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Lunch Hour Special - 4/13/17 - Noon-1 p.m.

Writer: John SimonJohn Simon

Updated: Jun 18, 2019

Spotlight on the Slide Guitar: Slip-slidin' away!

Long a staple of the Blues (when all you needed was a set of strings and a broken bottle neck), the slide became a staple of Rock music in the Seventies. Here are some classic performances by some classic practitioners....

  • My Sweet Lord - George Harrison (#1 for four weeks in 1971; this re-mastered version was released in 2000)

  • Day After Day - Badfinger (11/71; #4 Billboard - produced by George Harrison, who joined Pete Ham for dual slide guitar parts)

  • Sister Golden Hair - America (3/75; #1 - produced by George Martin and modeled loosely on My Sweet Lord. Gerry Beckley wrote it and played lap steel guitar on it.)

  • Golden Days - Whitney (2016 - new music with a throwback feel that owes an unspoken debt to George Harrison)

  • Midnight In Harlem - Tedeschi Trucks Band (2011; from The Revelator LP - featuring the tasty licks of Derek Trucks, whose uncle Butch was a founding member of the Allman Brothers Band)

  • * Hideaway - Jeff Healey Band (1988; from the See The Light LP - nominated for a Grammy Award. The caller said "How about something from the greatest blind slide player alive???")

  • If I Had You - Korgis (1979; #13 in the UK - pleasant Pop ditty featuring some tasty slide guitar work)

  • * Tell The Truth - Derek & The Dominoes (1970; from the "Layla" LP - It appears that I misspoke when I said that it was Eric Clapton on slide guitar: Duane Allman was in the house!)

  • Please Be With Me - Cowboy (1971; from the album "5'll Getcha 10" - featuring the late great Duane Allman on slide dobro)

  • * For You Blue - The Beatles (1970; from the "Let It Be" LP - with John Lennon on lap steel. George can be heard saying "Elmore James' got nothing on you - play it, Johnny!")

  • Runnin' On Empty - Jackson Browne (8/78; #12 Billboard - a sizzling live recording featuring the soaring slide guitar of David Lindley)

  • One Way Out - Allman Brothers Band (recorded at the Fillmore East on June 27, 1971 and included on their "Eat A Peach" LP)




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