Guys w/ "Guitar" in their name: Jesse "Guitar" Taylor

OK, for real - probably the last one of these for now.

Again, through the folks at the Gear Page I've been made aware of the late Jesse "Guitar" Taylor, formerly lead guitarist for the Joe Ely Band. Here he is covering Johnny "Guitar" Watson's Gangster of Love ... as good an ending as I can come up with for this theme.

Guys w/ "Guitar" in their name: Johnny "Guitar" Hughes

Another discovery through The Gear Page: Johnny Guitar Hughes. He was based out of Houston and built quite a career, mostly under the radar, and backed artists such as Little Richard, Grady Gaines, Fats Domino, Sam and Dave, Jerry Butler and Bobby Bland. He made a name for himself as a solo artist, and added "Guitar" to his name, later on.

Guys w/ "Guitar" in their name: Carlos Guitarlos

How can I forget Carlos Guitarlos?

During my time on the west coast he was a legendary SF street performer who used to always ask us to stop by his corner with a tape recorder "with working batteries" so he could get his next break. He also gave one of my bands pretty good feedback after a gig at (the now defunct?) Doc Bombays - claiming that besides the blues "he could play that modal stuff too."

He'd had a few good gigs in the 80s, most notably with Tom Waits, and it seems his career is on the up and up again. Here's a TV performance from 1985



Thanks to ddodgeh at TGP for the suggestion.

Guys w/ "Guitar" in their name: Guitar Junior

Bonus GWGITN: Guitar Junior! I'd never heard of him before but found him on my Youtube search looking for Luther (actually I had heard of him - he changed his name to Lonnie Brooks after learning about Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson)

Fun tune!

Guys w/ "Guitar" in their name: Luther "Guitar Jr" Johnson

OK. The first steps are sometimes the hardest. Marco on the Bass was among those giving me a hard time about not keeping this updated, so in Marc's honor, and in the interest of wrapping up this theme: Luther Guitar Johnson. Marc and his band (which, 15 or so years later, is also my band) Bigger Thomas opened for LGJ and Phish a long time ago.

Not an abundance of videos out there of Luther on his own, but plenty with his most notable sideman gig - along with Muddy Waters.