Rainer Ptacek, also known mononymously as Rainer (June 7, 1951 – November 12, 1997), was a

German-American German Americans (german: Deutschamerikaner, ) are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. With an estimated size of approximately 43 million in 2019, German Americans are the largest of the self-reported ancestry groups by the Unite ...

guitarist and singer-songwriter based in

Tucson, Arizona , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

for much of his adult life. His guitar technique, which incorporated slide, finger-picking, tape loops and electronic manipulation, earned him the admiration of notable musicians such as

Robert Plant Robert Anthony Plant (born 20 August 1948) is an English singer and songwriter, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the English rock band Led Zeppelin for all of its existence from 1968 until 1980, when the band broke up following th ...

and

Billy Gibbons William Frederick Gibbons (born December 16, 1949) is an American musician who is the guitarist and lead singer of the rock band ZZ Top. He began his career in the band the Moving Sidewalks, which recorded a full-length album entitled, ''Flash ...

Early life and career

Ptacek was born in

East Berlin East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as West Berlin. From 13 August 1961 u ...

to a family of Czech and German descent. His family fled

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In t ...

for the United States when he was five years old. They eventually settled in Chicago, where young Ptacek was first exposed to

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the ...

music. He moved to Tucson in the early 1970s, where he began his own musical career, most often solo, but sometimes he plugged in and led a trio as Rainer & Das Combo. He co-founded Giant Sandworms with

Howe Gelb Howe Gelb (born October 22, 1956, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania) is an American singer-songwriter, musician and record producer based in Tucson, Arizona. Projects Gelb's approach to music is collaborative and he has recorded with a number of s ...

in the late 1970s. When the band decided to move to New York and became

Giant Sand Giant Sand is an American musical group from Tucson, Arizona, United States. Its most constant member is singer-songwriter Howe Gelb. The group started as Giant Sandworms in the late 1970s post-punk and paisley underground scenes. They later s ...

, Ptacek opted to stay in Tucson to make sure that he would not disrupt his then-new family. Although he never became well known in the United States, he became more and more recognized in Europe.

ZZ Top ZZ Top is an American rock band formed in 1969 in Houston, Texas. For 51 years, they comprised vocalist-guitarist Billy Gibbons, drummer Frank Beard and vocalist-bassist Dusty Hill, until Hill's death in 2021. ZZ Top developed a signature sou ...

guitarist Billy Gibbons was so impressed with the singer-guitarist that he arranged to have

Kurt Loder Kurtis Loder (born May 5, 1945) is an American entertainment critic, author, columnist, and television personality. He served in the 1980s as editor at ''Rolling Stone'', during a tenure that ''Reason'' later called "legendary". He has contribute ...

review Ptacek's "Mush Mind Blues" cassette in ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

''. Ptacek later traveled to Houston at the invitation of Billy Gibbons to record at Gibbons' Gold Star Sound Services studio which saw release as "The Texas Tapes" gaining international attention. Robert Plant, similarly impressed, flew Ptacek to England for the sessions for B-sides to supplement the singles from '' Fate of Nations''.

Illness and death

In February 1996, after suffering a seizure while riding his bike to work, Ptacek was diagnosed with a

brain tumor A brain tumor occurs when abnormal cells form within the brain. There are two main types of tumors: malignant tumors and benign (non-cancerous) tumors. These can be further classified as primary tumors, which start within the brain, and seco ...

. He described his frustrating symptoms to his friend, Fred Mills, lamenting that he could no longer "remember all of hechords and notes" to his music. Ptacek, who was uninsured, was overwhelmed by his mounting medical expenses. Howe Gelb and Robert Plant organized recording sessions for a charity album, titled ''The Inner Flame – A Tribute to Rainer Ptacek.'' The album featured Ptacek-penned songs performed by Gelb (with Giant Sand), Page and Plant, Robert Plant, Emmylou Harris,

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Evan Dando Evan Griffith Dando (born March 4, 1967) is an American musician and frontman of the Lemonheads. He has also embarked on a solo career and collaborated on songs with various artists. In December 2015 Dando was inducted into the Boston Music Award ...

, Victoria Williams, Mark Olson, Tina Chesnutt, Vic Chesnutt,

PJ Harvey Polly Jean Harvey (born 9 October 1969) is an English singer, songwriter, and musician. Primarily known as a vocalist and guitarist, she is also proficient with a wide range of instruments. Harvey began her career in 1988 when she joined loca ...

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, The Drovers,

Madeleine Peyroux Madeleine Peyroux (born April 18, 1974) is an American jazz singer and songwriter who began her career as a teenager on the streets of Paris. She sang vintage jazz and blues songs before finding mainstream success in 2004 when her album ''Carele ...

, Kris McKay, Chuck Prophet,

Jonathan Richman Jonathan Michael Richman (born May 16, 1951) is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. In 1970, he founded the Modern Lovers, an influential proto-punk band. Since the mid-1970s, Richman has worked either solo or with low-key acoustic an ...

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and Bill Janovitz. Ptacek participated on many of the tracks. Intense chemotherapy sessions put his tumor into remission, and Ptacek's musical skills and creativity both returned. He resumed a vigorous touring schedule, beginning with a guest performance at Greg Brown's show in November 1996. By this time, media attention was more focused on him than ever before. On December 17, 1996, he performed a show for 300 doctors, nurses, and patients at the hospital where he was being treated. Just when it seemed as though he had beaten his disease, it returned in October 1997, and he died three weeks later at age 46.

Discography

* ''Avid Demo List'' (circa 1979, cassette) * ''The Mush Mind Blues'' (1983, with Das Combo, cassette) * ''Live Downtown'' (1985, with Das Combo, cassette) * ''Barefoot Rock with Rainer and Das Combo'' (released on LP in 1986, re-issued on CD in 1994) * ''Worried Spirits'' (1992) * ''The Texas Tapes'' (1993, with Das Combo) * ''D.Y.O. Boot'' (1995) * ''Nocturnes'' (1995) * ''Rainulator'' (1996, cassette) * ''The Inner Flame: Rainer Ptacek Tribute'' (tribute and benefit album, released in 1997) * ''Alpaca Lips'' (released 2000) * ''Live at the Performance Center'' (released 2001) * ''The Farm'' (released 2002) * ''17 Miracles'' (2005, collection) * ''The Rainer Collection'' (2006, collection) * ''The Westwood Sessions, Volume I'' (with Das Combo, released November 2007) * ''Roll Back The Years'' (with

Joey Burns Calexico is a Tucson, Arizona-based Americana, Tex-Mex, indie rock band. The band's two main members, Joey Burns and John Convertino, first played together in Los Angeles as part of the group Giant Sand. They have recorded a number of albums on ...

John Convertino Calexico is a Tucson, Arizona-based Americana, Tex-Mex, indie rock band. The band's two main members, Joey Burns and John Convertino, first played together in Los Angeles as part of the group Giant Sand. They have recorded a number of albums o ...

, released May 2011)

References

External links

* (#1 as Rainer Ptacek) * (#2 as Rainer)
The Weekly Wire's compilation of articles about Ptacek
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ptacek, Rainer 1951 births 1997 deaths People from East Berlin American rock guitarists American people of Czech descent German emigrants to the United States American blues guitarists American male guitarists American blues singers Singers from Arizona German people of Czech descent Deaths from brain cancer in the United States 20th-century American guitarists Guitarists from Arizona 20th-century American male singers