Rory Gallagher’s little brother just turned me on to an amazing guitar album from the ’60s

By Steve Newton

I’ve been reading Edged in Blue, the new memoir by Dónal Gallagher that tells of his life growing up with and managing the career of his older brother, Irish guitar legend Rory Gallagher.

I just got to Chapter 8, Dual Carriageway Pain–named after a song on the debut album by Gallagher’s band Taste–in which the author describes that band’s first tour of North America, a chaotic jaunt opening for the British supergroup Blind Faith in 1969.

At one point during that tour Rory met American music great Leon Russell, and they hit it off, partly due to their mutual love of country music. As Dónal writes, “I remember [Leon] saying to Rory, ‘You need to check out James Burton playing country’,” referring to the Telecaster maestro best known for his work with Elvis Presley and Ricky Nelson.

According to Dónal, Russell told his brother about Corn Pickin’ and Slick Slidin’, an album released the year before by Burton and pedal-steel guitarist Ralph Mooney (Buck Owens, Waylon Jennings).

“It was a brilliant instrumental record that showed off the virtuosity of both musicians,” writes Dónal.

Taking the author’s opinion to heart, I checked out Corn Pickin’ and Slick Slidin’ for myself, and realized that he wasn’t kidding.

Maybe I’ve been listening to too much guitar-based hard rock over the years, and need to get more into the country-roots side of things. Next time I’m in a record store I’ll be searching around for this beauty on vinyl, methinks.

Check back later for my full review of Edged in Blue: A Rock ‘n’ Roll Odyssey with Rory Gallagher, which is scheduled for release in Canada on December 24.