Link Wray
Fred Lincoln 'Link' Wray, Jr. (May 2, 1929 – November 5, 2005), was an American rock and roll guitarist, songwriter and vocalist who first came to popularity in the late 1950s.
Building on the distorted electric guitar sound of early records, his 1958 instrumental hit "Rumble" by Link Wray and his Ray Men popularized "the power chord, the major modus operandi of modern rock guitarists", making possible "punk and heavy rock".Rolling Stone placed Wray at No. 45 of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. In 2013 he was announced as a nominee for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His musical style primarily consisted of rock and roll, rockabilly and country.
Early life
Wray was born on May 2, 1929 in Dunn, North Carolina, to Fred Lincoln Wray, Sr. and his wife, Lillian M. Wray (née Coats). Three songs he performed were named for American Indian tribes: "Shawnee", "Apache", and "Comanche". "Apache" was an instrumental composed by Jerry Lordan; it was originally 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.
Link Wray (album)
Link Wray is the self-titled 1971 album by pioneer Rock & Roll guitarist Link Wray. The music is an Americana blend of blues, country, gospel, and folk rock elements. This music is characterized by the purposeful use of simplified sounds to reflect the then-current vogue of blues and other roots music being used in many roots rock bands. Wray's guitar-work, composing and vocals reflected modern rock influences. Despite publicity from radio stations and print media in the Washington area, the album did not do well in national sales.
Some tracks from the album later surfaced on the compilation Guitar Preacher: The Polydor Years, and it was included in its entirety on 2CDs compilation Wray's Three Track Shack (Acadia/Evangeline Recorded Works Ltd./Universal Music, 2005) along with other "shack" recordings of '71 Beans and Fatback and Mordicai Jones.
The Neville Brothers later covered "Fire and Brimstone" on their album Yellow Moon, as did Nick Cave and Ralph Stanley for the soundtrack of the film Lawless. The band Calexico covered "Fallin' Rain" as bonus track on their album Feast of Wire.
Podcasts:
Link Wray
ALBUMS
- Wray's Three Track Shack released: 2005
- Walking Down a Street Called Love: The Rumble Man Live in London and Manchester released: 2003
- Guitar Legends released: 2001
- Barbed Wire released: 2000
- Too Fast to Live... Too Young to Die released: 1997
- Missing Links, Volume 4: Streets of Chicago released: 1997
- Shadowman released: 1997
- Guitar Preacher: The Polydor Years released: 1995
- Indian Child released: 1993
- Rumble! The Best of Link Wray released: 1993
- Live in '85 / Growling Guitar released: 1991
- Missing Links, Volume 3: Some Kind of Nut released: 1990
- Missing Links, Volume 1: Hillbilly Wolf released: 1990
- Missing Links, Volume 2: Big City After Dark released: 1990
- The Original Rumble Plus 22 Other Storming Guitar Instrumentals released: 1989
- Robert Gordon with Link Wray released: 1979
- Fresh Fish Special released: 1978
- Be What You Want To released: 1973
- Beans and Fatback released: 1973
- Link Wray released: 1971
- King of the Wild Guitar released:
- Robert Gordon With Link Wray / Fresh Fish Special / Endless Sleep released:
- Bullshot released:
- Rock 'n' Rumble released:
- Apache released:
Too Fast to Live... Too Young to Die
Released 1997- Too Fast to Live. Too Young to Die
- Red Hot
- Are You Gonna Be the One
- Black Slacks
- Crazy Man Crazy
- Born to Lose
- The Way I Walk
- Love Me Baby
- Uptown
- Rock Billy Boogie
- Red Cadillac and Black Mustache
- Woman (You're My Woman)
- Am I Blue
- Drivin' Wheel
- All by Myself
- Sweet Love on My Mind
- Bad Boy
- Fire
- Twenty Flight Rock
- Summertime Blues
- Lonesome Train (On a Lonesome Track)
- Sea Cruise
- Boppin' the Blues
- Flying Saucers Rock & Roll
- The Fool
- If This Is Wrong
Live in '85 / Growling Guitar
Released 1991- Rumble
- It's Only Words
- Fire
- Mystery Train / I Got a Woman / Baby Let's Play House
- Jack the Ripper
- Love Me
- King Creole
- I'm Counting on You
- Rawhide
- Born to Be Wild
- Climbing a High Wall
- Genocide
- The Earth Is Crying
- Growlin' Guts
- Hungry
- Ace of Spades '69
- Ruby Baby
- Hang On
- Summer Dreams
- Sorrento
- Peggy Sue
- Alone
- Girl From the North Country
- You Hurt Me So
- The Fuzz
King of the Wild Guitar
- Rumble 1958
- Fat Back 1963
- Mustang 1983
- Black Widow 1963
- Run Chicken Run 1963
- Deuces Wild 1964
- Jack The Ripper 1961
- The Sweeper 1963
- Hang On 1965
- Walkin' with Link 2004
- I'm Branded 1965
- Ace of Spades 1989
- The Wild One 1990
- The Flying Wedge (Drag Race) 1990
- Green Hornet 1990
- Apache 1990
- Viva Zapata 1990
- Wild Side of the City Lights 1990
- The Joker 1990
- Spider Man 2000
- Barbed Wire 2000
- TimeWarp / Strider 1997
- Moped Baby 1997
- Geronimo 1997
- Rumble on the Docks 2007
Robert Gordon With Link Wray / Fresh Fish Special / Endless Sleep
- Red Hot
- I Sure Miss You
- Summertime Blues
- Boppin' the Blues
- Sweet Surrender
- Flyin' Saucers Rock'n'Roll
- The Fool
- It's in the Bottle
- Woman (You're My Woman)
- Is This the Way
- The Way I Walk
- Red Cadillac and a Black Moustache
- If This Is Wrong
- Five Days, Five Days
- Fire
- I Want to Be Free
- Twenty Flight Rock
- Sea Cruise
- Lonesome Train (On a Lonesome Track)
- Blue Eyes (Don't Run Away)
- Endless Sleep
Apache
- The Wild One
- Dallas Blues
- Big Boss Man
- Shawnee
- The Joker
- Apache
- Beautiful Brown Eyes
- Star and Stripes Forever
- Green Hornet
- Dick Tracy, Private Eye
- Hotel Loneliness
- Raunchy
- The Flying Wedge (Drag Race)
- Don't Leave Me
- American Sunset
- Little Sister
- Love Me Tender
- Wild Side of the City Lights
- Viva Zapata
- As Long as I Have You
- Street Beat
Born: 1929-05-02
Died: 2005-11-05
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Big City After Dark - Missing Links Volume 2
by: Link WrayI'm sleeping, sleeping to encompass myself
I wake up, wake up then distribute what's left
With my anger well diffused
The link to love I now may choose
With my heart no more abused
The link of love I now may use
I'm sleeping, sleeping to develop myself
I wake up, wake up then relinquish what's left
With my anger well diffused
The link to love I now may choose
With my heart no more abused
The link of love I now may use
Well I was caught by your lies spinnin'
Then was saved by truth's opinion
All's quiet now
With my anger well diffused
The link to love I now may choose
With my heart no more abused
The link of love I now may use
With my anger well diffused
The link to love I now may choose
With my heart no more abused
The link of love I now may use
The link to love I may choose
The link of love I may use
Latest News for: link wray
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