Rory was and still is my favourite blues guitarist – the gentle Irishman has been gone 25 years this Sunday 14 June 2020.
Het Turfschip Breda The Netherlands
26 march 1976
I have been listening to Rory Gallagher before I knew who he was, as older cousins used to listen to him (along with Peter Green & Taj Mahal), I just thought it was great music – and in my late teens I listened constantly to his (and some may say the best live album every produced) Irish Tour ’74 (15 years after it was released, as I was 3 in 1974!)
That was the vinyl that really got me into Rory and I had to try to find every live track he had every done (which of course now is a lot easier since the invention fo the internet).
I was very lucky I got to see him once, but even though his health was failing him, he was still a showman when he picked up his battered old 1961 Fender Stratocaster and played his blues.
Of course his legacy lives on with all those people wanting to play the blues and the Rory Gallagher International Tribute Festival every year, the best way is to just listen to his music.
Here are my favourite Rory songs – so just enjoy the master from Ballyshannon