The Documentary
Anacostia Delta is part concert, part documentary film honoring the past and showcasing the present of the unique Washington, D.C. music scene. The film documents a legendary concert featuring thirty extraordinary D.C. musicians who keep the musical tradition alive and pay homage to guitar heroes Roy Buchanan and Danny Gatton.
Both Buchanan and Gatton played the Fender Telecaster with a signature sound that became synonymous with Washington, D.C. Buchanan, known as “The Soul of the Telecaster,” was celebrated for his emotional depth and technical mastery. Gatton, nicknamed “The Humbler,” was revered for his genre-bending virtuosity that blended jazz, blues, country, and rockabilly. Both left us far too early, but their legacy lives on through the musicians who played alongside them.
Gatton himself coined the term “Anacostia Delta” to describe the virtuosic blend of sounds that emerged from the D.C. area and southern Prince George’s County. That sound can still be heard in venues around the city today.
The Anacostia Delta Sound
The “Anacostia Delta” sound is a uniquely Washington, D.C. phenomenon. It emerged from the city’s rich mix of musical traditions: the honky-tonks and country bars, the jazz clubs and blues joints, the R&B and soul venues. Players grew up in this environment and developed a style that was virtuosic, genre-defying, and unmistakably their own.
Danny Gatton and Roy Buchanan were the two guitarists who most famously embodied this sound, both playing the Fender Telecaster with its signature twang. But the Anacostia Delta was bigger than any two players. It was a community of musicians who pushed each other to new heights, a scene that produced some of the most influential instrumental music of the late twentieth century.
Today, that tradition lives on through musicians like John Previti, Rick Whitehead, Anthony Pirog, Joel Harrison, Barry Hart, and many others who continue to perform and record in the D.C. area.
The Danny Gatton Effect
In 1976, Previti was jamming on electric bass at a guitar shop in his hometown of Clinton, Maryland, when he met guitarist Danny Gatton. Gatton liked his playing and invited him to join a new band he was forming. That group went on to make guitar history, and Previti became Gatton’s bass player for the next eighteen years.
Their partnership spanned clubs, studios, and television. They appeared on CBS Nightwatch, Austin City Limits, and the soap opera Guiding Light. Previti anchored Gatton’s eclectic blend of jazz, blues, country, and rockabilly, a style that earned Gatton the nickname “The Humbler.”
In liner notes for a 2025 Danny Gatton release, Previti reflected:
“Of course Danny was my major mentor. I’m still learning from him, and I use the things he taught me about music in everything I play.”
John Previti: Musical Director
John Previti served as Musical Director for the Anacostia Delta documentary. When filmmaker Bryan Reichhardt approached him about the project, Previti organized and led a 30-musician tribute concert at the Birchmere, bringing together the finest players from the D.C. music scene. The concert forms the centerpiece of the film and showcases the depth and vitality of the sound that Gatton and Buchanan helped define.
The film features rarely seen historic photos, archival footage, and fan videos, offering a personal perspective on this unique music scene from its beginnings at the dawn of Rock and Roll to its roots in country music through Danny Gatton’s heyday as the blisteringly fast, genre-bending TeleMaster.
Featuring
Anthony Pirog, Barry Hart, Big Joe Maher, Billy Hancock, Bruce Swaim, Chick Hall Jr., Chris Battistone, Chris Hall, Chuck Underwood, Dan Hovey, Dave Chappell, Dave Elliott, Don Stapleson, Frankie Shegogue, Gantt Kushner, Gary Lee Gimble, Jay Monterose, Jim Stephanson, Joe Kogok, Joe Martone, Joel Harrison, John Previti, Rick Whitehead, Robbie Magruder, Robert Spates, Ron MacDonald, Stephen Windsor, Steve Wolf, Tim Ford, Tom Principato, Tommy Lepson.
Special Appearances: Nils Lofgren, Mike Stern, Albert Lee, Vince Gill, Tom Cole, Mark Opsasnick
Production Team
Director: Bryan Reichhardt
Producer: Suzanne Brindamour Tolford
Co-Producers: Ken Avis, Paul Glenshaw
Musical Director: John Previti
Director of Photography: Mathieu Mazza
Distributed through Maryland Public Television for national public television broadcast.