Author Archives: baldpomegranatenixon

Celebrating Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE (born March 30, 1945), an English rock and blues guitarist from Ripley, Surrey.

Celebrating Norman Jeffrey “Jeff” Healey (March 25, 1966 – March 2, 2008), a Canadian blues-rock guitarist and vocalist who attained musical popularity in the 1980s and 1990s.

Celebrating Carol Kaye (nee Smith, born March 24, 1935), an American musician, one of the most prolific and widely heard bass guitarists in rock and pop music. Kaye was a member of The Wrecking Crew, a group of studio musicians who played on a large number of hit records from Los Angeles in the 1960s.

Celebrating Philip Tyler “Phil” Keaggy (born March 23, 1951), an American guitarist born in Youngstown, OH, a seven-time recipient of the Contemporary Christian Music’s Dove Award, and twice nominated for a Grammy Award. He has frequently been listed as one of the world’s top guitarists by Guitar Player Magazine readers’ polls. 

Celebrating Zacc Harris (born 03/23/1978), a Twin Cities guitarist originally from Long Beach, CA, whose playing is a combination of post bop jazz with heavy doses of other influences like Americana, rock, funk and ambient textural music. “As I started to learn guitar, its complexities and mysteries kept pulling me in deeper.” Harris is often …

Continue reading “Zacc Harris”

Celebrating George Benson (born March 22, 1943), an American guitarist from  Pittsburgh, PA who began his professional career at the age of 21 as a jazz guitarist, but then launched a successful solo pop career.

Celebrating Shawn Lane (March 21, 1963 – September 26, 2003) born in Memphis, Tennessee, an American guitarist who played with exceptional speed. Lane went from being the lead guitarist for Black Oak Arkansas to developing his own instrumental rock and fusion music, winning high accolades.

Celebrating Clarence Leonidas “Leo” Fender (August 10, 1909 – March 21, 1991), an American inventor who founded Fender Electric Instrument Manufacturing Company and later founded two other musical instrument companies. The guitars, bass guitars, and amplifiers he designed from the 1940s onward are still widely used: the Fender Telecaster (1950) was the first mass-produced solid-body …

Continue reading “Leo Fender”

Celebrating Jerry Reed Hubbard (March 20, 1937 – September 1, 2008), known professionally as Jerry Reed, an American guitarist and songwriter from Atlanta, GA. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and appeared in the film Smokey and the Bandit.

Celebrating Sister Rosetta Tharpe (March 20, 1915 – October 9, 1973), an American guitarist from Cotton Plant, AR who made gospel recordings in the 1930s and 1940s that were a precursor of rock and roll. She was among the first popular recording artists to use distortion on her electric guitar.