AS well as Longhorn cattle, Texas seems to breed world class guitarists. Rocky Athas is one of them and on Friday, April 22, he will be appearing at the Queen's Hall with his band The Rocky Athas Group. Rocky grew up playing guitar with his pal Stevie Ray Vaughan. By age 23, Rocky was honoured as one of the 10 best guitarists in Texas, as an inductee to Buddy Magazine's Texas Tornadoes. Stevie Ray Vaughan would receive his induction two years later. Rocky holds this honor with such noted guitarists as ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons, Eric Johnson, Johnny Winter and Jimmy Vaughan. Rocky wasn't only recognized by Texas musicians. Thin Lizzy wrote the song 'Cocky Rocky' after hearing Rocky play one night at Mother Blues, a local Dallas club. Queen guitarist Brian May was also on hand for those performances and was so floored by Rocky's finger-tapping style that he incorporated it on the next Queen album. May later revealed that it was Rocky who first introduced him to the style, well before Eddie Van Halen became known for this. By the early '80s, Rocky's fame in the States was such that Guild introduced the Rocky Athas I guitar, and Gibson honored Rocky by making him the only non-record label endorsee in the company's history. As well as working as a session guitarist for Polygram records out of Memphis Ardent Studios, he co-wrote songs with former Deep Purple/Trapeze vocalist Glenn Hughes and released an album called 'Tommy Bolin: 1997 Tribute'. This album's release was followed by a US tour. His last cd 'Miracle' was featured by Euron Griffiths as his album of the week on Radio Wales' Thursday evening programme Trueblues. He has just finished a new album which will be available for his Queen's Hall gig. Rocky will be raising the roof with his all Texas band, including the superb vocalist Larry Samford. Not to be missed! Support on the night will be from local band Cottonmouth. Doors open 8 pm, performance starts 8.30 pm. Advance tickets from the Queen's Hall box office on 01834 861212.
