He was the man Guitar magazine dubbed “The World’s Greatest Unknown Guitarist.” Danny Gatton stayed in the musical shadows while building a cult following as a sort of honky-tonk Eric Clapton. Gatton killed himself 15 years ago Sunday.
John Previti played bass with Danny Gatton’s band for 18 years. “You know, when he played country music, it sounded like all he played was country music. When he played jazz, it sounded like that’s all he played, rockabilly, old rock and roll, soul music. You know, he called himself a Whitman sampler of music.”
Bassist John Previti says that in their two decades playing together, they never discussed anything like suicide, although a close friend did relay this story of Gatton. “It was on his birthday, and he said, well, mark my words. A year from now, I’ll be gone. We were together on his birthday, and we actually heaved a sigh of relief and thought, well, we made it this long. And then, a month later, he was gone.”
— Phil Harrell, NPR News
Read more: https://www.npr.org/2009/10/04/113485730/danny-gatton-worlds-greatest-unknown-guitarist