MUSIC: Shorty's tricks became Jimi's licks

LITTLE ROCK — Few are the guitarists who can credibly claim that they influenced Jimi Hendrix, let alone that Jimi "stole" some of their trademark licks.

Guitar Shorty can make such a claim.

Born David William Kearney in 1939 in Houston, he got his name when he played at age 17 in Walter Johnson's 18-piece orchestra and was noticeably the youngest - and shortest - of the band members. A club owner thus dubbed him Guitar Shorty.

Raised in Kissimmee, Fla., by his grandmother, he had taken up guitar after hearing the sounds of B.B. King and T-Bone Walker. After a performance in Tampa, Shorty was approached by Willie Dixon, who expressed delight and interest in getting Shorty into a Chicago studio, which he did a few weeks later.

Backed by Otis Rush on second guitar, Shorty recorded his first single in 1957 for Cobra Records. When Shorty met another nicknamed player, Guitar Slim, he became inspired by Slim's wild stage antics, and began adding flips and somersaults to his shows.

He played alongside Little Milton, King, Lowell Fulson, Johnny Copeland and Walker as he moved around the country, but eventually settled in Seattle, where he married Marsha Hendrix, Jimi's stepsister.

Shorty, his press materials say, became a strong influence on the young guitarist, who "confessed that in 1961 and 1962 he would go absent without leave from his Army base to catch Shorty's performances."

Shorty later recalled that"He'd stay in the shadows, watching me. I can hear my licks in 'Purple Haze' and 'Hey Joe.' He told me the reason he started setting his guitar on fire was because he couldn't do the back flips like I did."

By 1971, Shorty had moved on to Los Angeles and was working as a mechanic by day and a musician by night. By 1975, he was again a full-time musician, and in 1978, he delivered a winning performance on The Gong Show by playing guitar while standing on his head.

It was not until 1991 that Shorty finally released a debut, full-length album, My Way or the Highway, and the album won the Blues Music Award for"Contemporary Foreign Blues Album of the Year," as it was recorded in England. In 1998, Shorty opened for Ray Charles at the Chicago Blues Festival, and in 2004, he released Watch Your Back, his debut for Chicago blues label Alligator Records.

Guitar Shorty 7 p.m. Sunday (doors open at 6 p.m.), Revolution Room, 300 President Clinton Ave., Little Rock Tickets: $5 for those over age 21; $10 for those between 18 and 21 (501) 823-0090