Grady Martin, Hank Garland, Thumbs Carlisle, Speedy Halworth, Phil Baugh, Joe Maphis, Buck Trent, Mickey Baker, Chuck Berry, Duane Eddy, Link Wray, Cliff Gallup, Jimmy Bryant, Eldon Shamblon, Junior Barnard, Freddie King, Lonnie Mack, Johnny Smith, Django Reinhardt, George Barnes, Billy Byrd, Leon Rhodes, Barney Kessel, Tal Farlow, Buddy Holly, Tiny Grimes, Oscar Moore, Les Paul, Scotty Moore
He just turned 30, but guitarist Graham Tichy has the résumé of a seasoned rock-&-roll journeyman. To witness Tichy rip off a solo—alternating gorgeous, rolling runs with bright jabs and uncannily nimble fretwork—is to witness the young, raw spirit of the instrument as it was heard in Sun Studios or some vaunted Nashville session in the '50s. It is history distilled in a jumble of notes.
Tichy has lit up stages across the U.S. and Europe, laying out his nimble licks for such rockabilly legends as Wanda Jackson (the undisputed queen of the genre) and Robert Gordon. He has also toured and released records as a member of three top-notch rockabilly units, Detroit's Bones Maki & the Sun Dodgers, Albany, NY, rock & rollers the Lustre Kings, and his own band, Rocky Velvet.
In addition, he sat in for Bill Kirchen during the long-awaited Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen reunion shows in 2004, including two sold-out performances in San Francisco. Graham's dad, John, had made his own name as a founding member of that group all those years ago, but it was Graham's pure talent that got him the gig, not just family connections.
The Commander himself was moved to proclaim in the San Francisco Chronicle that Graham was "the new rockabilly whiz-kid guitar player…he plays like James Burton used to play with Elvis in the '60s." (Graham and his dad, an esteemed professor of mechanical engineering, still frequently share the stage together.)
The Rockabilly Hall of Fame has deemed Graham one the "hottest, most capable guitarists" in the field, while Metroland, the newsweekly of NY's Capital Region (Albany, Schenectady, Troy, Saratoga), crowned him Best Guitarist in 2003. A cover story in the same publication in 2004 stated, "Tichy is the kind of player who whips your head around. . .whether you’re a record geek, tracing obscure strains of forgotten geniuses like Cliff Gallup and Joe Maphis in Tichy’s tones, or just out to have a good time and feeling yourself tugged out onto the dance floor by the classic spirit in his playing."
Graham has also released a solo 45 on Wild Boar Records that includes his calling card, the dizzying, hillbilly-meets-Ventures instro "Graham Cracker Boogie," and he still frequently plays in Albany's Rocky Velvet, the rockabilly kingpins that he grew up with and cut his teeth in back in the '90s. You can also frequently catch Graham onstage with another Albany-area native, Los Straitjackets guitarist Eddie Angel.
In addition to his playing, Tichy is a respected guitar teacher, and his vocabulary and encyclopedic knowledge of the instrument and theory feed into both his training and playing. Tichy has filtered a whole generation of sometimes forgotten players into his technique—players like Hank Garland, Jimmy Bryant, and Cliff Gallup to name a few.
Tichy has links to the past, present, and future of rock & roll. He is a world-class player with years ahead of him and untapped regions to explore.
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Introducing the Shakin Bakers - Friday September 18 to Benefit the Arts Center of the Capital Region - Swing Dance Lesson by Jason Fenton at 7:00PM, Show at 8:00 - Swing, Jump Blues and Chess Era Blues featuring Graham Tichy of Rocky Velvet, Ted Hennessy (The Doornails and Rockin Bonnevilles) John Ellis (Foy Bros and Rockin Bonnevilles) and Pete Fambacco (Blue Hand Luke)
Thanks for the ad. Great job on the Barry Galbraith arrangements too. I got both those books. I love his playing. Especially on the Hal Mckusick, and George Russell sessions.
Catch That Rockabilly Fever by Sheree Homer is a candid account of life on the road and in the studio with '50s legends and today's talent. These are personal stories told by the artists themselves. It's a soft cover biography that will be published in October 2009 by McFarland Publishers and retail for $39.95. It will have never before seen photos (strictly 1950's photos of the legends) and rare stories from the artists themselves. Catch That Rockabilly Fever will be approximately 350 pages in length. It will be unlike any other rockabilly book on the market since it will include some of today's hottest young talent plus insightful stories from 1950's backing musicians and engineers for the first time, such as James Kirkland (Bob Luman, Ricky Nelson), Richie Frost (Ricky Nelson), Steve Handford (Bobby Lee Trammell), Tony Austin (Rock and Roll Trio), Stanley Walker (Ray Smith), Bobby Poe (Wanda Jackson), Vernon Sandusky (Big Al Downing) and Bob Sullivan (KWKH/Louisiana Hayride). Foreword by acclaimed writer Ken Burke. These forty-six artists will have individual profiles and one glamorous photo per musician: Glen Glenn, Lew Williams, Art Adams, Elvis Presley, Ricky Nelson, Bob Luman, Ed Bruce, Dickey Lee, Jack Earls, Hayden Thompson, Maddox Brothers and Rose, Sonny Burgess, Carl Mann, Ray Smith, Johnny Powers, Larry Donn, Pat Cupp, Ronnie Hawkins, Bobby Lee Trammell, Huelyn Duvall, Gene Summers, Sonny West, Buddy Holly, The Collins Kids, Wanda Jackson, Charlie Gracie, Big Al Downing, Laura Lee Perkins, The Rock and Roll Trio, Narvel Felts, The Dave and Deke Combo, Kim Lenz, Go Cat Go, High Noon, Larry Cole, Cari Lee Merritt, Josie Kreuzer, Eddie Clendening, Suzy and Buddy Dughi, The Casey Sisters, Carl Sonny Leyland, Dawn Shipley, Sue Moreno, Ruby Ann, and Tex Rubinowitz.
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