NO DISCO FOR DERRINGER
From a real Midwestern mentality that does not even encompass the possibility of making It In show business.
Leaders blaze. Self-determined and destined towards a goal at an early age, they know—well, kind of know, sense it in their bones and all—how to follow through. Presented with a guitar on his ninth birthday ("an electric Harmony or somethin' "), Rick Derringer aimed to follow his Uncle Jim Thornton's fingertips—playing guitar in the country-pop, early 'lectric guitar mold. Being a great fan of Les Paul, Django Reinhardt, and Merle Travis, Rick's Uncle Jim influenced him earliest.
But, just as essential to the "organic path" of Rick Derringer's lifework could be his boyhood aversion to any organization larger than a rock group—either the Pop-R&B McCoys a-rockin' in the mid-late 60's, or the bloozy Johnny Winter And. or the keen noisome adventurings of the Edgar Winter group.
