Guitar Shorty
When he wasn't turning somersaults, doing backward flips, and standing on his head -- all while playing, of course -- Guitar Shorty was known to cut loose with savagely slashing licks on his instrument. After some lean years, his latter-day albums for Black Top, Evidence, and Alligator proved that all that energy translated vividly onto tape.
Born David Kearney on September 8, 1939, in Houston, Texas, he started playing guitar at an early age. His early influences included fellow blues guitar slingers B.B. King, Guitar Slim, T-Bone Walker, and Earl Hooker. By the time he was 17, Kearney was already gigging steadily in Tampa, Florida. One night, he was perched on the bandstand when he learned that the mysterious "Guitar Shorty" advertised on the club's marquee was none other than him! His penchant for stage gymnastics was inspired by the flamboyant Guitar Slim, whose wild antics were legendary. In 1957, Shorty cut his debut single, "You Don't Treat Me Right," for Chicago's Cobra Records under Willie Dixon's astute direction. Three superb 45s in 1959 for tiny Pull Records in Los Angeles (notably "Hard Life") rounded out Shorty's discography for quite a while. During the '60s, he married Jimi Hendrix's stepsister and lived in Seattle, where the rock guitar god caught Shorty's act (and presumably learned a thing or two about inciting a throng) whenever he came off the road. Shorty's career had its share of ups and downs -- at one point, he was reduced to competing on Chuck Barris' zany Gong Show, where he copped first prize for delivering "They Call Me Guitar Shorty" while balanced on his noggin.
Los Angeles had reclaimed Shorty by the time things started to blossom anew with the 1991 album My Way or the Highway for the British JSP logo (with guitarist Otis Grand in support). From there, Black Top signed Shorty; 1993's dazzling Topsy Turvy, 1995's Get Wise to Yourself, and 1998's Roll Over, Baby were the head-over-heels results. In 2001, the appropriately titled I Go Wild was released on the Evidence label, proving that Guitar Shorty had no intentions of slowing down, as he clearly remained a master showman and lively blues guitarist. Watch Your Back appeared in spring 2004. A single-disc overview of his career, The Best of Guitar Shorty, appeared from Shout! Factory in 2006, as well as a new studio album, We the People, from Alligator Records. A second Alligator release, Bare Knuckle, appeared early in 2010. Guitar Shorty died on April 20, 2022 in Los Angeles at the age of 87.
© Bill Dahl & Al Campbell /TiVo
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Discography
20 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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We The People
Blues - Released by Alligator Records on Aug 15, 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Watch Your Back
Blues - Released by Alligator Records on Apr 27, 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Trying to Find My Way Back
Blues - Released by Essential Media Group on Jul 5, 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bare Knuckle
Blues - Released by Alligator Records on Mar 2, 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
My Way or the Highway
Blues - Released by JSP Records on Jun 24, 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Purple Haze / Hey Joe
Blues - Released by SDEG - Essential Media Group on Sep 25, 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Guitar Blues - [The Dave Cash Collection]
Blues - Released by The Dave Cash Collection - OMP on May 9, 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Billie Jean Blues
Blues - Released by S.D.E.G. Records on Jun 18, 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Billie Jean Blues (Digitally Remastered) (Live)
Blues - Released by Essential Media Group on Sep 10, 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Blues Is Alright (Digitally Remastered)
Blues - Released by Essential Media Group on Sep 10, 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Shorty's Blue Notes
Blues - Released by StarPointe Records on Apr 22, 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rare and Live
Blues - Released by Maestro Entertainment, Corp on Feb 12, 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Blues Is All Right
Blues - Released by S.D.E.G. Records on Jan 1, 1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Billie Jean Blues
Blues - Released by Vanilla OMP on Dec 6, 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Get Wise To Yourself
Blues - Released by Black Top on Oct 13, 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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How Blue Can You Get
Blues - Released by Vanilla OMP on Dec 6, 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Irma Lee / You Don't Treat Me Right
Funk - Released by Cobra Records on Mar 1, 1958
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -