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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Diskografie
18 Album, -en • Geordnet nach Bestseller
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We The People
Blues - Erschienen bei Alligator Records am 15.08.2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Watch Your Back
Blues - Erschienen bei Alligator Records am 27.04.2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Trying to Find My Way Back
Blues - Erschienen bei Essential Media Group am 05.07.2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bare Knuckle
Blues - Erschienen bei Alligator Records am 02.03.2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
My Way or the Highway
Blues - Erschienen bei JSP Records am 24.06.2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Purple Haze / Hey Joe
Blues - Erschienen bei SDEG - Essential Media Group am 25.09.2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Guitar Blues - [The Dave Cash Collection]
Blues - Erschienen bei The Dave Cash Collection - OMP am 09.05.2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Billie Jean Blues
Blues - Erschienen bei S.D.E.G. Records am 18.06.2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Billie Jean Blues (Digitally Remastered) (Live)
Blues - Erschienen bei Essential Media Group am 10.09.2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Blues Is Alright (Digitally Remastered)
Blues - Erschienen bei Essential Media Group am 10.09.2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Shorty's Blue Notes
Blues - Erschienen bei StarPointe Records am 22.04.2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rare and Live
Blues - Erschienen bei Maestro Entertainment, Corp am 12.02.2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Blues Is All Right
Blues - Erschienen bei S.D.E.G. Records am 01.01.1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Billie Jean Blues
Blues - Erschienen bei Vanilla OMP am 06.12.2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
How Blue Can You Get
Blues - Erschienen bei Vanilla OMP am 06.12.2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Irma Lee / You Don't Treat Me Right
Funk - Erschienen bei Cobra Records am 01.03.1958
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Irma Lee / You Don´t Treat Me Right
Blues - Erschienen bei EARTH-VOX am 25.08.2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo