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Guitarist Link Wray gained fame in the 1950s with two instrumental numbers, "Rumble" (with its introduction of distortion and power chords to rock 'n' roll) and "Rawhide," but he continued recording for decades thereafter. This comes from one of his best efforts, the 1971 album Link Wray:
Feel free to add links to your favorite Link Wray songs or performances.
I don't think it's very obscure, but Wray's 'Fire and Brimstone' has been a favorite for half a century. It seems to me the great instance in rock of a sensibility of pre-apocalyptic foreboding, a deep strain in English-language song including Robert Johnson's 'Hellhound on My Trail' ("blues fallin' down like hail" and "I can tell the wind is risin'/ Leaves tremblin' on the tree"), and stretching back to 'Sir Patrick Spens' with "Yestreen I saw the new moone,/ Wi the auld moone in her arme,/ And I feir, I feir, my master deir,/That we will cum to harme."
And there're Wray's collaborations with Robert Gordon, which are obviously self-recommending, including
Here's a National Recording Registry page on Wray's "Rumble." It's on a US Government site, so who knows if it'll stay up much longer? "Wray was born Fred Lincoln Wray Jr. in Dunn, North Carolina, the son of a street preacher. His mother was Shawnee Indian and it was not unusual for Wray to encounter racism in his youth. Wray once said, 'Elvis, he grew up white-man poor. I was growing up Shawnee poor.' During his childhood, Wray and his family often had to hide out from KKK raids. A youthful bout with measles weakened Wray’s sight and hearing (it’s supposedly one of the reasons he always played so loud). A later bout with tuberculosis ravaged Wray’s voice and made singing difficult." https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-recording-preservation-board/documents/RUMBLE-FINAL.pdf
Thanks for this shout-out to the great Link Wray.
Here's Wray in 1978 playing "Rumble" and a cover of Jimmy Reed's "Baby What You Want Me to Do?"
One more: Wray with John Cipollina (Quicksilver Messenger Service) covering "Mystery Train."
Wray played rock and roll straight up. Among other innovations, he invented fuzz tone guitar in 1958 or so by poking holes in his speakers with a pencil. Until the end, he tore it up in concert.
his cover of dylan's "it's all over now, baby blue": https://youtu.be/AQVa_-s3N0w?si=kFtLBFa3FZ2exSRu
More than 48 minutes of concert footage of Wray with Robert Gordon. I especially like track # 4, "Lonesome Train." https://youtu.be/4dQiJRMwRns?si=D75uPznoz74ERqFg
I was working in a record store in the late '70s when Gordon's first album appeared. At the time it wasn't "punk" enough for me, and yet I enjoyed it and I was torn. It wasn't the sublime mess of punk at the time. Nor was it Gene Vincent. I was befuddled. Turns out I got it spot on.
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