Danny Draher

If You Want it Done Right

Article reprinted with permission

Vintage Guitar January 2008 http://www.vintageguitar.com/

Nobody has to remind Danny Draher that his new CD, Big Fun Tonite!, took almost two decades to finish. But he makes no apologies for then result.

“I did everything myself,” he said.

When you do things yourself, they get done just the way you want.’

The philosophy ultimately worked to his advantage. “I was able to get jus who I wanted to play on it- people I’ve worked with in different groups and situations. Folks like Dr. John, Bernard Purdie, Wilbur Bascomb, and Mike Clark.” And although he has spent more than 30 years in the music industry , this is his first solo release.

Draher’s’ interest in guitar started as a youngster , when he spent a year studying piano. The Beatles , Stones helped motivate him to move to four and six string instruments. Another push cam e when his family moved to Chicago , from Indianapolis when he was 14.”

“I started to get into the blues.’ he recalled. “I loved Paul Butterfield with Bloomfield and the Mayall with Clapton. Of course there were a lot great clubs and a lot great groups came through . And on the south side, there was so much blues..

My first chance to go there was in my late teens. I found a guy with a car and I hurried up there and ended up working at Buddy Guy’s {club, Legends}! They needed a guitar player in the house band and I lasted about six months!

In the early ‘70’s, Draher played with the Bob Reed Blues Band and had a chance to record for Flying Fish Records. He then toured the “chitlin circuit,” which tried his patience.

“I was in a chow band, working for a bandleader who was cheating us out of money; old school hustle. I didn’t want to dot hat forever.”

A move was in order. ”I thought ,”Well, I’m serious about the gig, so I should move to Los Angeles or New York,” I’d met some of the great New York players at that level , I’d rather go there”.

But the transition didn’t go as smoothly as he’d hoped.

“I wasn’t good enough to play with studio guys, and I wasn’t learning or getting anything from the local guys.” he said. “So I didn’t play a gig fro about two years.’

Draher supported himself by working as a graphic artist until things came together. ‘ I became he guy to call for blues gigs at Tramps and the Lon Star. I’ put a band together for Otis Rush, Charles Brown or Joe Turner.”

Then a call came from Etta James. “Well, I had done all the Etta stuff with my ex-wife, so I did a .long stretch as Etta’s bandleader when she played on the east coast.’

He also connected with old Chicago heroes. “I was able to do a tour with Paul Butterfield. It was a dream come true.’

The highlight of his time in New York was a run with Dr. John’s band. “It was a great band- Hank Crawford, David ”Fathead” Newman, Ronnie Cuber. One the best groups in town. We’d back acts and all the great players would drop by to watch or sit-in.’

Circa 2000, he returned to Chicago, in part to help his ailing mother, and because I needed a change. I did a little tour of the Midwest and said to myself, “I’m not going back.”

When talk turns to guitars, Draher has gone through it all.’ He has numerous guitars, among them a Gibson ES-350, ES345, and a gorgeous L-5 he plays on jazz gigs. When recording or gigging, he sticks with a Fender Tele. “I’ve read reviews that mention my hollow body work when it was a Tele. For jazzy cuts, I just roll the tone all the way back.’ he favors Fender amps like the Deluxe Reverb heard on the new CD. And these days, his effects rack is bare. “I’m so sick of that sound!’ he says. ‘The Strat and eh stomp box. There’s nothing special about it. I use a little reverb, and that’s it.’

Looking to the future, the music vet sees himself continuing to do producing and simply doing what he has always done.

’I jus love to play. I’ll keep touring and playing and I’m always looking for new projects. In fact, right now I’m heading down to a club to see a little Latin band I like.’