OT: Great Forgotten Rock Guitarists
It's hot. It's (almost) summer. Not much going on in the "on topic" world so...
Was savoring some Elmer T. Lee with my bourbon drinking buddy and we started talking forgotten rock guitarists. My selection was the late, great and very much forgotten Toy Caldwell. Played with Marshall Tucker in the 70's. Check out his work on the song "Ramblin."
And your selection is?
Laugh all you want, but I'll bet if you ask 100 folks 30 or younger, less than 50% will know who Jimi Hendrix is...
This shouldn't be surprising. People under 30 are pretty dumb about everything.
If you're ever in Phoenix go see Carvin Jones.
Hughie Thomasson of The Outlaws. The leader of the Guitar Army....RIP.
Green Grass and High Tides forever.
I have a true Boosie Collins story. Back in 1976 I was working one summer as a porter at the old Jerome Cadillac in Pontiac. One afternoon George Clinton and Bootsie Collins (Parliment/Funkadelic) brought a caddy in for repair and I was asked to drive them to Metro to catch a flight.
Not 30 seconds into our trip Bootsie fired up a joint and he and George proceeded to get stoned as hell. At that point Bootsie gave me one of his hats and asked if I would wear it during the drive. They thought the idea of a white kid driving two black men to the airport was possibly the funniest thing that ever happened and every time one of them would remark "white boy driving US" or something like that they'd errupt in laughter. And the fact I was wearing one of Bootsie's hats the whole time was even funnier to them. It was quite a ride and when I got back to the dealer I had to park that shuttle caddy at the body shop with the windows open so it could air out.
My brush with Funkadelic greatness.
Awesome story, MGrowOld! I worked with a Huey Lewis groupie in the 80s. He would call her when he was in town for a concert and apparently had a groupie in every town. After today's Lottery thread it appears he was thinking small and should have had two in each town.
Let me fix your story for you: "Back in 1976 I was working one summer at the old Jerome Cadillac in Pontiac. So I tied an onion to my belt, which was the style at the time. Now, to take the ferry cost a nickel, and in those days, nickels had pictures of bumblebees on 'em. "Gimme five bees for a quarter," you'd say. Now where were we... oh yeah. The important thing was that I had an onion on my belt, which was the style at the time. I didn't have any white onions, because of the war. The only thing you could get was those big yellow ones..."
Me the Chauffeur
My passengers: Bootsie
And George
PLEASE tell me that you still wear that jacket and bow tie. PLEASE?!?!?! :-D
Don't sell 'em short--this is how those cats were rolling in the mid-70s:
Long live the Funk Trunk.
EDIT: Double
Peter Green (original Fleetwood Mac) - As far as British blues goes, better pure blues player than Clapton.
Randy Holden (The Other Half, Blue Cheer) - Check out his "Population II" on youtube (don't know how to embed).
Mick Ronson (David Bowie, Mott the Hoople) - Spiders from Mars; what else needs to be said?
John Cipollina (Quicksilver Messenger Service) - A unique player.
I hadn't heard Green Manilishi in ages and it popped up on my iPod the other day. Great tune with Peter Green and Fleetwood Mac.
David Bowie had an ear for guitarists. Earl Slick (Imagination) and Robert Fripp (Heroes) both played with Bowie and they are pretty good, too. Very different compared to Ronson.
+! with the Mick Ronson mention. His time spent with Spiders from Mars and Mott the Hoople was rock royalty in an era of awesome music.
I'd add Alvin Lee
Michael Gurley of the band dada is one phenomenal player.
dada used to frequent the blind pig every so often but I also saw them several times in the late 90's when i was living in L.A. which is where they're from.
They just did a tour this year, unfortunately they didn't hit Michigan and I couldn't make it out to any other show.
They are most famous for their hit "DizKneeLand" but this band is so much greater than that song.
Excellent musicians with great vocals and a great catalog of what I would describe as AltRock/ecclectic/artsy/poppy goodness.
of guys over looked are Don Felder and Lindsay Buckingham.
Joe Walsh to play lead. Love his style.
Warren Haynes - later incarnation of the Allman Brothers band
Phil Campbell - Motorhead
Andy Summers - The Police
Mick Taylor - The Rolling Stones
Ronnie Wood - The Rolling Stones and The Faces
Kenny Wayne Shepard - himself
Warren DiMartini - Ratt
Steve Stevens - Billy Idol's guitarist
Could go on forever man!
lead guitarist for UFO (and the Scorpions for a brief while before and after). Both 'Force It' and 'Lights Out' are great late 70s rock albums.
Also, the Scorpions are one of the most underrated bands of all time. If you look beyond the typical radio stuff, they wrote some amazing hard rock tunes!
List the Scorpions as a major influence.
Growing up I always loved Joe Perry!
Todd Rundgren
Lindsey Buckingham
Steve Vai
Steve Howe
And my favorite guitarist: Tony Iommi, but he isn't a forgotten guitarist.
My other favorites: Brian May, Angus Young, Pete Townshend, Eddie Van Halen, Jimmy Page, Tom Morello, and Ace Frehley.
One of the few who are equally adept at blistering blues/psych electric rock and acoustic fingerpicking.
I sat in the front row of City Winery (Chicago) a year ago while Jorma crushed it. Visit the show if Jorma plays in your town, you won't regret it.
Although he's not "as" forgotten, we recently attended Al Stewart at City Winery. Dude puts on an amazing show with stories of the past and everybody loved it. Al Stewart is incredibly cool, although I wouldn't say he's a great guitarist, just good, but few were at the level of Hendrix for comparison, Hendrix was a space alien I am convinced (and a good man).
Terry Kath great forgotten guitarist and vocalist.
I hear all their horns blasting over the guitars. Didn't listen to them much because of that.
Together these two guys from Lynryd Skynryd wrote and played some amazing guitar parts.
Ten years After
Yes yes yes! One of the few albums in my vinyl collection. I immediately thought Trower when I saw this thread.
wonderring if his name had been mention. A wannabe Hendrix,but dude is awesome!
Bridge of Sighs is Foxy Lady slowed way down- same key and chords, everything. But it is still an awesome song.
Oh hell yes! Love "Day of the Eagle".
He's more well known in general than most, but less so as a pure guitarist.