Davy Graham
A London guitarist, billed both Davy and Davey, who wrote the instrumental "Anji" at 19, popularized the DADGAD tuning and carried jazz, blues, Indian and North African music into British folk.
Westbourne Grove
David Michael Gordon Graham was born on November 26, 1940 in Market Bosworth, Leicestershire, and grew up in Westbourne Grove and Notting Hill Gate in London, the son of a Guyanese-born mother and a Scottish father from the Isle of Skye who taught him Gaelic. He went to the Lycée Français in Chelsea, began classical guitar at 12 with Oliver Hunt and also played piano and harmonica. His influences were Big Bill Broonzy, Thelonious Monk and the classical repertoire. He billed himself as Davy and later as Davey, and Wikipedia and MusicBrainz use Davey.
In 1959 he appeared in the BBC Monitor film Hound Dogs and Bach Addicts, Ken Russell's film on the guitar craze, playing "Cry Me a River". Later he learned sarod and sitar and made repeated trips to Morocco, Turkey and India. Wikipedia says DADGAD was reportedly developed while he was transcribing oud music in Morocco.
Records of the 1960s
The EP 3/4 AD came out on Topic in 1962, April by Wikipedia, with other sources giving 1961 or 1963; Alexis Korner is said to have arranged a session at the home of the engineer Bill Leader in 1960 or 1961, and Korner plays guitar on one track. The Guitar Player (1963) and Folk Roots, New Routes (Decca, 1964), made with Shirley Collins, followed, and his live "She Moved Through the Fair" in DADGAD was recorded at the Troubadour in Earl's Court in 1964. Folk, Blues and Beyond (1965), Midnight Man (1966), Large as Life and Twice as Natural (1968, including "Both Sides, Now"), Hat (1969) and The Holly Kaleidoscope (1970) filled out the Decca years. A Hull University show of February 4, 1967 was issued in 1997 as After Hours.
He appeared uncredited as a guitarist in a pub scene of the film The Servant in 1963. Jimmy Page's "White Summer" is based on his "She Moved Through the Fair", according to Wikipedia.
Later years
He stepped back from music in the 1970s, taught guitar, did charity work and sat on the executive council of Mind, and studied languages. Albums continued: All That Moody (1976), The Complete Guitarist (1978), Irish Reels, Jigs, Hornpipes and Airs (1979), Playing in Traffic (1991) and Broken Biscuits (2007), his last. In 2005 BBC Radio made a documentary, Whatever Happened to Davy Graham?, and he played the Edinburgh Fringe with Bert Jansch, filmed by Mark Pavey. He died on December 15, 2008 at home in London, aged 68. A blue plaque marks his birthplace in Market Bosworth, unveiled in November 2016, and Cherry Tree issued an eight-CD set, He Moved Through the Fair, of his 1960s recordings in 2024.
Paul Simon called him probably England's greatest guitarist, and Bert Jansch said he was my absolute hero, always will be. Jansch, John Renbourn, Martin Carthy, Ralph McTell, John Martyn and Nick Drake are among the guitarists he influenced; Martin Carthy is quoted as calling him the one everyone followed and watched. Colin Harper wrote his biography, Dazzling Stranger (2006).
Albums
Songs
- Anji 3/4 AD · 1962
An acoustic guitar instrumental written at 19, recorded by Bert Jansch and Simon and Garfunkel, and one of the best-known folk guitar pieces of its era.
Sources
- Davey Graham, Wikipedia
- Anji (instrumental), Wikipedia
- Davy Graham: He Moved Through the Fair, Klof (2024-10)
- Davy Graham 1940-2008, JamBase (2008-12)