What is wrong with Jack Pearson?? This is the craziest guitar solo I've ever heard in this song!! More than anything I've heard Jeff Beck do. It's a hot pepper all right.

I do dig that nice bosa bossa nova drum beat the drummer keeps going on this.  Very cool. Very good. But the guitar solo in the middle?? Crazy Jackie Boy. Wonder what Gregg Allman or Butch Trucks would think about it?

Jack Pearson's playing and solo on Real Hot Pepper is actually a fantastic solo after you hear it 3 or 4 times. All those wild and weird notes and licks are thought out. It's actually not just Jack being silly.

I have a Jack Pearson story, which I may have told before ... 

I drove Lefty Collins and the No Mercy Band to Gadsden, Al when they played at the Jam for Duane.  I also worked their merch table.  If I remember right, Bruce Hampton and Quark Alliance played and so did Jack and his band.

I was hanging out after the show, waiting for Bill Ector to give me a ride to the bar where the party was going to continue.  Bill and others were talking to Jack.  Jack said that someone had written him and asked him how he had played a certain part from a song on one of his albums.  He wrote back to the person that if he figured it out, to let Jack know, because he didn't.  He said something to the effect that he felt he was just a vessel, and that the music flowed through him - and he had no clue how he was able to play some of the things he played.  I always remembered that, and thought it was pretty cool.

love Jack! 

Jack Pearson slide and sustain. 

Porkchopbob!! You are a good slide player. What is your impression of Jack slide?

And didn't Gregg and Jaimoe say Jack Pearson came the closest to sounding like Duane? Of players who were in the ABB, I always felt it was Derek Trucks.  But no doubt Jack Pearson is an exceptional guitarist straight and slide. 

I see now Porkchopbob and others. Click on where it says YouTube in the bottom right and you can watch Jack's awesome slide guitar licks. 

That is cool Sang. In watching a lot of Jack videos lately, it seems Jack has nothing planned out for a solo and within the context of the material, just lets the notes just flow out from how he is into the moment. That is the essence of improvisation.

I had the pleasure of seeing Jack Pearson and his band a few years back at GABBA. He is one of the best players around who's skills and ability to take the simplest sound and make it something much bigger is just a tentmate to his true musicianship. He is a master guitarist in the true sense of the word master.

You are right. Been watching a lot of Jack videos lately and Jack is an incredible technical wizard.  Jack has so many licks and tones. And possibly the best or at least the wildest slide guitar player on the planet.  

Jack uses a slide that Duane used. Jack said according to Dickey Duane used it when Dickey gave it to him. 

@robertdee that's kind of you to say. I don't think there is a better slide player out there than Jack, he can do it all. Jack is student of so many different styles over the years, he's so versatile. I never thought Derek sounds much like Duane, they both have very different approaches. Derek continues to push the electric guitar into new frontiers, where Jack is an absolute master. I can listen to either on all day.

My favorite version of "Dreams" is Jack's version from the Fox Box.

Yeah Porkchopbob.  I have some videos of you playing. I was struck with how much you sounded like Dickey on slide on Done Somebody Wrong. The way Dickey played slide when Chuck and Lamar were in the band. 

Did you check out that YouTube clip above of Jack holding that last note on slide for about two minutes? Or so it seems. 

@robertdee that's very kind, I actually really dig Dickey's slide playing during that period. And it makes sense since he was an acoustic slider player first. "Sweet Mama" is kind of filler, but I always loved Dickey's swampy slide on that cut.

I did check it out, Jack's sustain is crazy good. His playing is effortless.

My other memory is when Jack was in the ABB.  They played at the now Hollywood Casino Amphitheater, which is 20 minutes from my house outside of Chicago.  Jack had just had appendicitis, and was sitting on a swiveling chair.  I just remember him swiveling side to side and just absolutely tearing it up - might have been Jessica that really caught my attention at just how good he was that night.

@sang I saw them, probably the next day or day before, at the WI State Fair. A lot of fans had never heard Jack play. He blew it up from the chair before word got around that he had an appendectomy. Made it even more amazing.

I've got a bunch of Jack Pearson stories.  My favorite one is the time in Gadsden, AL when he was playing a small club with Jimmy Hall (Boogie McCains- which became 2nd St. Music Hall).  Wee-wee hours - after 2:00AM Saturday night/Sunday morning.  There was less than a dozen people left in the club - a few still awake (not passed out).  As they ended their set, Jimmy started singing an A cappella rendition of "Amazing Grace".  Jack immediately sat down behind the club's Hammond B-3 organ and started playing.  This turned into an hour (or more) of gospel hymns.  They took us to church!  It was beyond awesome!

My buddy here Porkchopbob ( fine slide and guitar player) is RIGHT about Jack Pearson. 

He can do it all!! The rhythm playing on this video is fantastic.  Also his solo is insane. NOBODY is playing like this today except maybe Jeff Beck.  Oddly Jack's guitar here looks a lot like the guitar Beck played the last time I saw Beck except Jack like Clapton does not have a whammy bar. Pearson doesn't need one. With his fingers and right thumb Jack is coming from another planet. Either Jack was holding back a little in the 90's when he was with the Allman Brothers or Jack has evolved into a technical wizard! He is a tremendous player. 

Also this three piece band Jack plays with in Nashville has no bass player I was reading. The very good organ player like The Doors plays the bass lines with his foot pedals. 

More Jack Pearson for you Sunday morning. Hot slide here Porkchopbob.

During the Fox Run in '04 there was a daytime event held at a small club in Atlanta on I think is was Saturday. He played a small set, laid back small crowd. He hung around and talked to everyone. I have a cool picture of him, me and lefty on my digital camera. I need to find that thing. If memory serves, Derek played the next day in the parking of the Falcons stadium.

@lee  The Derek Trucks Band played - with Susan T sitting in - in the parking lot of the Georgia Dome before the Atlanta Falcons game on Sunday.  Somewhere on this site (or the blue site) I posted a set of pictures of that event - including one of me and Donna with Derek.  We had a nice chat about the previous nights (Saturday) show - and his turn at being the featured player on "Dreams".  "Dreams" as the only song played on every night of the Fox run.  Friday was Warren's turn, followed by Derek on Saturday.  Jack took title, deed and possession of the song on Sunday!  😉 

Edit:  thinking back, I think it was Friday - Jack, Sat. - Derek and Sunday - Warren on the "Dreams" versions.  All were excellent.  I think Derek's was my favorite version featuring him ... ever! 

Tommy Emanuel, JACK PEARSON and Stuie French playing some advanced guitar.

If you play, don't jam with Tommy and Jack. They might maje it seem your guitar only has two strings and they are out of tune.  

Chet Would Be Proud - love it that there’s w Chet Atkins Appreciation Society

Jack Pearson showing the guys his incredible variety of hot licks.  This starts out as slow jazz then kicks in and burns. 

I don't understand Jack using these cheap guitars? At the big guitar store here in my home town next to the Martin and Taylor guitars selection is the Fender selection and last I was there they had about 20 Stratocasters for sale and 5 of them were just 140 to 180 dollars and on the headstock is SQUIRE by Fender.  Fender in smaller letter. As a matter of fact the Fender logo on 2 of them was on the back of the headstock. The owner of the store told me he wouldn't recommend the Squire Stratocaster. Said it's made in Asia under license of Fender and the woods and electronics are cheap stuff where as the Strats made in the U.S and Mexico are real quality instruments thus a much higher price.  Said Gibson has lower quality cheaper  versions of their electric instruments made in Asia too branded as Epiphone. 

So I just read an interview with Jack and he said he has several Squire Stratocasters and the ones made in Singapore play fine to him. And the blue one he got last he paid 87 dollars for it. WTF? That is actually shocking. 

Is it the amp? How does Jack keep such a cheap job in tune? Amazing. 

@robertdee  I think there is a certain amount of snobbery among guitar players.  Last year, I picked up what I think is kind of a weird Strat.  It's Mexican-built (1996) Squire SERIES (not to be confused with a "Squire").  The Fender logo is in black (as generally opposed to being gold).  In the rounded part of the head stock - where it usually says, "Original Contour Body" - it says "Squire series".  I didn't pay a lot at all for the guitar and it sounded and played just fine.  Someone gave me a loaded pickguard from a 1991 American Strat that I swapped out.  The main thing you notice is that the pickguard is now a 2-ply.  I've got a bunch of more expensive guitars, but I haven't been able to put this one down.  Seriously - I think it's the best "Strat'" I've ever played.

Snobbery!  I read somewhere where Jeff "Skunk" Baxter's favorite guitar (recording) is a no-name that he bought at a yard sale.  I've talked to Jack about his Squires.  I figured he'd done a lot of mod's, but he says the only thing he's done is to change the tone to a volume (or something like this).  Everything is basically stock!

If you ever see a Japanese made Strat for sale, you should jump on it.  Fender was trying to keep up with all the import makes that were stealing sales (80's, I think) - so they had some Strats built there.  When they visited the factory, they were stunned at the quality!  A friend of mine has one of those - also his favorite of his collection.

Also, Jack Pearson could play a broom or a tennis racket and sound better than 99% of all the great guitarists in the world!

Been watching a lot of Jack videos lately and you are right. Jack would be more impressive playing a tennis racket next to most guitarists with a 2,600 dollar Les Paul or Paul Reed Smith. 

Porkchopbob sent me a link and you can order Strats from the custom shop with any kind of pickups that are available and customized the way you want it. 

I just googled Squire by Fender guitars and they are indeed lower quality Fender guitars made in Asia. A. C. Squire String Co was bought out by Fender years ago. A man named A. C. Squire became successful making guitar strings. But some years after selling to Fender, Fender decided to change the name of their guitar strings to Fender and the Squire name was retired. According to the piece I read when Fender decided to fight the cheap copies of Strats and Teles being made in Asia, they chose to have their own cheap guitars made in Asia and to protect the Fender name from any quality issues with low price material guitars, Fender put Squire on the headstock with "by fender" in smaller script on the back. But in recent years the quality of the Asia guitars has improved such that now "by fender" is on the front next to Squire. 

As I mentioned Jack told the guy the blue one he recently bought, he got for 87 dollars. The guy said "then you had it refreted, rewired and better pickups?" Jack said he made a change to the volume/tone knobs but did nothing to the neck and the pickups are what came in it. The guy just couldn't believe it. 

Here is Jack playing his blue Stratocaster from Asia he bought for $87 dollars and Marques King with a 1650.00 ES-335.  If I were Marques I'd be a little PO'd.

Here is the 87 dollar guitar where you can hear it better on another cell phone video. It sounds real good especially for 87 dollars. 

If I bought an 87 dollar guitar it wouldn't stay in tune, probably have a bowed neck making some frets unplayable with pickups that broke up and a bungie cord keeping the bridge from letting go.

Posted by: @robertdee

Here is Jack playing his blue Stratocaster from Asia he bought for $87 dollars and Marques King with a 1650.00 ES-335.  If I were Marques I'd be a little PO'd.

I believe Marcus is playing the ES 345 that Gibson developed FOR him.  I'm also guessing that it goes for a little more than $1,600.00.  ;   Marcus King is also the real deal!  

https://www.musicradar.com/news/gibson-has-made-marcus-lee-king-a-signature-es-345

Jack flying a flying V and playing some incredible blues. Just incredible.

Oh yes Rusty. Marques is hot. I listened to several of his videos on YouTube last weekend.

I was just guessing about the ES-335 or 45. There is a used one at my local music store for $1,650.00. I've always liked that guitar. Especially for blues. 

Anyway Marques paid a heck of a lot more than Jack did for the $87.00 Squire Stratocaster by Fender made in Singapore.

Maybe Jack's channeling Albert King with that V-shaped axe?  

I tell people often - no sacrilege or blasphemy intended - the Allman Brothers Band never had a better guitar player than Jack Pearson.  Hear that any way you want to.