Music: Shawn Lane

Possibly the best guitarist you never heard of.

Eddie Van Halen, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Pete Townshend. I can go on and on naming guitar players that anchored some of the best bands of ALL time.

Yet, when you get guitar players together, sipping our Pepsi’s, we have another list of heroes. Some that do get some prominent exposure if not superstardom such as Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, and Yngwie Malmsteen. But many of them remain relative unknowns. Pat Martino, Dave Martone, Guthrie Govan, and others. People who when they play, the audience is full of cross armed guitar players, checking out their technique, their chops, and their songwriting prowess.

Today’s focal point is one such artist, Shawn Lane.

Few players are as versatile, as awesome, and as just kick ass as Shawn Lane. Speed, feel, style, he’s got it all. A huge range of skills, and a loyal following, he blazed so many trails, opened so many doors, it is impossible to tally them all.

I have watched umpteen of Shawn, and this one, a cover of Purple Haze, is an apex effort. He wails away on that late 80’s vintage Charvel (likely a Model 6 made in Japan) as if it’s nobody’s business, making it squeal, shriek, and just crank out solid licks.

Brother Jimi is surely looking down on this performance with a self-satisfied smile, and a nod.

A master, punctuating a classic, doing it justice, while paying tribute.

Five minutes, thirty-eight seconds of audible bliss.