Davy Graham: 1940 - 2008

British musician Davy Graham died Monday from a massive seizure after a short battle with lung cancer. He was 68 years old. The little-known guitarist, singer and arranger got his start playing folk-blues clubs in the early 1960s, where his fusion of folk, blues and jazz with Arabic and Indian flourishes caught the ear of several artists who would become hugely influential in years to come.

Graham's playing—and use of strange alternate tunings—inspired future rock stars like Jimmy Page and Ray Davies, who respectively went on to form Led Zeppelin and The Kinks; American folksinger Paul Simon, who covered Graham instrumental "Anji" on Simon & Garfunkel's landmark 1966 album Sounds of Silence; and British trad-folk artists like Fairport Convention's Richard Thompson and Pentangle's Bert Jansch, as well as moody singer/songwriter Nick Drake.

"He's my absolute hero," Jansch is quoted on Graham's website, "and he always will be." Jansch also told Britsh newspaper The Guardian, that Graham was "courageous and controversial—he never followed the rules."

Among his accomplishments, Graham is credited with inventing the Folk-Baroque style and the now-widely-used DADGAD modal guitar tuning, which Page made famous by using on several Led Zeppelin songs, including "Kashmir" and "Black Mountainside."

Graham recorded heavily from 1963-1970 (by far his most prolific period), cutting eight albums, including The Guitar Player; Folk Routes, New Routes; Folk, Blues & Beyond; Midnight Man, and Large as Life & Twice as Natural. He also toured constantly during this period, collecting musical styles from around the globe and incorporating them into his own sound, in the process becoming the father of the modern "World Music" genre.

"I'm a traveler really," Graham is quoted on his website. "I would die as a person if I stayed in place for more than a year—I like to change my impressions and refresh my personality. My roots are in my music, and in my friends. That’s enough."

A private family funeral will be held for Graham in the next few days, followed by a public memorial in January, details of which will be available soon at lescousins.co.uk.

Watch a montage of some of Graham's best music: