Speak/Sing Native™ Artist Archive
Link Wray (1929-2005)
Shawnee ancestry
Musical Influence Award, 2023 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
“Link Wray was the original punk, the inventor of the power chord and the architect of a sound that laid the foundation for metal, punk, and every genre that relies on raw, untamed noise to convey its message. Every young rebel who has donned a leather jacket and slashed away at an electric guitar with loud, distorted abandon owes a significant debt to Wray.” - Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 2023
“LINK WRAY - THE LIFELONG JOURNEYMAN’S INCENDIARY SOUND SET THE STANDARD FOR ROCK & ROLL GUITAR”. BY DAVID FRICKE
“It’s as simple as this. There was rock & roll guitar before Rumble – the fleet, country picking and blues intonation of Scotty Moore at Sun Records for Elvis Presley; the jubilant precedent in Chuck Berry’s chugging twang and spikes of treble; Cliff Gallup’s stabbing poise and slashing precision with Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps.
“But then there’s everything that happened after Rumble, Link Wray’s seismic 1958 single, the most influential and enduring rock-guitar instrumental of all time: the serial revolutions in riffing, distortion, and power chords; the cycle of thrills in garage rock, psychedelia, heavy metal, and punk; the full six-string alphabet of mayhem from AC/DC to ZZ Top.
“Released by Cadence Records in March 1958, Wray’s slow-rolling fury of crusted fuzz, tremolo shiver, and pummeling, staccato strum was a ton of prophecy in two minutes and twenty-three seconds – and so irresistible in its audacity that it went to Number Sixteen on Billboard’s Hot 100 despite widespread banning at AM radio because of the implied juvenile violence in the title.
“For that censure alone – a remarkable achievement for a record without lyrics – Link Wray has long deserved induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, an absence finally addressed with his entry this year as a Musical Influence…. (continue story here).”
“Fred Lincoln 'Link' Wray Jr. ... was an American guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist who became popular in the late 1950s. His 1958 instrumental single Rumble reached the top 20 in the United States; and was one of the earliest songs in rock music to utilize distortion and tremolo.
“Rolling Stone ranked Wray at No. 45 on its list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. He received two nominations for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, prior to being inducted in the Musical Influence category in 2023.” (Source: Wikipedia)
Professional Information
Inventor of the guitar power chord and major influence on the use of feedback.
“Rumble (the song) made an indelible mark on the whole evolution of where rock and roll was going to go.” - Robbie Robertson
Between 1958 and 2019, Link Wray released nearly 40 singles, 24 albums as a leader, 23 compilation albums, and 3 albums with rockabilly singer Robert Gordon. These are his albums:
Albums as a leader
1960 US Link Wray & The Wraymen
1962 US Great Guitar Hits by Link Wray and His Raymen
1963 US Jack the Ripper
1964 US Link Wray Sings and Plays Guitar
1969 US Yesterday – Today
1971 US Link Wray
1971 US Mordicai Jones
1973 US Beans and Fatback
1973 US Be What You Want To
1974 US The Link Wray Rumble
1974 US Listen to the Voices That Want to Be Free [reissued in 2013 as Rumble & Roll]
1975 US Stuck in Gear
1979 US Bullshot
1980 US Live at the Paradiso [Amsterdam]
1985 UK Live in '85
1989 DE Born to Be Wild: Live in the U.S.A. 1987
1989 UK Rumble Man
1990 UK Apache
1990 UK Wild Side of the City Lights
1993 DK Indian Child
1997 US Shadowman
1997 US Walking Down a Street Called Love [live]
2000 UK Barbed Wire
2019 UK Link Sings Elvis
Compilations
1978 UK Link Wray: Early Recordings
1982 UK Good Rockin' Tonight
1987 UK Growling Guitar
1989 UK The Original Rumble: Plus 22 Other Storming Guitar Instrumentals
1989 UK The Swan Demos '64 [reissued in 2005 as Law of the Jungle!
1990 UK Jack The Ripper [reissued in 1994, and again in 2005]
1990 US Hillbilly Wolf: Missing Links Vol. 1
1990 US Big City After Dark: Missing Links Vol. 2
1990 US Some Kinda Nut: Missing Links Vol. 3
1992 US Walkin' With Link
1993 US Rumble! The Best of Link Wray
1995 US Guitar Preacher: The Polydor Years [2CD]
1995 US Mr. Guitar: Original Swan Recordings [2CD]
1997 US Streets of Chicago: Missing Links Volume 4
1997 UK Robert Gordon with Link Wray / Fresh Fish Special [2-LP-on-1-CD
1997 UK The Swan Singles Collection 1963–1967 [reissued in 2004]
2002 US Slinky! The Epic Sessions '58–'61 [2CD]
2002 UK Law of the Jungle
2004 UK "They're Outta Here", Says Archie [recorded in 1958]
2006 US White Lightning: Lost Cadence Sessions [recorded in 1958]
2007 UK King of the Wild Guitar
2007 UK The Pathway Sessions (includes the albums: Apache, Wild Side of the City Lights)
2015 UK 3-Track Shack [2CD] (includes the albums: Link Wray, Mordicai Jones, Beans and Fatback)
Between 1958 and 2019, Link Wray released nearly 40 singles, 24 albums as a leader, 23 compilation albums, and 3 albums with rockabilly singer Robert Gordon. These are his albums:
Albums as a leader
1960 US Link Wray & The Wraymen
1962 US Great Guitar Hits by Link Wray and His Raymen
1963 US Jack the Ripper
1964 US Link Wray Sings and Plays Guitar
1969 US Yesterday – Today
1971 US Link Wray
1971 US Mordicai Jones
1973 US Beans and Fatback
1973 US Be What You Want To
1974 US The Link Wray Rumble
1974 US Listen to the Voices That Want to Be Free [reissued in 2013 as Rumble & Roll]
1975 US Stuck in Gear
1979 US Bullshot
1980 US Live at the Paradiso [Amsterdam]
1985 UK Live in '85
1989 DE Born to Be Wild: Live in the U.S.A. 1987
1989 UK Rumble Man
1990 UK Apache
1990 UK Wild Side of the City Lights
1993 DK Indian Child
1997 US Shadowman
1997 US Walking Down a Street Called Love [live]
2000 UK Barbed Wire
2019 UK Link Sings Elvis
Compilations
1978 UK Link Wray: Early Recordings
1982 UK Good Rockin' Tonight
1987 UK Growling Guitar
1989 UK The Original Rumble: Plus 22 Other Storming Guitar Instrumentals
1989 UK The Swan Demos '64 [reissued in 2005 as Law of the Jungle!
1990 UK Jack The Ripper [reissued in 1994, and again in 2005]
1990 US Hillbilly Wolf: Missing Links Vol. 1
1990 US Big City After Dark: Missing Links Vol. 2
1990 US Some Kinda Nut: Missing Links Vol. 3
1992 US Walkin' With Link
1993 US Rumble! The Best of Link Wray
1995 US Guitar Preacher: The Polydor Years [2CD]
1995 US Mr. Guitar: Original Swan Recordings [2CD]
1997 US Streets of Chicago: Missing Links Volume 4
1997 UK Robert Gordon with Link Wray / Fresh Fish Special [2-LP-on-1-CD
1997 UK The Swan Singles Collection 1963–1967 [reissued in 2004]
2002 US Slinky! The Epic Sessions '58–'61 [2CD]
2002 UK Law of the Jungle
2004 UK "They're Outta Here", Says Archie [recorded in 1958]
2006 US White Lightning: Lost Cadence Sessions [recorded in 1958]
2007 UK King of the Wild Guitar
2007 UK The Pathway Sessions (includes the albums: Apache, Wild Side of the City Lights)
2015 UK 3-Track Shack [2CD] (includes the albums: Link Wray, Mordicai Jones, Beans and Fatback)
Rock, rockabilly
musician, songwriter, bandleader
Guitar, Vocals
Video
- various artists
Rumble documentary trailer Part One - various artists
Venue:
Format: Documentary
Duration: 3:23
- Link Wray
Link Wray "Rawhide" - Link Wray
Venue: Saturday Night Beech-Nut Show
Format: Live
Duration: 2:20
- Link Wray
Rumble - Link Wray
Venue: Live at Winterland, San Francisco
Format: Live
Duration: 3:11
The only instrumental song to be banned from radio play.
- Link Wray
LINK WRAY - North Carolina Music Hall of Fame 2014 Inductee - Link Wray
Venue: North Carolina Music Hall of Fame
Format: Official
Duration: 4:40
Tribal Information
Shawnee
also known as "Shawnee"
The Three Shawnee Tribes
The Shawnee are a Native American people of the Northeastern Woodlands. Their
language, Shawnee, is an Algonquian language.
Today, Shawnee people are enrolled in three federally recognized tribes, the Absentee-
Shawnee Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma, Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma, and
Shawnee Tribe, all headquartered in Oklahoma.
“The Absentee Shawnee Tribe gained their “absentee” distinction because their groups
were not present at the signing of the 1854 treaty for a Kansas Reservation. Instead of
settling on surplus lands in Kansas, these Absentee Shawnees had opted to migrate
into Indian Territory (Oklahoma) or Mexico territory (Texas).”
Absentee-Shawnee Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma
Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma
Shawnee Tribe
Article 6 of the U.S. Constitution (the Supremacy Clause)
“This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.”Rumble Documentary Part One Rumble Documentary Part Two
Up Where We Belong: Native Musicians in Popular Culture, National Museum of the American Indian