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- Alan Christie Wilson (July 4, 1943 – September 3, 1970), nicknamed " Blind Owl ", was an American musician, best known as the co-founder, leader, co-lead singer, and primary composer of the blues band Canned Heat. He sang and played harmonica and guitar with the group, live and on recordings.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Wilson_(musician)
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Alan Christie Wilson (July 4, 1943 – September 3, 1970), nicknamed "Blind Owl", was an American musician, best known as the co-founder, leader, co-lead singer, and primary composer of the blues band Canned Heat. He sang and played harmonica and guitar with the group, live and on recordings.
Aug 6, 2024 · Exploring the mysterious life and death of Alan 'Blind Owl' Wilson, the gifted songwriter and co-founder behind 1960s blues rock devotees Canned Heat.
Jul 4, 2020 · Blind Owl Wilson, born on 4 July 1943, but who died at the age of just 27, was the co-founder and principal writer with Canned Heat. This is their story.
- 4 min
In July 2007, a documentary, Boogie with Canned Heat: The Canned Heat Story, was released, as was a biography of Wilson, Blind Owl Blues, by author Rebecca Davis Winters. By 2000, Robert Lucas had departed and the lineup was completed by Dallas Hodge (vocals, guitar), [ 40 ] John Paulus (guitar) and Stanley "Baron" Behrens (harmonica, saxophone ...
- Musical Beginnings
- Discovering The Blues
- Boston University, Music Journalism
- Early Performances, Mississippi John Hurt
- Son House Collaboration
- Move to Los Angeles, Becoming “Blind Owl”
- Co-Forming Canned Heat
- Early Gigs, First Demo
- Monterey Pop Festival, Debut Album
- Boogie with Canned Heat
Born Alan Christie Wilson on July 4, 1943, in Arlington, Massachusetts, Wilson’s mother and stepfather were amateur pianists, the latter having taught music in a New York City school district, and his extraordinary musical gifts were apparent in early elementary school. By age 12, he was beyond proficient on the trombone – his earliest musical love...
At around age 16, Wilson discovered the blues when a friend played him The Best of Muddy Waters(Chess, 1958) and he set to devouring the work of Waters, Son House, Robert Johnson, Tommy Johnson, Charley Patton, Skip James, Bukka White, Little Walter and John Lee Hooker, teaching himself guitar and harmonica – Hooker being the inspiration for the fo...
In 1961, after graduating from Arlington High School and receiving a National Merit Scholarship and an F.E. Thompson Scholarship from the Town of Arlington, Wilson enrolled at Boston University, majoring in music and writing articles for Cambridge-based folk weekly The Broadsideand other papers. Halfway through his second year at BU, he dropped out...
In 1962, Wilson met fellow blues enthusiast, Boston native and Harvard student David Evans and the duo began playing the local coffeehouse circuit, Evans on guitar/vocals and Wilson on guitar/harmonica, covering blues-folk standards at places like Club Mount Auburn 47 (later Club 47). By 1963, Wilson’s harmonica style and high-pitched tenor – model...
In 1964, before 63-year old Son House appeared in Cambridge after decades of heavy drinking and not performing, Wilson helped him to relearn his songs and House went on to play at Newport that summer. “He taught Son House how to play Son House,” said House’s manager Dick Waterman, a Plymouth, Massachusetts, native. Wilson played on two tracks of Ho...
In early 1965, Wilson met John Fahey, a UCLA graduate student writing his thesis on Charlie “Father of the Delta Blues” Patton, who invited Wilson to Los Angeles to help with research. The extremely nearsighted Wilson forgot to take his glasses on the ensuing road trip and Fahey nicknamed him “Blind Al” after blues greats like Blind Lemon Jefferson...
Shortly after arrival in LA, Fahey introduced 21-year old Wilson to 22-year old Bob “The Bear” Hite, a record store manager with a massive collection of blues 78s – 15,000, he claimed – and a classic “belter” singing style akin to Big Joe Turner’s that made him the perfect musical foil to Wilson. The odd-couple combo of Hite’s unlimited extroversio...
In mid-1966, after the band had gigged for about six months at colleges, private parties and small clubs, Hollywood agent Skip Taylor became their manager. An enormously successful discoverer of blues and soul acts including Big Mama Thornton, Etta James and Jackie Wilson, Taylor booked the group time at El Dorado Studios in LA where they recorded ...
On June 17, 1967, three weeks before Liberty released their debut album, Canned Heat appeared at the Monterey Pop Festival and received effusive critical acclaim; a review in DownBeatcalled Wilson and Vestine “quite possibly the best two-guitar team in the world” and said Wilson “has certainly become our finest white blues harmonica man.” In July, ...
In November 1967, with de la Parra, the group recorded their second LP, Boogie with Canned Heat, which Liberty released in January 1968. The album included “On the Road Again,” Wilson’s updated version of a 1953 song by Chicago bluesman Floyd Jones, which reached #16 in the BillboardHot 100 and #8 in the UK. In addition to singing lead, Wilson play...
Sep 28, 2021 · Wilson, nicknamed "Blind Owl" for his bookish inclinations and the coke-bottle glasses his severe myopia mandated, was already a proficient musician and had already made his recording debut –...
Apr 28, 2015 · But guitarist Al “Blind Owl” Wilson, a nick name that was given to him by John Fahey, was a troubled man. He was estranged from his family; he lacked confidence and suffered from depression, possibly even undiagnosed autism.
