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Davey Graham (originally Davy Graham, b. 22 November 1940) is a virtuoso guitarist who is credited with sparking the folk-rock revolution in the UK in the 60's. He inspired most of the famous practitioners of the fingerstyle acoustic guitar, such as Bert Jansch, Martin Carthy, and even Jimmy Page.

Biography

Davy Graham was the son of a Guyanan mother and a Scottish father and he began learning the the guitar at the age of 12. At the age of 19 he wrote what is probably his most famous piece, at least for aspiring guitarists: the acoustic solo tune Anji, also known as Angi, or Angie. The spelling Anji is most popular, as this is the way it appeared on Simon and Garfunkel's album Sounds of Silence.

One way he came to the attention of guitarists was through a 1959 feature item in the BBC TV news program Monitor. The segment was produced by Ken Russell.

He introduced the DADGAD guitar tuning to British guitarists, though it is not clear if it originated with him. Its main attraction was that it allowed the guitarist more freedom to improvise in the treble while maintaining a solid underlying harmony and rhythm in the bass. While 'non-standard', or 'non-classical' tuning was widely practiced by guitarists before this, especially by Blues and Slide guitar players, his use of DADGAD introduced a second standard tuning to guitarists.

During the 1960s he released a string of eclectic albums with music from all around the world in all kinds of genres.

He was always unpredictable, which did little to endear him to concert organisers and the more commercial elements of the music world. On one occasion, in the late 1960s, he was booked for a tour of Australia but, when his plane stopped for an hour in Bombay, he changed his plans and spent the next six months wandering through India.

His continuous touring of the world, picking up and then recording different styles of music for the guitar, has resulted in many musicians crediting him with founding World Music.

He was the subject of a 2005 BBC Radio documentary Whatever happened to Davy Graham ?

Now he is playing concerts again, and working with other guitarists, including Bert Jansch, Mark Pavey, Duck Baker and Martin Carthy. He is planning to record a new album including some new material, as well as reworking of his earlier material.

Discography

• - 3/4 AD (EP) (1961)
• - From a London Hotenanny (EP)(*) (1963)
• - The Guitar Player (1963)
• - Folk, Blues and Beyond (1964)
• - Midnight Man (1966)
• - After Hours (**) (1967)
• - Large as Life and Twice as Natural (1968)
• - Hat (1969)
• - Holly Kaleidoscope (1970)
• - Goddington Boundary (1970)
• - All that Moody (1976)
• - The Complete Guitarist (1978)
• - Dance for Two People (1979)
• - The Guitar Player ... Plus (1996)
• - Playing in the Traffic

• (* The Thameside Four and Davy Graham)
• (** Issued in 1997, recorded at Hull University)

Collaboration: Shirley Collins and Davy Graham.

• - Folk Roots, New Routes (1965)

References

• Davey Graham Official Website
• Will Hodgkinson's article in The Guardian; Friday 15 July 2005

• British guitarists
• Guitarists