Rory Gallagher’s iconic 1961 Fender Stratocaster recently fetched more than $1 million at auction, but the bigger news is that the guitar will remain in Ireland.
This was a perfect excuse to spotlight the incredible career of Gallagher and that’s exactly what happened on the Nov. 9 edition of Greasy Tracks.
The program was co-hosted by Vintage Guitar correspondent/Mambo Sons guitarist Tom Guerra. Here’s the archive, while a playlist is here.
It was a deep-dive in Gallagher’s catalog, including tracks from the recently released 18-disc collection of Rory live at BBC. Best-known for his electric playing, the feature included a number of acoustic tracks by Gallagher to highlight his oft-overlooked ability on “wooden” instruments!
Insight was provided by those who knew and played with Rory as well as an industry expert who has vast experience acquiring instruments for one of the world’s largest, most wide-ranging collections.
Those interviewed included: Dónal Gallagher and Daniel Gallagher — Rory’s brother and nephew, respectively — who have overseen the guitarist’s estate; bassist Gerry McAvoy who spent nearly 20 years playing with Rory; and Marc Johnson, chief guitar curator of the Jim Irsay Collection .
While Irsay’s collection is widely regarded as one of the finest on the planet, a largely overlooked part of his passion for music is his family’s charity, Kicking The Stigma, which focuses on mental health and drug addiction treatment awareness.
Reponse to the feature was been outstanding. One listener wrote: “Rory Gallagher was beyond guitar solos. He made me proud to be Irish!”