Davey Graham - Influence

Influence

Although he never achieved great commercial success (and indeed perhaps did not seek it), Graham's music received positive critical feedback, and has proved to be influential. He has inspired folk revival artists and fellow players such as Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, Martin Carthy, Ralph McTell, Wizz Jones, John Martyn, Nick Drake and Paul Simon: Folk Rock bands such as Fairport Convention and Pentangle also show his influence. In the 1980s there were British guitar bands such as The Smiths, whose guitarist Johnny Marr has cited Davey Graham as a big influence. In 2009, the Graham Coxon album The Spinning Top was cited by NME as being influenced by the finger-picking style of Graham.

Though Graham is commonly referred to as a folk musician, the diversity of his music ranges in many different directions. Strong influence from genres such as blues, jazz and Middle Eastern music is evident throughout his work.

Martin Carthy described Graham as "an extraordinary, dedicated player, the one everyone followed and watched - I couldn't believe anyone could play like that" while Bert Jansch claimed that he was "courageous and controversial - he never followed the rules. He was a hard man to hold a conversation with, but he knew how to play the guitar." Ray Davies maintained that the guitarist was "the greatest blues players I ever saw, apart from Big Bill Broonzy".

According to George Chkiantz, "What impressed me with Davy Graham...was he played the guitar fretboard somehow as if it was a keyboard. There was a kind of freedom. You weren't conscious of him using chord shapes at all: his fingers just seemed to run around with complete freedom on the fretboard."