My introduction to Danny Gatton came via a March 1989 Guitar Player Magazine cover story titled, “The Greatest Unknown Guitar Player,” written by acclaimed music journalist Dan Forte. 
At the time, I made a mental note of Gatton’s name but didn’t pursue his music or live concerts. It wasn’t until about two years later, on April 14 th , 1991, when my best buddy, Scott Jordan, and I went to a Danny Gatton gig at Pearl Street Nightclub in Northampton, MA. It was,
unquestionably, the greatest guitar performance I’d ever seen.  Danny shredded like only he can do, opening up the set with “Funky Mama,” “Gold Rush” and “Blues Newburg,” before switching from his signature model Fender Telecaster to his trusty 1954 Gibson ES 295 for a medley of Elvis tunes. The entire show was simply spectacular, and Scott and I stuck around afterwards to grab Danny’s autograph and meet the guy who had just melted my face like no guitarist had ever done before.

The morning after the Pearl Street show, I woke up feeling like there was an electrical current pulsing through my body.  The show had completely blown my mind and had me convinced I’d witnessed the greatest guitar player of all time.  I was gob smacked. So much so that I (embarrassingly) wrote Danny a fanboy letter telling him he was the greatest guitar player that’s ever lived.  That was the first (and last) time I’d ever written to a musician.  My deep dive into Danny Gatton’s music had just begun and has continued, unabated, for 34 years and counting. 

 

The first order of business was to get my hands on any and all available Danny Gatton music.  At the time, Danny’s mom, Norma, operated NRG Records out of her home in Alpharetta, GA. This was the pre-Internet days, so I called up Norma, chatted for over an hour, then purchased all the merchandise she had – Danny and the Fat Boys, Redneck Jazz, Unfinished Business, a few t-shirts and a cassette tape.  Norma was a genuine salt of the earth sweetheart. She loved talking about her son as much as I loved hearing about him.  We spoke monthly for years.  I used to tease Norma by telling her I was Danny’s No. 1 fan.  She’d chuckle and tell me I was No. 2.  She worked tirelessly to help Danny’s career, and I tried to help her in any way I could.  At one point I called her phone company and set up a toll-free number (1-888-4Gatton) to make it easier for people to buy Danny’s music.  I also set her up with a credit card company to process payments so customers wouldn’t have to mail her a check and wait for it to clear before they could get their merchandise. Norma once called me upset that the “crook distributors owe me money and aren’t paying.”  I called them on her behalf,  and shortly thereafter they sent her the money she was owed.  In a way, I felt like I was helping out my surrogate grandmother.

In late November of 1991, Danny had a gig scheduled at the legendary Birchmere Music Hall in Alexandria, VA.  I called the club a few days in advance to see if I could buy a ticket for the upcoming Saturday, November 30th, show.  The gentleman who answered the phone brusquely responded, “Sorry, we don’t do tickets over the phone.”  Dejected, I said, “Ugh, I’m driving 8 hours for the show, and I don’t want to get shut out.” He asked, “Why are you driving 8 hours??”  I responded, “Because you’ve got the greatest guitar player that’s ever lived playing at your club and I need to see him.”  “OK…when you get here, there will be a huge line.  Cut to the front and ask for me, my name is Michael.”

The night of the show, after driving 8 hours from CT to VA, I dutifully did as I was instructed and cut the massive line outside the club.  I saw someone taking tickets at the door and hesitantly asked, “Are you Michael?” He responded, “Glenn? Follow me.”  He proceeded to walk me through the packed club to a table he’d set up for me directly in front of Danny’s mic. Unbelievable.  Danny, of course, was brilliant that night and put on his typical jaw-dropping performance. About 15 minutes after the show ended, a voice came over the loudspeaker and announced, “OK folks, show’s over…raise your glasses and move your asses…everyone’s got to go.  Except Glenn.  Glenn can stay.”  At this point I’m in disbelief and Michael, who I’ve now deemed the coolest guy ever, walks over and says, “You wanna meet Danny?” OMG.  Am I dreaming? Michael says, “Head to the bar – Danny’s cooling down backstage and will be out in a bit.”

I do as I’m told and about 10 minutes later, out walks Danny and we spend the next ½ hour sipping beers and talking cars and music.  Interestingly, he asked me what I played and when I told him I’m not a guitar player, his attitude changed.  He was friendly and gracious before the question, but when he found out I wasn’t the 500 th guitar player asking him about string gauges, chord changes, harmonics, and so on, he noticeably perked up.  I sensed that he really appreciated that a normal citizen, a non-guitar player, truly loved his music.

I got to see Danny play live several more times before he tragically passed away in October of 1994. I can’t begin to express my righteous indignation and, frankly, disbelief that Danny is not acknowledged as the Greatest Guitar Player of All Time.  His extensive, unparalleled catalog of recordings supports the claim.  Rockabilly, jazz, country, rock-n-roll, blues…you name it – he was better than anyone that’s ever picked up a guitar.  To quote Richard Harrington’s 1991 Washington Post profile article, “Danny Gatton can play anyone’s music – no one can play his.” Acclaimed blues/rock guitarist, Joe Bonamassa, took lessons from Gatton when he was 12 years old and later posted on social media that Gatton “just happened to be the best overall guitarist this country ever produced.”

In 1995, during one of my monthly catch-up calls with Norma, I asked her if she’d ever heard of the Humbler bootleg tape.  “Sure.  People ask me about it all the time.” The Humbler was a legendary bootleg cassette of a show Danny played in 1981 at the Berkeley Square nightclub in Berkeley, CA, with rockabilly singer, Robert Gordon. The clandestine bootleg tape caught fire in guitar circles and was shared amongst aficionados nationwide.  I had acquired a poor-quality cassette of the show, yet was blown away by Danny’s otherworldly playing, and encouraged Norma to release it on her record label, but she demurred.  “I’m too old and I’m too busy working on a new record called Caviar and Grits.”

“Norma,” I pleaded, “this record needs to be released.  It’s so good it can’t be ignored. It will be your best-selling record ever.  If you’ll agree to put it out on your label, I’ll produce it, write the liner notes, do all the legwork, market it, and you can keep all the profits – deal?” “Really??”  I assured her, and in September of 1996, Norma released The Humbler cd on NRG Records. I’d never produced a record before but knew that getting reviews in national magazines would significantly boost sales, so I sent out hundreds of copies to every major newspaper and music magazine in the county, as well as mailing copies to all 190 Tower Record Store managers worldwide. In addition, I acquired the home addresses of all the sales reps of Bayside and DNA, who were the two major distributors used by NRG Records. I then mailed each of them a copy of the Humbler cd. I also made hundreds of follow-up phone calls to reviewers to confirm they received the cd and ask them when they would be reviewing it. I suspect some agreed to review it just so I’d stop calling them. My goal was to create a massive buzz in the guitar world, and thanks to dozens and dozens of universally glowing reviews, that happened. Rolling Stone called it “a welcome addition to the official legacy of an American Master of the Telecaster.” Musician magazine opined, “You can practically feel the sizzle coming off the speakers…it may be some of the best guitar playing on record.” Vintage Guitar magazine called it “an absolute must have…Incendiary.”  The record went on to sell 25,000 copies before eventually going out of print. It soon became, as I’d predicted, Norma’s biggest selling record.

On May 19 th , 2001, the Gatton family held an estate sale at their farm in Charles County, MD. One of the items listed in the event’s advertisement was a box of assorted cassettes which were labeled as “garage jams, live shows, studio outtakes, etc.” I figured that box had to contain some amazing unreleased material for potential future albums. I called the auction house a week prior to the sale and asked, “I’m flying down for that box of cassettes, can you please not auction them until I have a chance to bid?”  They agreed. I flew to Baltimore, picked up a rental car and anxiously made the two-hour drive to the Gatton farm.  It was raining buckets when I arrived. I quickly tracked down the auctioneer who told me that the cassettes were pulled from the auction. 

I digested the heartbreaking news and decided to take cover from the downpour in Danny’s seven car barn.  There were dozens of people milling around inside, looking at old car fenders, gas pumps, typewriters, dishes, etc…you name it, it was in that barn. I walked over to several large filing cabinets and randomly grabbed one of the handles and yanked it open to see what was inside. The drawer pulled open, a huge pile of papers separated and there I was staring down at the fanboy letter I had written to Danny ten years earlier! I screamed, “Holy shit!!” and several people came running over to see what I’d found.  “That’s my letter!” I shouted while pointing at my handwritten note to Danny.  Not surprisingly, the people around me thought I’d lost my mind and quickly went back to sorting through piles of junk looking for something to buy. Unfortunately, I couldn’t buy the box of tapes I’d hoped for, but I certainly had one heck of a story to tell.

Fast forward to 2016. One evening I was scrolling through Facebook and stumbled upon a photo of a guy holding a pinstriped Fender Telecaster in one hand and an old Gibson ES 295 in the other.  The Gibson guitar looked suspiciously familiar, so I messaged the guy in the photo, who turned out to be Nashville singer and musician, Mike Campbell, who goes by the stage name, Sweet Mikey C. “Is that Danny Gatton’s ’54 ES 295 in your profile picture?” I inquired. “Sure is!” he responded.  Mike and I became fast Facebook friends, and a few months later I not-so-subtly messaged him, “If you’re ever looking to sell that rig, I know the guy who will buy it.”  Unfortunately, Mike wasn’t interested in selling his prized guitar, but he said that if he ever changed his mind, he’d let me know.  This was the same guitar that Danny played the very first time I saw him in concert back in May of 1991. In addition, Gatton played it on many recordings as well as on a legendary YouTube video of him and his incredible band, Funhouse, playing at a Holiday Inn brunch gig in Virginia in 1987. The show featured Danny, along with his excellent longtime bass player, Jon Previti, as well as the masterful Barry Hart on drums and the talented Chris Battistone on trumpet. The band played a set of mostly jazz tunes that Danny liked to jokingly refer to as “standard standards.” The video shows the relaxed quartet having fun as they tear through classics such as Wes Montgomery’s “Fried Pies,” Duke Ellington’s “Take The A Train,” and Benny Goodman’s “A Smooth One.”

In May of 2018, I got the phone call from Mike Campbell that I had been dreaming about; he was selling Danny’s historic ES 295 and said, “I’m either selling it to you, or it’s going to auction.”  After briefly discussing this incredible and rare opportunity with my family, we decided to go ahead and purchase the guitar.  I flew down to Nashville on June 12 th , 2018, met up with Mike, and took ownership of Danny’s iconic guitar.  I immediately began thinking about how to put out the famous YouTube Holiday Inn show as a legitimate release. Who recorded the show?  Would they agree to let me release it? Could the not-so-great sound quality be cleaned up and brought back to life? Producing Danny’s legendary Berkeley Square Humbler show with Norma Gatton back in 1996 was the thrill of a lifetime.  Producing a ripping hot Danny Gatton jazz show nearly three decades later that features the guitar I now own?  Unbelievable.
 

For various reasons, it took until 2025 to finally make the new record a reality.  Kinloch Nelson, who originally recorded the show on a cheap Radio Shack condenser microphone, graciously allowed me to use his master recording.  Holly Gatton, Danny’s daughter, supported the project, as well, so the next step was to clean up the sound. The tape was sent to sound engineering legend, Greg Lukens, who worked his magic to make the 38-year-old recording sound incredible.

I chose August 29 th , 2025, as the release date for Danny Gatton and Funhouse - Live at the Holiday Inn 1987, the first new Danny Gatton record in nearly two decades. The date coincided with the annual Danny Gatton Birthday Celebration which is held at the Birchmere Music Hall. Event organizer and DC guitarist, Dave Chappell, suggested I reach out to the club about selling the new cd at the event. He gave me the club’s phone number with the instructions to “Be sure to ask for Michael.” Michael?? Wait…there’s no way. It’s been 34 years…Could it possibly be the same guy who saved a front row table for me back in 1991 and introduced me to Danny? Yup. Amazingly, it was the same guy! Michael Jaworek has been the booking agent for the club for nearly 40 years. It was great to see Michael and thank him again for that incredible evening.
 

In another full-circle turn of events, the talented music journalist who I hired to write the liner notes for the new Holiday Inn Live record is Dan Forte – the very same Dan Forte that wrote the Guitar Player profile article back in 1989, which was my very first introduction to Danny Gatton.
 

Danny’s fans are a loyal and passionate bunch. In the two months since the record was released, I’ve shipped CDs to Gatton fans in Japan, Australia, Holland, Wales, Germany, Scotland, Sweden, England, Norway, Ireland, Canada, and of course, all over the United States.  It’s been an incredible honor to help spread the music of the great Danny Gatton. Thank you for helping to keep his memory alive.
-Glenn Holley