Link Wray

All Music Guide:

Link Wray may never get into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, but his contribution to the language of rockin' guitar would still be a major one, even if he had never walked into another studio after cutting "Rumble." Quite simply, Link Wray invented the power chord, the major modus operandi of modern rock guitarists. Listen to any of the tracks he recorded between that landmark instrumental in 1958 through his Swan recordings in the early '60s and you'll hear the blueprints for heavy metal, thrash, you name it. Though rock historians always like to draw a nice, clean line between the distorted electric guitar work that fuels early blues records to the late-'60s Hendrix-Clapton-Beck-Page-Townshend mob, with no stops in between, a quick spin of any of the sides Wray recorded during his golden decade punches holes in that theory right quick. If a direct line can be traced forward from a black blues musician crankin' up his amp and playing with a ton of violence and aggression to a young white guy doing a mutated form of same, the line points straight to Link Wray, no contest. Pete Townshend summed it up for more guitarists than he probably realized when he said, "He is the king; if it hadn't been for Link Wray and "'Rumble,'" I would have never picked up a guitar."

Everything that was handed down to today's current crop of headbangers from the likes of Led Zeppelin and the Who can be traced back to the guy from Dunn, NC, who started out in 1955 recording for Starday as a member of Lucky Wray & the Palomino Ranch Hands. You see, back in the early '50s, it was a different ball game altogether. Rock & roll hadn't become a national event in the United States yet, and if you were young and white and wanted to be in the music business, you had two avenues for possible career moves. You could be a pop-mush crooner like Perry Como or a hillbilly singer like the late Hank Williams, and that was about it. With country music all around him as a youth in North Carolina, the choice was obvious; Wray joined forces with his brothers Vernon and Doug, forming Lucky Wray & the Lazy Pine Wranglers, later changing the band name to the spiffier-sounding Palomino Ranch Hands. By the end of 1955, they had relocated outside of Washington, D.C., and added Shorty Horton on bass. With Link, Horton, and brothers Doug and Vernon ("Lucky," named after his gambling fortunes) handling drums and lead vocals respectively, they fell in with some local songwriters, and the results made it to vinyl as an EP on the local Kay label, with the rest of the sides being leased to Starday Records down in Texas.

But by 1958, the music had changed, and so had Wray's life. With a lung missing from a bout with tuberculosis during his stint in the Korean War, Link was advised by his doctor to let brother Vernon do all the vocalizing. So Link started stretching out more and more on the guitar, coming up with one instrumental after another. By this time, the band had sweated down to a trio, and changed its name to the Ray Men. After a brief flirtation as a teen idol -- changing his name to Ray Vernon -- the third Wray brother became the group's producer/manager. Armed with a 1953 Gibson Les Paul, a dinky Premier amp, an Elvis sneer, and a black leather jacket, Link started playing the local record hops around the D.C. area with disc jockey Milt Grant, who became his de facto manager. One night during a typical set, says Link, "They wanted me to play a stroll. I didn't know any, so I made one up. I made up "'Rumble.'"

"Rumble" was originally issued on Archie Bleyer's Cadence label back in 1958, and Bleyer was ready to pass on it when his daughter expressed excitement for the primitive instrumental, saying it reminded her of the rumble scenes in West Side Story. Bleyer renamed it (what its original title was back then, if any, is now lost to the mists of time), and "Rumble" jumped to number 16 on the national charts, despite the fact that it was banned from the radio in several markets (including New York City), becoming Wray's signature tune to this day. But despite the success and notoriety of "Rumble," it turned out to be Wray's only release on Cadence. Bleyer, under attack for putting out a record that was "promoting teenage gang warfare," wanted to clean Link and the boys up a bit, sending them down to Nashville to cut their next session with the Everly Brothers' production team calling the shots. The Wrays didn't see it that way, so they immediately struck a deal with Epic Records. Link's follow-up to "Rumble" was the pounding, uptempo "Rawhide." The Les Paul had been swapped for a Danelectro Longhorn model (with the longest neck ever manufactured on a production line guitar), its "lipstick tube" pickups making every note of Link's power chords sound like he was strumming with a tin can lid for a pick. The beat and sheer blister of it all was enough to get it up to number 23 on the national charts, and every kid who wore a black leather jacket and owned a hot rod had to have it.

But a pattern was emerging that would continue throughout much of Wray's early career; the powers that be figured that if they could tone him down and dress him up, they'd sell way more records in the bargain. What all these producers and record execs failed to realize was the simplest of truths: if Duane Eddy twanged away for white, teenage America, Link Wray played for juvenile delinquent hoods, plain and simple. By the end of 1960, Wray found himself in the mucho-confining position of recording with full orchestras, doing dreck like "Danny Boy" and "Claire de Lune." But when these gems failed to chart as well, relations with Epic came to a close, and by years' end, Link and Vern formed their own label, Rumble Records.

Rumble's three lone issues included the original version of Wray's next big hit, "Jack the Ripper." If "Rumble" sounded like gang warfare, then "Jack the Ripper" sounded like a high-speed car chase, which is exactly what it became the movie soundtrack for in the Richard Gere version of Breathless. Link's amp was recorded at the end of a hotel staircase for maximum echo effect, while he pumped riffs through it that would become the seeds of a million metal songs. After kicking up noise locally for a couple of years, it was going through another period of disc jockey spins when Swan Records of Philadelphia picked it up and got it nationwide attention. Certainly Wray was at his most prolific during his tenure with Swan, and label president Bernie Binnick gave Link and Vernon pretty much free rein to do what they wanted. Turning the family chicken coop into a crude, three-track studio, the Wray family spent the next decade recording and experimenting with sounds and styles.

At least now they could succeed -- or fail -- on their own terms. Most of these sides were leased out as one-shot deals to a zillion microscopic labels under a variety of names like the Moon Men, the Spiders, the Fender Benders, etc. What fueled this period of maximum creativity is open to debate. A lot of it had to do with the fact that Link and the boys honed their particular brand of rockin' mayhem working some of the grimiest joints on the face of the planet when these tracks were cut. When Swan label chief Binnick was questioned as to how he could issue such wild-ass material, he would smile, throw his hands up in the air and say, "What can you do with an animal like that?"

As the new decade dawned, Link Wray's sound and image were updated for the hippie marketplace. Wray's career fortunes waxed and waned throughout the '70s, a muddle of albums in a laid-back style doing little to enhance his reputation. After a stint backing '70s rockabilly revivalist Robert Gordon, Wray went solo again, taking most of Gordon's band (including drummer Anton Fig) with him. But if the studio sides were a bit uneven, (Wray recorded several albums in the '80s backed by nothing more than a clumsy drum machine), he still could pack a wallop live, and his rare forays on the stages of the world spread the message that rock & roll's original wild guitar man still had plenty of gas left in the tank.

Wray married and moved to Denmark in 1980, recording the stray album for the foreign market, and throughout the 1990s he was still capable of strapping on a guitar and making it sound nastier than anyone in his sixties had a right to. And his back catalog got a lot attention in the '90s when the grunge revolution hit, with several young, hip guitarists citing Wray as an influence, and his early work continued to be reissued under various imprints. He recorded two new albums for Ace Records, Shadowman in 1997 and Barbed Wire in 2000 and toured up until his death in Copenhagen on November 5, 2005.

Wikipedia:

Fred Lincoln "Link" Wray Jr (May 2, 1929 – November 5, 2005) was an American rock and roll guitarist, songwriter and occasional singer.

Wray was noted for pioneering a new sound for electric guitars, as exemplified in his 1958 instrumental hit "Rumble", by Link Wray and his Ray Men, which pioneered an overdriven, distorted electric guitar sound. He also "invented the power chord, the major modus operandi of modern rock guitarist," "and in doing so fathering," or making possible, "punk and heavy rock". Rolling Stone placed Wray at number 67 of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time.

Early life

Wray was born in Dunn, North Carolina to Fred Lincoln Wray and his wife Lillian M. Coats. Link first heard the slide guitar technique at age eight from a traveling carnival worker nicknamed "Hambone." Link's family moved to Norfolk, Virginia, where his father worked in the U. S. Navy shipyards during World War II. In 1956, the family moved to Washington, D.C., and finally to a farm in Accokeek, Maryland. Link Wray and his brother Vernon went west to Arizona early 1970s, settling in San Francisco several years later.

Wray served in the US Army during the Korean War, and contracted tuberculosis that eventually cost him a lung. The doctors said he would never be able to sing again, so he concentrated on guitar work. Nevertheless, on his rare vocal numbers he displays a strong voice and a range equal to that of Clarence "Frogman" Henry.

Native American ancestry

Claiming to be part Shawnee Indian, Wray frequently spoke of this in performances and interviews. Three songs he performed were named for American Indian tribes: "Shawnee", "Apache", and "Comanche." "Apache" was an instrumental composed by Jerry Lordan; it was a hit in the United Kingdom for The Shadows in 1960. Wray recorded a cover version 30 years later, when it was also associated with The Ventures and the Incredible Bongo Band.

Career

After his discharge from the Army, Wray and his brothers Douglas and Vernon joined with their friends Shorty Horton and Dixie Neal to form Lucky Wray and the Lazy Pine Wranglers, later called Lucky Wray and the Palomino Ranch Hands. They had been playing country music and Western swing for several years when they were hired as the house band on the daily live television show Milt Grant's House Party, a local Washington, D.C. version of American Bandstand. They made their first recordings in 1956 as Lucky Wray and the Palomino Ranch Hands for Starday Records.

"Rumble"

For the TV show, they also backed many performers, from Fats Domino to Ricky Nelson. In 1958, at a live gig of the D.C.-based Milt Grant's House Party, attempting—at the urging of the local crowd—to work up a cover sound-alike for The Diamonds' hit, "The Stroll", they came up with an eleven and one half bar blues titled "Rumble" which they first called "Oddball". The song was an instant hit with the live audience, which demanded four repeats that night. Eventually the song came to the attention of record producer Archie Bleyer of Cadence Records, who hated it, particularly after Wray poked holes in his amplifier's speakers to make the recording sound more like the live version (see "Rocket 88" for Ike Turner's similar story). Searching for a title that would hit home with radio listeners, Bleyer sought the advice of Phil Everly, who listened and suggested that it be called "Rumble", as it had a rough attitude that reminded him of a street gang. (Rumble: slang for "gang fight".)

The stalking, menacing sound of "Rumble" (and its title) led to a ban on several radio stations, a rare feat for a song with no lyrics, on the grounds that it glorified juvenile delinquency. Nevertheless it became a huge hit, not only in the United States, but also the United Kingdom, where it has been cited as an influence on The Kinks, The Who, and Jimmy Page among others. Jimmy Page cites the song in the Davis Guggenheim documentary It Might Get Loud and proceeds to play air guitar to the song in the movie. Pete Townshend stated in unpublished liner notes for the 1970 comeback album, "He is the king; if it hadn't been for Link Wray and 'Rumble,' I would have never picked up a guitar." In other liner notes in 1974, Townshend said, of "Rumble": "I remember being made very uneasy the first time I heard it, and yet excited by the savage guitar sounds."

Jeff Beck, Duff McKagan, Jack Rose, Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Cub Koda, Marc Bolan, Neil Young and Bob Dylan have all cited Wray as an influence. Billy Childish has covered several Link Wray tracks, including "Rumble", "Jack the Ripper" and "Comanche", which he still performs in his set. The 1980 Adam and the Ants song "Killer in the Home" (from their Kings of the Wild Frontier album) is based on the same ominous, descending three-chord glissando riff that is featured in "Rumble" (Ants' guitarist Marco Pirroni, an avid Wray fan, has described the song as "Link Wray meets Col. Kurtz" — the latter being a reference to Apocalypse Now). Mark E. Smith of The Fall sang the line "I used to have this thing about Link Wray, I used to play him every Saturday, God bless Saturday" in the song "Neighbourhood of Infinity" on the album Perverted by Language. "Rumble" has also been used as an intro theme to TV shows, particularly the original incarnation of Svengoolie.

In 2003, Link Wray was ranked at number sixty-seven in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the Hundred Greatest Guitarists of all time, but has yet to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He is, however, a member of the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.

Later career

The band had several more hard-rocking instrumental hits in the late 1950s and early 1960s, including "Rawhide", "Ace of Spades", and "Jack the Ripper", the latter named after a "dirty boogie" dance popular in Baltimore at the time. The dirty boogie dance was among the several dance crazes featured in the 1988 film Hairspray.

After his initial hits, Wray's career had periods of retirement followed by renewed popularity, particularly in Europe. While living in the San Francisco Bay Area in the early 1970s, Link was introduced to Quicksilver Messenger Service guitarist John Cipollina by bassist James Hutchinson. He subsequently formed a band initially featuring special guest Cipollina along with the rhythm section from Cipollina's band Copperhead, bassist Hutch Hutchinson and drummer David Weber. They opened for the band Lighthouse at The Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles from May 15–19, 1974. He later did numerous concerts and radio broadcasts in the Bay Area including KSAN (FM) and the Bill Graham venue, Winterland Ballroom with Les Lizama later replacing Hutchinson on bass. He toured and recorded two albums with retro-rockabilly artist Robert Gordon in the late 1970s. The 1980s to the present day saw a large number of reissues as well as new material. One member of his band in the 1980s, drummer Anton Fig, later became drummer in the CBS Orchestra on the David Letterman show. Inspired by the use of his songs in various feature films, the 1997 Shadowman album is generally regarded as the Rumble Man's return to his raw rock 'n' roll roots. Backed by a Dutch band consisting of Eric Geevers on bass and Rob Louwers on drums, Wray toured Europe and Australia as well, documented on a live album and DVD. Link's last new recording was 2000's Barbed Wire, again recorded with his Dutch rhythm section. He was generally accompanied on tour by his wife Olive Julie, and since the late nineties his "colorful" Irish born road manager John Tynan. His regular backing band in the USA from 1998 until 2003 were bassist Atom Ellis and drummers Danny Heifetz (Mr. Bungle, Dieselhed) and Dustin Donaldson (I Am Spoonbender, various). He continued to tour up until four months before he died.

His music has been featured in numerous films, including Pulp Fiction, Desperado, Independence Day, Twelve Monkeys, The Warriors, This Boy's Life, Blow, Johnny Suede, The Shadow, Breathless, Roadracers, and Pink Flamingos. His instrumental "Rumble" is featured in It Might Get Loud (2008).

Link Wray is among the many Wray/Rays mentioned in the 1998 Top 40 hit "Are You Jimmy Ray?" by singer Jimmy Ray (along with Johnnie Ray and Fay Wray).

Later life

Wray moved to Denmark in the 1980s after marrying his wife Olive, a Danish student who had been studying Native American culture. He spent his last years on a Danish island, touring frequently until he died of heart failure at 76 in 2005 at his home in Copenhagen. He was buried in the crypt of the Christian's Church, in the Copenhagen suburb of Christianshavn.

According to a note added by Deborah Wray on his Rockabilly Hall of Fame page, Link Wray had married four times and was survived by nine children: Fred Lincoln Wray III, Link Elvis Wray, Shayne Wray, Elizabeth (Beth) Wray Webb, Mona Kay Wray Tidwell, Bellinda Wray Muth, Rhonda Wray Sayen, and Charlotte Wray Glass. Print and online obituaries have only mentioned the wife and son he was living with at the time of his death, Olive and Oliver Christian Wray.

Wray was backed by members of the Seattle band Jet City Fix for the duration of his penultimate tour. His final tour was booked and managed by Marc Mencher of Action Packed Events. Link's drummer on the tour was Gary Weiss of the rockabilly band Vibro Champs; he was backed on bass by Kris Day. The Vibro Champs website features photos and video of Link's last band tour.

Posthumous recognition

Despite his North Carolina birth, Maryland's governor Robert Ehrlich declared January 15 to be Link Wray Day.

On March 25, 2006 Wray was honored by "The First Americans in the Arts" with the Life Time Achievement Award.

On June 8, 2006, Wray was inducted into the Native American Music Hall of Fame.

In June 2009, the Library of Congress added "Rumble" to the National Recording Registry.

On July 2, 2010, the Smithsonian Institute Museum of the Native American opened the exhibit "Up Where We Belong - Native Musicians in Popular Culture", in which Wray is one of 12 artists presented. The exhibit features Wray's Danelectro guitar along with a rare video featuring the original Raymen - Link, brothers Doug and Vernon, and Shorty Horton - performing "Rawhide". This film has not been shown publicly for over half a century.

Film and books about Link

A documentary film on Link's life and career is currently in production.