RIP Gary Moore

[Tim Liston]

Six years ago today, blues guitarist Gary Moore passed away in his sleep. Moore was from the British Isles (Wales?) and performed with Thin Lizzy and a couple lesser-known rock bands before going solo and playing primarily good old blues-rock guitar, the powerful and soulful stuff.

Having long ago spent close to a decade living in Chicago, I became pretty fond of the blues. Back then I saw many of the earlier blues and blues-rock guitar legends: BB King, Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, Albert King, James Cotton, Hound Dog Taylor, Junior Wells, Luther Allison, Roy Buchanan, (early) Allman Brothers, etc. And slide man Ry Cooder. And Taj Mahal with his folk touch.

But I never saw Gary Moore, he was pretty much after my time. Man I wish I had, now I can’t, he died too young. Not only was he one of the greatest-ever blues guitarists, but unlike a lot of these guys he was way more than a passable singer.

If you have a minute check out one of his all-time classics, “Still Got the Blues.” 32 million viewers can’t be wrong (though probably closer to 320,000 viewers 100 times apiece). If you don’t have much time, fast forward to 3:45….

Cry guitar, cry….

And if you’re a Pandora user and like the blues, start a blues guitar station with the names above, then add Stevie Ray Vaughn (of course) and Joe Bonamassa (maybe the best living blues guitarist), then Jimmy D. Lane, Jeff Healey, Eric Clapton, Ronnie Earl, Tinsley Ellis and Kenny Wayne Shepherd. Never saw any of them, their careers mostly followed my Chicago years.

Anyway, thought you might enjoy….