We're Gonna Miss Him: Roky Erickson Brought Soulfulness To Psychedelia
Through a career that spanned six decades, the psychedelic pioneer captivated the rock establishment while remaining at an arm's length from the mainstream.
Roky Erickson was rock music's ambassador to inner space.
Throughout a career that spanned six decades, Roger Kynard "Roky" Erickson — who died Friday at the age of 71 — wrote and sang songs that mystified and captivated the rock establishment. His band from the late '60s, The 13th Floor Elevators, pioneered psychedelia whose dark, kaleidoscopic work was on par with Pink Floyd's sonic experiments at the time. After a period in a psychiatric institution sparked by a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia, Erickson embarked on a sporadic solo career that culminated in
