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Luther Dickinson

The Allman Brothers Band At Fillmore East “As far as blues rock, this about sums it up. Duane was friends with my parents, and I grew up hearing stories about ‘crazy ol’ Duane.’ It’s also amazing how much modal jazz influence from Miles Davis and John Coltrane you hear here.”

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin “Page was not a huge influence on my own playing, but he is a genius, and his songwriting and production, on top of his guitar playing, elevate him to his own special place. The vocals and the lyrics and the way he reworked old blues lyrics was brilliant, and that is the traditional blues oral history.”

ZZ Top Tres Hombres “They’re blues rock masters. The music was just a part of them, and they created their own rock and roll based on the blues traditions. The riffs are disgustingly good. Billy Gibbons is the king of sleazy riffs.”

Canned Heat Future Blues “I think Alan Wilson was the best at translating the acoustic blues to a psychedelic rock band via his fingerpicking and beautiful singing. He’s great, but he never showed off. He’s another guy who was too close to the truth, and it was just dangerous out there for guys like him.”

Jimi Hendrix Live at Berkeley “I grew up on the film of this concert. You really can’t compare Hendrix to anything. He stands alone. His mastery of the chaos he evoked with his rig—the feedback, the whammy bar—is astounding. He is just timeless and from another planet.”

Ry Cooder Into the Purple Valley “This is classic American folkrock blues, an electrified power trio with acoustic guitars and mandolins. Ry is just a genius—an amazing musician participating in the tradition of modernizing folk tradition in his own way. My father produced this, and it’s music I grew up with. It’s ingrained in me.”

Albert King King of the Blues Guitar “The great blues guitarist is backed here by Booker T and the MGs, who lay it down hard. It includes ‘Born Under a Bad Sign,’ which contains what may be the ultimate blues rock riff.”

Fleetwood Mac Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac “Peter Green is the whole package: singing, songwriting, amazing guitar playing. I think he was so hooked up to the mainline that it just couldn’t last. Jimmy Page told the Crowes that Green was the guy every guitar player in London wanted to sound like.”

Alvin Youngblood Hart Motivational Speaker “I think Alvin is the best living acoustic blues player on the planet, but at heart he is a rock and roll guy. This album combines it all and is sadly underrated. Great stuff throughout.”

Free Free “Paul Rodgers’ vocals are so soulful, and the other guys [guitarist Paul Kossoff, bassist Andy Fraser and drummer Simon Kirke] were one of the best trios there’s ever been. The bass player is unreal, and they leave this remarkable spaciousness in their arrangements. Paul Kossoff was an amazing guitarist, and his vibrato was crazy. No one else sounds like that.”

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