Lenny Breau’s story includes enough talent and tragedy that he should have enjoyed the same type of career revival as Nick Drake or Rodriguez.
His parents, Hal and Betty, were a country music duo. For a while, Lenny was part of the family’s act, but as soon as he was exposed to jazz it was the only path he was going to follow.
Breau absolutely tunnelled into his craft, honing his finger-picked style and becoming the type of guitarist that famous guitarists admire. Steve Vai, Andy Summers, Pat Metheny, George Benson, and a long line of others get glassy-eyed and speak humbly of their own talents when talking about Breau. Chet Atkins called him “the greatest guitar player ever,” and added that “if Chopin had played the guitar, he would have sounded like Lenny Breau.”
Unfortunately for the mainstream, Breau was never much of a fame-chaser. He played some sessions and made his living, Breau’s genius was mainly recognized only by his contemporaries.
Unfortunately for Lenny, he was hampered by drug addiction for much of his creative life.
Sometime in the mid-1970s, his friend Glen McDonald took him to a secluded off-grid cabin for some downtime as a way to help him shed his addiction; it was apparently here where the album “Cabin Fever” was recorded, though it wouldn’t be released until 1997.
On August 12, 1984, Lenny Breau was found dead in the rooftop pool of his apartment building in Los Angeles. You’d be forgiven for assuming it was a drug overdose, but it wasn’t; in fact, friends report that he had largely turned a corner on his addiction by that point and was re-focused on music. The investigation revealed that he had been strangled and then dumped into the pool. His wife at the time – who was reportedly often violent towards Lenny – was the prime suspect, but with no evidence to move forward, the case of Breau’s murder was never solved.
Lenny Breau’s daughter, Emily Hughes, released a documentary about him in 1999 – right around the time that Nick Drake and Rodriguez were being rediscovered – but Breau’s music remains tucked away in the category of “your favourite musician’s favourite musician.”
What makes this a beautiful song:
1. The melody is simple and plaintive.
2. Technically, it’s not overly complex, and he was certainly capable of much more “difficult” music. But one of the things most friends remember about him is his humility.
3. It ends abruptly. Not quite mid-phrase, but one gets the impression of a thought left incomplete.
Recommended listening activity:
Reading a book you’ve already read, but have mostly forgotten.