Product Description

Gerry McAvoy was Rory's bass player from 1971 through to 1991, the only constant factor on all 14 of Rory's solo albums which sold over 30 million copies worldwide. No-one knew Rory better or was closer to him throughout this most creative period of his life, before serious illness blighted his career.

Gerry is highly regarded as a musician's musician and, as Rory's right-hand man for over 20 years, his career has given him the opportunity to meet and play with a veritable who's who of rock and blues performers - from Muddy Waters, John Mayall and Van Morrison through to Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck, the Rolling Stones, Fleetwood Mac, Deep Purple, Rod Stewart, ZZ Top, Queen, Rush, Eric Clapton, Sting and U2.

In 1991, with Rory's health having deteriorated to the point where he had all but given up touring and recording, Gerry reluctantly left the band to help reform R&B legends Nine Below Zero, with whom he has recorded eight successful albums. Nine Below Zero continue to tour Europe almost incessantly and remain one of the UK's hardest working bands. Gerry was also responsible for creating the Band of Friends - an informal reunion of ex-Rory Gallagher band members who get together several times a year to play tribute concerts and festivals all over Europe, following Rory's tragic death in 1995 at the age of 47.

Riding Shotgun is the story of Gerry McAvoy's life before, with and since Rory Gallagher. But it's also a story about a group of young musicians growing up amid the madness that was Belfast during the Troubles. And how, out of that cauldron of violence and hatred, emerged a group of performers who were to take the world by storm and launch an Irish assault on popular music that continues to this day. The story of how, amid the hype and insincerity of the music business, a softly spoken and intensely shy Corkman could become a legend: a folk hero to whom all modern Irish musicians - from Bono to Boyzone - acknowledge a debt of gratitude.

Based on over 100 hours of personal recollections and interviews with many of Rory's friends and colleagues in the UK and Ireland, and illustrated throughout with dozens of unique and previously unseen photographs from Gerry's personal collection, Riding Shotgun is a sometimes shocking and often hilarious account of what it was really like to be a musician in one of the 1970s' biggest rock bands. It's also quite possibly the nearest we will ever get to unravelling the complex character that was and remains Rory Gallagher.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #296622 in Books
• Published on: 2005-06-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Irish Independent on Sunday
McAvoy's tribute to Rory Gallagher makes fascinating reading.

Customer Reviews

The Rock behind the Star
This is a truly excellent book. A real page-turner. I grew up in Belfast during the 70s when the only bands who had the courage to come and play there on a regular basis, because of the "Troubles", were Horslips and the Rory Gallagher Band. Gerry McAvoy was a critical and key member of this Band, and, given that McAvoy was a Belfast boy there was always that added resonance when they played Belfast, usually every Christmas during the 70s, selling out either the Ulster or Whitla Halls 3 nights in a row.

The fact that Gerry stayed with Rory for 20 years and featured on 14 of his albums speaks for itself . For this reason, McAvoy was an integral part of the Rory Gallagher legend and I don't think the experience of watching the RG Band live would have been the same without the anchor influence of Mr. G. McAvoy. He and Rory had this great synergistic effect/presence on stage which gelled without the aid of any gimmicks or choreography which are so ubiquitous with today's live acts.

The book itself is infective and humorous with some marvellous stories of life on the road viewed thorough the wide-eyed perspective of a young 20 year old McAvoy who can hardly believe his luck, touring the world with one of the biggest names in rock. (Gallagher was huge at the time, voted World's best guitarist by the influential Melody Maker in an early 70s poll). However, McAvoy comes across as rather self-effacing and sells himself short on many occasions in terms of his technical ability as a rock musician. The reality is that McAvoy was one of the finest rock bass players I have ever seen. He had to be, as Gallagher did not suffer fools and drove him to the limits of his technical capacity on many occasions. The best compliment I can give to McAvoy is that he is as good as, if not better than, Jim Rodford (ex-Argent, Kinks, The Animals now with the reformed Zombies).

My only criticism of the book is the odd lack of attention to detail e.g. that some Irish place names are mis-spelt (Limavady spelt as "Limavadie", O'Connell Street (spelt as "O'Connor Street").

In summary, this book is highly recommended, extremely poignant and a bit like getting into a time machine and finding oneself in the front row of the Ulster Hall, circa 1977all over again. For this alone I am most grateful to Gerry McAvoy.

Great read!
For such a multi-talented musician (guitarist, performer, singer, songwriter and lyricist) and one so steeped in his craft (rock, blues, folk, country, bluegrass, jazz), Rory Gallagher has been poorly served by biographers. The only one to come close was the section in Dan Muise's book on Rory, Robin Trower (another neglected master), Marriott and Derringer. Now Rory's bass player Gerry McAvoy has come along with a wonderful account of their lives together. In fact the book is also Gerry's autobiography. Wisely he has brought in a co-author (Pete Chrisp) to allow his true voice to come through and between them they have turned out a book that is well structured and well written. I began it prepared to skip straight to the bits about Rory but was quickly drawn in by McAvoys's warmth and humour - his own story is well-worth reading. Gerry McAvoy has occasionally drawn criticism for his perfunctory bass style: the theory is that a more creative bassist would have spurred Gallagher to greater artistic endeavour. This book shows how wrong that is. For all his wonderful qualities as a person, Rory was still an ego-driven and demanding frontman, and McAvoy was exactly what he wanted and needed: unshowy, loyal, dependable, reliable, warm, funny and good company. Which is what this book is. It's rare amongst books about rock and deserves to find a wide readership.

A very entertaining and revealing account
A decent book or even an article about Rory Gallagher is woefully hard to come by, so I was very intrigued about this book by Gerry McAvoy, Rory's stalwart bassist for 20 years. Its not actually about Rory alone as its an autobiography but the insights one can glean about the enigmatic guitarist are both enlightening and sometimes surprising.
This is not to take away from the fact that the author has led a most amazing life himself and is well worth reading for that alone. He manages to evoke a hectic and excessive lifestyle with great humour and is very candid about all manner of escapades. I found myself laughing out loud on a number of occasions. Gerry doesn't hold back on his opinions, and some reviewers have mistaken it for griping. Realistically, in trying to present the reader with how he was feeling at a particular time, he manages to convey a greater level of truth than in other biographies where such things might be airbrushed over for the sake of diplomacy.
In all, it is one of the most eminently readable rock books I have ever come across (and I've read quite a few!), and like many of the better ones, you come away feeling better informed but still wanting more.