Rainer

Born on 7 June 1951 in East Berlin, Germany, Rainer Ptacek died on 12 November 1997 in Tucson, Arizona, USA. His preference for solitude, paired with an unstructured and inventive approach to slide guitar, turned him into a cult figure long before wider audiences could obtain his recordings. Three years after his arrival, his parents escaped to West Berlin; in 1956 the family crossed to America and took up residence in Chicago. During his time at Saint Rita High School he caught performances by Muddy Waters, Paul Butterfield and Charlie Musselwhite at the Aragon Ballroom and the Electric Circus. In 1972 he relocated westward and made Tucson his home. Over the following two decades his main livelihood came from repairing guitars, though he had earlier worked as a cab driver, janitor and cabinet maker. He helped establish Giant Sand and the Band Of Blacky Ranchette, then in 1984 assembled Das Combo alongside Nick Augustine and Ralph Gilmore. Their first cassette, The Mush Mind Blues, appeared next, succeeded in 1986 by Barefoot Rock With..., an album issued solely in England. Worried Spirits, a 1992 solo album cut in two days straight to DAT, wove together field recordings and electronic processing. The Texas Tapes, another Das Combo project, represented a lengthy collaboration with ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons. Rainer also tracked several sessions with Robert Plant, who reciprocated by contributing to the 1997 tribute album The Inner Flame; proceeds from that release assisted with medical costs after doctors identified Rainer’s inoperable brain tumour.