Bo’s Diddley Beat Made Lots of Beautiful Babies

An important event on this date kicked off what would become an indispensable element of rock-n-roll music for time immemorial. On March 2, 1955, legendary R&B master Bo Diddley entered a Universal recording studio in Chicago and burned onto vinyl his song “Bo Diddley.” With it’s distinctive five-accent rhythm beat, it launched a thousand rock … Read more

Happy Birthday, Scotty Moore: Rock’s First Lead Guitarist

“Everyone else wanted to be Elvis; I wanted to be Scotty,” Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards once told music writer James L. Dickerson. He’s referring, of course, to Scotty Moore, the finger-picking phenomenon who has long been considered rock’s first lead guitarist. Mr. Moore, who turns 83 today, was Elvis Presley’s sizzling sideman from 1954 … Read more

Hey, Jimi: Where Ya Going with that Guitar in Your Hand?

Cutting your teeth…honing your skills…paying your dues…(and, my favorite)…making your bones. Whatever you want to call it, Jimi Hendrix did it all in the days prior to achieving eternal superstardom as the greatest rock guitarist of all time. He played for years in backup bands for such American artists as Little Richard, Sam Cooke, the … Read more