Rory Gallagher Blues Rock / Co. Cork

Since his death Rory’s reputation has grown. Perhaps its only with the passing of the time that the sheer scope and immensity of his achievements can be assessed. A true original his resolutely ordinary working man image, the unvarnished consistency of his art (and his paint stripped Strat!) appears all the more extraordinary in the era of media saturation. In 2003 the posthumously released ‘Wheels Within Wheels’ album provided another career highlight, focusing on the acoustic side of Rory’s art featuring collaborations with Martin Carthy, Bert Jansch, Lonnie Donegan, Flamenco great Juan Martin and The Dubliners. This year sees the first ever release of the abandoned 1978 album recorded in America ‘Notes From San Francisco’. Rory’s memory lives on across the globe, in the memory of those who experienced his shows and met him. Legions are the fans who , like a young aspiring Manchester guitarist Johnny Marr in the early 70s, cherished meeting Rory and came away walking on air. More than once in the heat of a show where stage invasions were commonplace the Strat would be handed to an audience member for a quick strum. The feeling he could create in a hall in Belfast or Montreux, in London or LA, you couldn’t ask anymore from a gig, really.

Gallagher is commemorated throughout Ireland, a bronze statue in Ballyshannon, a sculpture in Cork where the local theatre is named after him, a mounted guitar in Dublin, a plaque in Belfast and his famously battered paint stripped Sunburst strat has been marketed by Fender in a tribute model. There’s a Rue Rory Gallagher in Paris, an annual festival in Ireland and tribute concerts held each year in his honour around the world. Rory’s story, it seems, will not end. Readily accessible on awe inspiring live performances preserved on a wealth of DVDs, a comprehensively curated official website and remastered recordings – a legacy lovingly maintained by his family, brother Donal and nephew Daniel, his music remains ready to inspire and thrill generations old and new.

Rory Gallagher died too young with much still to achieve and offer but the wealth and quality of the material he produced in his lifetime insures his ever questing, hungry spirit lives on.