While never rising above cult status, especially in America, Rainer Ptacek did impact many fans of the blues, including some famous performers, during his brief recording career. He combined the traditional style of Robert Johnson with a dexterous finger-picking technique more reminiscent of a folk artist to form an original sound. His untimely death only increased his standing as one of the most distinctive blues players of the last generation. Ptacek was born of Czech descent in East Berlin in 1951, but his family relocated to Texas when he was five. That environment obviously influenced his burgeoning blues interest and style, which was cemented by an adolescence spent in Chicago. He eventually settled in Tucson, where he began a guitar repair business. Ptacek honed an affinity for the Dobro and National Steel guitar into a new sound that blossomed on a series of underground tapes released in the late '70s and early '80s. After playing in a group called Das Combo for six years, Ptacek released his own Worried Spirits in 1992 to much acclaim. Continuing in that solo and acoustic vein was Nocturnes, an all-instrumental album that featured a cover of George Harrison's "Within You, Without You." However, Ptacek was diagnosed with brain cancer shortly after that in early 1996. His medical expenses skyrocketed, so a tribute album was planned to help out with the cost of his treatment. The Inner Flame: Rainer Ptacek Tribute came out in July 1997 and showed just how many converts Ptacek had made over the years. It featured Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, Emmylou Harris, and PJ Harvey, among others, as well as Ptacek himself on guitar. After a brief remission, his cancer returned and he died on November 12, 1997. Several posthumous releases, including Live at the Performance Center, have been released. ~ Brian Downing