The Greatest Unknown Guitar Player

Birth Name:

Leroy Buchanan

Birth Date:

September 23, 1939

Birth Place:

Ozark, Arkansas

Death Date:

August 14, 1988

Place of Death:

Fairfax County Jail, 4000 Chain Bridge Road, Fairfax, Virginia

Age:

Cause of Death:

Suicide - hanging (disputed)

Cemetery Name:

Columbia Garden Cemetery

Claim to Fame:

Music

Roy Buchanan was an blues guitarist and a pioneer of the Telecaster sound, Buchanan worked as a sideman and as a solo artist, with two gold albums early in his career and two later solo albums that made it to the Billboard chart. Guitar Player praised him as having one of the "50 Greatest Tones of All Time." Sweet Dreams, released in 1972, remains the finest moment in the career of the man who was damned with the accolade ‘the guitarist’s guitarist’. Lauded by the likes of Jeff Beck, Gary Moore (who covered the blues-rock thriller The Messiah Will Come Again) and, more recently, Joe Bonamassa, Buchanan never attained any real fame or fortune during his lifetime. These days he’s as infamous for apparently turning down an offer to join the Rolling Stones and his mysterious death in a Virginia jail cell in 1988 as he is for his music. Yet Buchanan’s legacy as a guitarist punches way above that of many of the rock stars who held him in such high regard.

Was Roy Buchanan Murdered?

At Buchanan’s funeral, one former band member recalled that Judy opened the coffin for them. His face was full of bruises, leaving little doubt that the officers beat him to death, and then covered it up. An autopsy showed circular bruising on the top of his head indicating a beating and physical abuse had taken place.

It is important to note that several suspicious deaths declared a suicide happened both before and after Buchanan’s mysterious death. None of these deaths were ever investigated.

Cemetery Information:

Final Resting Place:

Columbia Garden Cemetery

3411 Arlington Blvd

Arlington, Virginia, 22201

USA

North America

Map:

Map of Columbia Garden Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia

Grave Location:

Section C

Grave Location Description

As you enter the cemetery veer left at the fork in the road and then turn left onto Azalea Road at Oak Hill Road. Drive 300 feet to the black marble bench on the left and park in front of the Hilleary monument. Walk to the top of the hill and look to the right for the black marble monument that indicates the final resting place of Roy Buchanan.