Rick Derringer-All American Boy (1973)

Rick Derringer is a legendary American guitarist, creator of monumental works such as his debut album "All American Boy", a true classic of American rock, as well as his numerous collaborations with other artists including Edgar Winter, Johnny Winter, Steely Dan, Joe Bonamassa, and Donald Fagen, his albums with The McCoys, and his own band, Derringer. Although his musical career is primarily oriented towards hard blues rock, in his early days Derringer explored intense hard rock with The McCoys and on his first solo albums. His first solo recording came in 1973, produced by the renowned Bill Szymczyk, and featured the invaluable contributions of a lineup including Bobby Caldwell, Edgar Winter, Joe Walsh, Joe Vitale, Toots Thielemans, and Joe Lala, among many other musicians from the American rock scene. Thrilling rock songs like the opening "Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo", pretentious displays of his mastery of the six strings "Joy Ride", passing through the dusty southern rock "Teenage Queen", the lively country rock "Cheap Tequila", the emotional soul "Hold", the catchy "Jump, Jump, Jump" or the galloping hard rock "Slide On Ever Slinky", gave rise to a fruitful career full of works of enormous quality that have kept him at the top of American rock for four uninterrupted decades.

Rick Derringer-Knighted By The Blues (2009)

This is the second album from the tireless rock and blues artist Rick Derringer to appear on this blog; the first was the seminal "All American Boy", his 1973 debut. This time, we bring you his thirteenth album, "Knighted By The Blues", which, as the name suggests, is oriented towards blues rock. This work contains an inspired repertoire of tracks that showcase the virtuosity, blues feeling, and talent of this phenomenal guitarist. Tracks like the boogie-blues version of Ray Charles' "Mess Around", the powerful blues-rock numbers "Sometimes" and "If 6 Was 9", the jazzy "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof", and the slow, atmospheric blues numbers "My Gal's Kinda Crazy" and "Knighted By The Blues" place this album among Rick Derringer's most outstanding. Sadly, Derringer passed away in 2025, at the age of 77, due to serious heart problems.