Bruce Langhorne
Background information
Born	(1938-05-11)May 11, 1938 Tallahassee, Florida, U.S.
Died	April 14, 2017(2017-04-14) (aged 78) Venice, California, U.S.
Genres	Folk music
Occupation	Musician
Instruments	Guitar, percussion

Bruce Langhorne (May 11, 1938 – April 14, 2017)^[1] was an Americanfolk musician. He was active in theGreenwich Village folk scene in the 1960s, primarily as a sessionguitarist forfolk albums and performances.

Langhorne was born inTallahassee, Florida, where his father taught at the Florida Agriculture and Mechanical College for Negroes.^[2] From the age of four, he lived with his mother at 555 Edgecombe Avenue, in New York City. 555 or the 'nickle' as it was called was a premier Sugar Hill residence of Black notables such as Joe Louis, Ted Shearer, Count Basie, ,Lena Horne, Teddy Wilson, Paul Robeson and Charles Alston. Bruce studied violin, but lost most of three fingers of his right hand when lighting a homemade rocket. He was then taught a few basic chords by his friend George Nelson Preston (now the contemporary artist). Within less than a week Langhorne had mastered several guitar techniques. When they were eighteen years of age Preston persuaded him to become a summer camp councilor at the leftist Camp Woodland in Phoenicia, New york where folk music was a specialty. It was there that Langhorne met Pete Seeger and Babatunde Olatunji. Bruce was expelled from Horace Mann Prep School, and later claimed that as a teenager he was involved in a stabbing, following which he lived for two years inMexico. He started playing guitar at the age of 17, and the loss of his fingers contributed to his distinctive playing style.^[2]

He began accompanying folk singerBrother John Sellers at clubs inGreenwich Village, soon starting to work with other musicians. Langhorne worked with many of the major performers in thefolk revival of the 1950s and 1960s, includingThe Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem,Joan Baez,Richie Havens,Carolyn Hester,Judy Collins,Peter LaFarge,Gordon Lightfoot,Hugh Masekela,Odetta,Babatunde Olatunji,Peter, Paul and Mary,Richard andMimi Fariña,Tom Rush,Steve Gillette, andBuffy Sainte-Marie. He first recorded in 1961, with Carolyn Hester, which is when he metBob Dylan. He later said of Dylan: "I thought he was a terrible singer and a complete fake, and I thought he didn't play harmonica that well.... I didn't really start to appreciate Bobby as something unique until he started writing." In 1963 he accompanied Dylan onThe Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, and in 1965 was one of several guitarists on the albumBringing It All Back Home.^[2]

The title character of Bob Dylan's song "Mr. Tambourine Man" was probably inspired by Langhorne, who used to play a large Turkishframe drum in performances and recordings.^[3][4] The drum, which Langhorne purchased in a music store in Greenwich Village, had small bells attached around its interior, giving it a jingling sound much like a tambourine. Langhorne used the instrument most prominently on recordings by Richard and Mimi Fariña.^[5] The drum is now in the collection of theBob Dylan Center in Tulsa.

In addition to likely inspiring the title character of "Mr. Tambourine Man", Langhorne played the electric guitarcountermelody on the song.^[6] His guitar is also prominent on several other songs on Dylan'sBringing It All Back Home album, particularly "Love Minus Zero/No Limit" and "She Belongs to Me"; he also played thelead guitar parts on "Subterranean Homesick Blues", "Outlaw Blues", "Bob Dylan's 115th Dream" and "Maggie's Farm".^[3][6] He also played the guitar for Dylan's television performances of "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" and "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" onThe Les Crane Show in February 1965, a month after theBringing It All Back Home sessions.^[3][6] Two years earlier, Langhorne performed on "Corrina, Corrina", on the albumThe Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, and on the outtake "Mixed-Up Confusion", which was eventually released onBiograph.^[3][6] Years later, Langhorne played on tracks for Dylan's albumPat Garrett and Billy the Kid.^[3][6]

Langhorne composed the music for thePeter Fondawestern filmThe Hired Hand (1971), which combinedsitar,fiddle, andbanjo. He also provided the scores for Fonda's 1973 science fiction filmIdaho Transfer and his 1976 vigilante movieFighting Mad (directed by Jonathan Demme). Other films featuring Langhorne's scores includeStay Hungry (1976),Melvin and Howard (1980) andNight Warning (1982).

In 1992, Langhorne founded a hot-sauce company,Brother Bru-Bru's African Hot Sauce.^[7] The hot sauce is unique for containing "African spices" and all-natural or organic, no-sodium or low-sodium ingredients.^[7]

Bruce suffered a debilitatingstroke in 2006, but was able to live at home, surrounded by loved ones, until his death from kidney failure on April 14, 2017,^[1] in Venice, California^[8]

• Bruce Langhorne atAllMusic
• Bruce Langhorn atAllMusic (a split entry under a misspelling)

• 1938 births
• 2017 deaths
• Musicians from Tallahassee, Florida
• African-American guitarists
• American film score composers
• American folk guitarists
• American male guitarists
• American rock guitarists
• American session musicians
• American fingerstyle guitarists
• Guitarists from New York (state)
• American lead guitarists
• Planet Drum members
• American tambourine players
• 20th-century American guitarists
• American male film score composers
• 20th-century American male musicians
• People from East Harlem
• Deaths from kidney failure in California
• 20th-century African-American musicians
• 21st-century African-American musicians

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• Use American English from November 2016
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