Today we remember the late great blues man Albert Collins (October 1, 1932 – November 24, 1993) an American electric blues guitarist and singer with a distinctive guitar style. Collins was noted for his powerful playing and his use of altered tunings and capo. His long association with the Fender Telecaster led to the title The Master of the Telecaster. Albert Collins was born in Leona, Texas, on 1 October 1932. He was introduced to the guitar at an early age through his cousin Lightnin Hopkins, also a Leona resident, who frequently played at family associations (reunions). In 1938 his family relocated to Marquez, Texas, eventually settling in Houston, Texas, in 1941 where he later attended Jack Yates High School. Collins initially took piano lessons when he was young but during periods when his piano tutor was unavailable his cousin Willow Young would loan him his guitar and taught Collins the altered tuning that he used throughout his career. At the age of twelve, he made the decision to concentrate on learning the guitar after hearing Boogie Chillen by John Lee Hooker. At eighteen Collins started his own group called the Rhythm Rockers in which he honed his craft while remaining in employment including four years working on a ranch in Normangee, Texas, followed by twelve years of driving a truck for various companies. Collins initially played an Epiphone guitar during his first two years with the Rhythm Rockers but in 1952 after seeing Clarence Gatemouth Brown playing a Fender Esquire he decided to purchase a Fender. Collins had wanted to buy a Telecaster but due to their cost he opted instead to buy an Esquire which he then took to the Parker Music Company in Houston to have it fitted with a genuine Telecaster neck; this would remain his main guitar up until his move to California and the guitar that he used on his earliest recordings including his signature song Frosty. (For the rest of his career he played a Fender Telecaster with a Humbucker pickup retrofitted into the neck position.) In 1954 Collins, then aged 22 and still without a record release, was joined in the Rhythm Rockers by the 17 year old Johnny Copeland who had just left the Dukes of Rhythm (a band he had started with Houston blues musician Joe Guitar Hughes). After a three-month battle with cancer, Albert Collins died at his Las Vegas, Nevada home on November 24, 1993. He was 61. Surviving him were his wife, Gwendolyn, and his father, Andy Thomas. Albert Collins was an inspiration to a generation of Texas guitar players including Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimmie Vaughan. He was amongst a small group of Texas blues players, along with Johnny Guitar Watson and Johnny Copeland, who together shaped the legacy of T-Bone Walker into a modern blues template that was to have a major influence on many later players. From an interview with Robert Cray in Guitar World magazine: ...it was seeing Albert Collins at a rock festival in 1969 that really turned his head around. Two years later, Collins played at Crays high school graduation party in Tacoma, Washington, and the ice-pick sound really sunk in deep. That was it,” Cray recalls. That changed my whole life around. From that moment I started seriously studying the blues. Collins is remembered for his informal and audience-engaging live performances. He would frequently leave the stage whilst still playing to mingle with the audience. The use of an extended guitar lead allowed Collins to go outside of clubs to the sidewalk; one anecdote stated that he left a club with the audience in tow to visit the store next door to buy a candy bar without once stopping his act. He is also remembered for his humorous stage presence, which is recounted in the documentary Antones: Austins Home of the Blues: Collins was playing a lengthy solo one night at Antones and left the building whilst still playing. Collins returned to the stage still playing the solo and resumed entertaining the audience in person. Shortly afterwards a man arrived at the club and gave Collins the pizza which he had just ordered.
Posted on: Mon, 24 Nov 2014 06:22:02 +0000