Music like Wray

Fred Lincoln "Link" Wray Jr. (May 2, 1929 – November 5, 2005) was an American Shawnee rock and roll guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist of who became popular in the late 1950s.

Rolling Stone placed Wray at No. 45 of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. In 2013 and 2017 he was a nominee for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Though he began in country music, his musical style went on to consist primarily of rock and roll, rockabilly, and instrumental rock.

Wray was born on May 2, 1929, in Dunn, North Carolina, to Fred Lincoln Wray, Sr., who was Cherokee and White and his wife, Lillian M. Wray (née Coats), who was Shawnee, although the 1930 and 1940 Censuses refer to them as White as many Native Americans either registered themselves as White or Black to avoid discrimination. As a child, he and his family were among those persecuted by the Ku Klux Klan. His mother would often turn off lights, put blankets on windows when the KKK burned crosses. They would often hide in barns, under beds, and holes underground. Wray would later say “The cops, the sheriff, the drugstore owner—they were all Ku Klux Klan. They put the masks on and, if you did something wrong, they’d tie you to a tree and whip you or kill you.” Three songs Wray performed during his career were named for indigenous peoples: "Shawnee", "Apache", and "Comanche".