Bucky Barrett on guitar, Dick Heintze on keys, and Steve Wolf and Dave Palamar on bass and drums, respectively.
Emmons + Spicher + Palamar + Wolf + Gatton
As Steve Wolf recounts in “Some Gatton History” on the Rockabilly Hall of Fame website —
The Redneck Jazz Explosion quartet traveled the East Coast from Boston & New York, to Atlanta and consequently attracted the interest of Atlantic Records. A serious offer was made by Atlantic, but for his own reasons Danny chose not to accept it. Those negotiations in part, prevented the release of the live Cellar Door sessions at the time. A trio version of the band, minus Buddy, also performed regularly around the DC/Baltimore area.
New York Times critic, John Rockwell, wrote in his February 6, 1979 review —
Sunday night Mr. Gatton was at the Lone Star Cafe for a single evening and drew a big crowd. Partly that’s because his latest band … includes Buddy Emmons, the pedal street guitarist who’s something of a cult figure at the Lone Star. But Mr. Gatton deserves his own cult.
As Brawner Smoot (Gatton’s manager/booking agent) details in the CD liner notes of the Cellar Door concert —
Carol Posnick [booking agent for DC’s sadly-defunct Cellar Door], a devoted Gatton supporter, always graciously scheduled the band for a three-to-five-day stay (unusual as most artists made a one- or two-day appearance there). She also allowed me to add the guitar duo of the aforementioned Tom Principato and another hometown picker, Pete Kennedy to share the bill as the opening act. The combination created cohesive and magical evenings showcasing the area’s finest guitar talents.
The title track of the Redneck Jazz album, it bears pointing out, was written by vocalist/guitarist, Evan Johns, who coined the term and was joined in the Danny Gatton Band by John Previti on bass and Dave Elliott on drums.
Danny Gatton Band
1977’s “Ugly Man” 45
written by Evan Johns
Redneck Jazz Explosion –
Live at DC’s Cellar Door
Few recordings can match the immediacy, the exhilaration, and the untamed virtuosity heard on this disc. Danny Gatton was a relatively unknown guitar master comfortable with myriad styles when he first hooked up with steel guitar force Buddy Emmons in 1977. Emmons, like Gatton a musical omnivore, had for two decades been one of Nashville’s premier musicians, and when the two joined forces for the first time, the synergy was amazing and the compatibility was magical. After a few occasional gigs throughout 1978, the pair finally toured as the Redneck Jazz Explosion, a group that melded the jazz sensibility with country, blues, bluegrass, rock, and more, thereby moving beyond any simple categorization. This remarkable set comes from a New Year’s Eve 1978 show in Gatton’s native D.C., and it finds two incredibly talented men playing in an uninhibited but focused fashion. In terms of sheer technical prowess, Gatton and Emmons had few peers on their respective instruments, but what sets this collaboration apart is how speed and agility balances so nicely with feeling and creativity. The short-lived Explosion stands as one of the great instrumental ensembles, a lightning-in-a-bottle partnership that thankfully is documented on this essential recording.
Marc Greilsamer*
That Time Danny Gatton Pranked Buddy Emmons –
A Technological Tale
E X C E R P T
Buddy Emmons: Steel Guitar Icon
Steve Fishell
(2022)
Buddy Emmons recalls:
In 1978, a monster guitar player from Washington, D.C. came to Nashville to cut an instrumental called “Rock Candy.” I hadn’t heard of Danny Gatton before then, and while setting up I asked him about the song we were going to do. He said, “Aw, its just a little throwaway blues thing I wrote. You won’t have any problem with it.”
The tempo was such that one more notch on the metronome would have put me out of business. During the first pass, I kept thinking Danny would stop everything, say it was all a joke, and slow it down to the real tempo. But he didn’t. I recently received a CD of the album, Redneck Jazz, and out of curiosity, clocked the tempo on a metronome. It turned out to be 152 beats per minute. At four notes per tick, it’s probably the fastest I’ve ever played on a recording.
Shortly thereafter, I worked a few dates with Danny at a nightclub in D.C. called the Cellar Door. His group, The Redneck Jazz Explosion, was appropriately named. Between the beginning and end of a song like “Deep Purple,” you were likely to hear anything from “Wabash Cannonball” to “Orange Blossom Special,” but you never knew when it was going to happen. It was channeled insanity.
I hated having to follow Danny’s solos, but at the same time I held a deep appreciation to him for getting me off my lazy ass and having to dig a little deeper. I owe him a lot.
Danny Gatton had a variable control on his Echoplex for extremely long delays. He and I were on stage trading four-bar blues phrases when I heard this tremendous outburst of applause from the audience, immediately after one of my solos. Of course I puffed up like a toad, thinking I had just knocked their socks off. The next time around I heard more laughter than applause … It suddenly dawned on me that the crowd’s applause was due to something other than my brilliance. After I finished my next solo, I looked up and saw Danny’s folded hands resting on the cutaway section of his guitar. He was smiling down at me while this incredible solo was coming out of his amp. [During my previous four-bar solo] he had recorded his segment with the sound cut off to his amp and was now playing it back.
One Response
Amazing music! Great to hear it again. Awesome talents and sad Danny and Buddy are both gone. Thank you for your website and presentation of this music.