A while back, I mentioned the apparent absence of female lead guitarists in rock music, and wondered why, when so many leading violinists (for example) are female, this was the case. It turned out I was looking in the wrong place. Through a circuitous route, starting by reading an article about current Allman Brothers guitarist Derek Trucks, I discovered the blues guitarist, singer and songwriter Susan Tedeschi, and went from her to discover Sue Foley and blues-influenced but wide-ranging Serb Ana Popovic – all of whom I mentioned in my previous post, though these links are to different performances.
But wait, there’s more: Deborah Coleman, Debbie Davis, Kelly Richey, and from the unlikely blues stronghold of Finland, slide guitar queen Erja Lyytinen. I used to listen to a lot of 60s and 70s blues-rock, but had pretty much moved away from the genre of music in recent years. Now, via the combined magic of broadband and YouTube, I can see and hear so many great blues and blues-influenced musicians of the past and present that it has really sparked my interest again. Discovering these excellent female guitarists is a wonderful bonus on top of that. But why, oh why, aren’t they better known?
