On This Day in Guitar History: July 4
Edited by Sleuth · Reviewed
July 4 is a birthday for two blues-rooted guitarists a generation apart. Fleetwood Mac founding slide guitarist Jeremy Spencer was born in 1948, and Canned Heat co-founder and guitarist Alan 'Blind Owl' Wilson was born in 1943. In 2009, Drake Levin, guitarist for 1960s hitmakers Paul Revere & the Raiders, died at 62.
On July 4 in guitar history
1943 · Born
Canned Heat co-founder Alan 'Blind Owl' Wilson is born
Alan Wilson was born in Arlington, Massachusetts, and went on to co-found the blues-rock band Canned Heat, where he played guitar and harmonica and sang lead on the group's two biggest hits, On the Road Again and Going Up the Country. A serious blues scholar before he was a performer, Wilson also played harmonica on sessions for blues legend Son House. He died in 1970 at age 27.
Source: Alan Wilson (musician)
1948 · Born
Fleetwood Mac founding guitarist Jeremy Spencer is born
Jeremy Spencer was born in Hartlepool, England, and became a founding member of Fleetwood Mac in 1967, known for his slide guitar and piano playing on the band's earliest, blues-based records. He remained with the band until his abrupt departure in February 1971, when he left mid-tour to join the religious group now known as The Family International. Spencer's slide work helped define Fleetwood Mac's pre-Rumours identity as a British blues band, years before Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks joined.
Source: Jeremy Spencer
2009 · Passed
Paul Revere & the Raiders guitarist Drake Levin dies at 62
Drake Levin, lead guitarist for the pop-rock band Paul Revere & the Raiders during their mid-1960s commercial peak, died from cancer at age 62. The Raiders were regulars on television and scored a run of hit singles in the era, and Levin's guitar work anchored the band's garage-rock-leaning sound before he left in 1967 for military service during the Vietnam War.
Source: Drake Levin
Why we track this
Guitar history keeps getting made on every date on the calendar, not just the ones with round-number anniversaries. This page collects what is actually documented for July 4, and it grows every time we verify another event for the date. If you landed here because today's news desk came up quiet, this is what a strings site does with a quiet day instead of padding: real dates, real sources, filed for good. And if today has you thinking about your own guitar, the Ernie Ball Regular Slinky is still the closest thing the instrument has to a default set.
Start your own July 4
Two blues-rooted guitarists share this birthday a few years apart, Jeremy Spencer's slide work and Alan Wilson's deep blues scholarship both point back to the same well: prewar blues filtered through 1960s amplification. If yours need a change, our history of guitar strings guide covers how we got from gut to cobalt, and the set below is the one we point most beginners to first.
Regular Slinky
Why this one: A widely played, balanced electric set and a safe starting point no matter which era of guitar history brought you here today.
More guitar history
This page is part of an evergreen series, one per calendar day, filled in as we verify more events. Browse our news desk for what is happening right now, check our artist profiles for deeper dives on the players named above, or head to the full history index to see which dates are live so far.