Let's play... Who's your favorite "unsung hero"?

Expand my horizons... curious if anyone cares to share their favorite(s), oft-overlooked guitar hero (besides themselves ).  Please, no one mention that prat "slowhand"....  I'll start the conversation ("talk amongst yaselves, no biggie, its coffee-talk"):  Rory Gallagher is my first choice.  He makes me wish I was Irish and looked good in flannel, not to mention amazing timing, played with Muddy, etc.

Too many to mention, but James Wilkinson from New Zealand is right up there. Ian Moss from Australia.... Matthew Fisher.... Elliot Easton.... Glenn Buxton & Michael Bruce..... Mick Ronson.... Amos Garrett....Lawrence Juber..... Roy Phillips....

.... the list is endless!!

i grew up in the Washington DC area
there used to be a great blues scene there, loads of local players who would tear it up!
DC was known as a 'Telecaster Town'

one of the greatest guitar players i have ever seen
he could put on a show like nobody else

in the studio he was an insane perfectionist, spoken untold numbers of times, he says,  "one more time from the top boys!" 
his engineer says he has "erased more great guitar licks than most guys ever get to record in their entire lives," 

from the TV show Austin City Limits...

Danny Gatton

and a personal connection, sort of...
somehow through an amazing bunch of strange connections of friends, family, business, and sheer luck…

when my band was recording our album to be titled, "Yes, Really!" we were alternating sessions in the studio with Danny Gatton and his band. we would record one or two days, then they would record a couple days. what made it really amazing for me was that all his custom guitars and amps were still sitting around the studio. a secret i have kept for many years is that i used Danny Gatton's customized Fender amp, (hot-rodded by Joe Barden himself), on my guitar solo for the song Earth For A Day. that amp was like a wild beast stuck in the vocal booth, and me in the main studio with my Thunder 2A poking a stick at the monster, just awesome tone!. it is one of my favorite bits on the album. i also got to use a very cool vintage Danelectro baritone guitar to cut the bass track for another of our songs, You Must Believe.

This kid's not bad neither...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLB900atJFs

btw… none of the connections to Danny Gatton had anything to do with me. 

the other guys in the band, (3 brothers) played in loads of bands and other stuff around the DC area. their father was a 35year career trumpet player for US Air Force Jazz Band. they knew lots of people around town. no movers and shakers in 'the biz', but they knew enough people to make a living playing music (playing whatever; from weddings, new years parties and such, to blues bands, jazz bands, folk bands, pop bands, and even some session work at the Kennedy Center For Performing Arts). these 3 guys (and their father) were talented, experienced musicians (i, on the other hand, was a total novice).

it was through connections with their father that we found the recording studio we used. it turned out that it was owned and operated by Danny Gatton's engineer and friend. and even more amazing luck that we happened to book the studio around the same time. we eventually got locked out, once Danny Gatton finished his recordings and they moved on to mixing. We had to wait until they finished up so we could do the final work on our recordings.

This kid's not bad neither...

Bloody showoff!

Not sure if he is "unsung" but one of my favorites has always been Donald Roeser aka Buck Dharma of Blue Oyster Cult.

His playing was always so lyrical & fluid and an immense influence on me.

Danny Gatton was insanely talented. Almost demonic. Makes my head spin watching him.

well he certainly had his demons to contend with. and unfortunately he seemed to lose the battle in the end. he took his own life with a shotgun blast. simply tragic. 

Francesco Antonio Marino.






...your welcome Barry.

here is a great jam band you may have never heard of...

Garaj Mahal - live at the Justice league


Fareed Haque - guitar
Kai Eckhart - bass
Eric Levy - keys
Alan Hertz - drums

they are lots of fun, jazzy/funky/fusion world beat jams
Fareed Haque is simply amazing!
and Kai Eckhart is one seriously funky bass player
in fact, all four of them are superlative players

Thanks for that link, gittarasaurus. There's a lot to listen to there - 1 hour 38 mins. I'll have to come back to it when I have more time (and when I can play it through my decent sound system).
There's a lot of different styles suggested here; we started off with Rory Gallagher (an old favourite of mine too) and now Garaj Mahal who I've never heard of. Great stuff.

another guitar player whose career i have followed for more than 35 years, who remains largely unknown outside the SF Bay area and the jamband tour circuit in the USA (and some in Japan as well); Steve Kimock. i first saw him play in the late '70's, in a band called Zero, with John Cipollina

he is an extraordinary improvisor/collaborator
he also has a really nice collection of vintage and custom guitars, player's guitars. he is a tone master!

if you clik the link, there are loads more videos too
KIMOCK
this is a clip of the latest tour
Steve on guitar (w/his son on drums and others...)

Tank you gittarasaurus
I like Kimock lightness

Here is Jean-Francois Pauvros
Guitar experiment

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XlJOxakJhw&nohtml5=False

i made a mistake in my last post...
i saw John Cipollina in the late 70's with a group called The San Francisco Allstars.
when Cipollina came to town in the mid 80's with the band Zero, Steve Kimock was the other guitarist in the band. here is an early soundboard recording at a club in San Rafael CA
ZERO