I am a little late in acknowledging the passing of Bethesda, Maryland native and perhaps the best pure rockabilly voice since Elvis, Robert Gordon, who died of leukemia last October. Gordon deserves all the credit in the world for single-handedly reinvigorating the American music genre of rockabilly.
In addition to being blessed with a great set of pipes, Gordon also had the good fortune to work with some of the greatest guitarists in history. Having a discerning ear for guitar players should be of no surprise to anyone familiar with the D.C. area's wealth in guitar talent, where Gordon grew up. Gordon hooked up with guitar god Link Wray early in his career only to be topped by his short but storied collaboration with the king of guitar, Danny Gatton. The mixing board tape of Gordon and Gatton's live tour which later became the legendary bootleg "The Humbler" is deserving of its iconic status in the pantheon of rock music's G.O.A.T.
As if Wray and Gatton were not enough, Gordon worked with the great British guitarist Chris Spedding throughout his career.
I first encountered Gordon in 1977 at the University of Maryland's Ritchie Coliseum where Gordon
opened for Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes. I immediately went out and purchased his album "Fresh Fish Special" which only confirmed Gordon's immense talent in my mind. Growing up in Northern Virginia there was great diversity in music influences among my friends but one artist we all could agree on was Robert Gordon. When I moved back to my home state of Minnesota to attend college I continued to follow Gordon and tried to attend the few shows he performed in Minneapolis. I loved his album "Are You Gonna Be the One" with the Marshall Crenshaw numbers and Danny Gatton's guitar work. When he played First Avenue in support of that album the review of the show had about two sentences on Robert before the concert reviewer blew his journalistic wad praising the virtues of this "unknown guitarist", Danny Gatton. Considering First Avenue was the house that Prince built (so to speak) and its stage was no stranger to great guitarists, I had to chuckle reading the Gatton initiate's review.
Having decided to stay in Minneapolis, my opportunities to see Gordon were few and far between. I seem to recall a brief and rather disappointing performance by Robert at the Cabooze Bar sometime in the late 1980's or early 1990's but that was about it. That is until he blessed Minneapolis with one of his rare performances from the tour Robert Gordon and the Gang They Couldn't Hang. Robert and his Gang were in fine form that night leaving me with fond memories of the preeminent rockabilly artist of our time .
For my review of that show click here: Robert Gordon & his Gang Can Still Hang With the Best of Them
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