Famous Guitarists from Alabama
List of famous guitarists born who were born in Alabama, listed alphabetically with photos when available. Many of these guitar players from Alabama are legends in the music world, each with their own innovative styles of play. If you play guitar, whether acoustic or electric, then these famous Alabama guitar players should be people you look up to. These are some of the best guitarists that have ever picked up the instrument, and whether they play rock, blues, metal or folk, these men and women are considered legends.
This list features items like Hank Williams and Tommy Shaw.
This list answers the questions, "What guitar players are from Alabama?" and "Who are famous Alabama guitarists?"- Photo:
- WSM radio
- Wikimedia Commons
- Public domain
Hank Williams, born Hiram King Williams on September 17, 1923, in Mount Olive, Alabama, was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is recognized as one of the most influential country music artists of all time, even with a career that spanned a mere six years. Williams's profound impact on country music is attributed to his ability to transform his personal hardships into universally relatable songs, imbued with raw emotion and depth. Williams's musical journey began when he was just eight years old, learning guitar from Rufus "Tee Tot" Payne, a local street performer. His distinctive blend of traditional folk, blues, and heartland rock resonated with audiences, leading to his first radio gig at WSFA in Montgomery, Alabama, by the age of 13. Williams's burgeoning career took a significant leap forward in 1947 when he signed a contract with MGM Records. His debut single, "Move It On Over," broke into the Top Five on the Billboard country singles chart, paving the way for a string of successful hits including "Lovesick Blues," "Hey Good Lookin'," and "Your Cheatin' Heart." However, Williams's meteoric rise was marred by personal struggles. His chronic back pain led to alcohol and prescription drug dependency, which often interfered with his performances and eventually led to his dismissal from the Grand Ole Opry. Tragically, Williams died at the young age of 29 on January 1, 1953, due to heart failure, exacerbated by his substance abuse issues. Despite his short-lived career, Hank Williams's legacy endures, having inspired generations of musicians across various genres. His posthumous induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1961 stands testament to his everlasting influence on the world of music.- Nationality: United States of America
- Birthplace: USA, Alabama, Mount Olive
- Photo:
- Photo:
Dale Watson (born October 7, 1962 in Birmingham, Alabama) is an American country/Texas country singer, guitarist, songwriter, and self-published author based in Austin, Texas. He champions "Ameripolitan" as a new genre of original music and has positioned himself as a tattooed, stubbornly independent outsider who is interested in recording authentic country music. As a result, he has become a favorite of critics and alt-country fans.- Nationality: United States of America
- Birthplace: Birmingham, USA, Alabama
- Bo Weavil Jackson (dates and places of birth and death unknown, real name said to be James Butler) was an African-American blues singer and guitarist. He was one of the first country bluesmen to be recorded, in 1926, for Paramount Records and Vocalion Records. On the latter label he was credited as Sam Butler, which has become the name most commonly used to identify him. His 78-rpm records are highly sought by collectors and have been re-released on numerous LP and CD compilation albums. His technique is distinctive for its upbeat tempo, varied melodic lines, and impromptu instrumentals.It is widely believed that Jackson was active in Birmingham, Alabama since he referred to that area in his lyrics and because that was apparently where the talent scouts found him performing on the street, but he was promoted as originating from North Carolina. According to Eugene Chadbourne, Paramount promoted him as having "come down from the Carolinas". Apart from his 1926 recordings, no further documentation of him exists.His recordings have been published in both notation and tablature transcriptions, which have enabled contemporary detailed study of his style and technique.
- Nationality: United States of America
- Birthplace: Birmingham, Alabama
- Photo:
Johnny Henry Smith II (June 25, 1922 – June 11, 2013) was an American cool jazz and mainstream jazz guitarist. He wrote "Walk, Don't Run" in 1954. In 1984, Smith was inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame.- Nationality: United States of America
- Birthplace: Birmingham, Alabama
- Photo:
Tommy Shaw
Tommy Roland Shaw (born September 11, 1953) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, and performer best known as the front man and guitarist for the rock band Styx. In between his stints with Styx, he has played with other groups including Damn Yankees, Shaw Blades as well as releasing several solo albums.- Nationality: United States of America
- Birthplace: Montgomery, Alabama
- Photo:
- Metaweb (FB)
- Public domain
William Christopher Handy (November 16, 1873 – March 28, 1958) was a composer and musician, known as the Father of the Blues. An African American, Handy was one of the most influential songwriters in the United States. One of many musicians who played the distinctively American blues music, Handy did not create the blues genre but was the first to publish music in the blues form, thereby taking the blues from a regional music style (Delta blues) with a limited audience to a new level of popularity.Handy was an educated musician who used elements of folk music in his compositions. He was scrupulous in documenting the sources of his works, which frequently combined stylistic influences from various performers.- Nationality: United States of America
- Birthplace: Florence, Alabama, USA
- Photo:
- Photo:
- Metaweb (FB)
- Public domain
Raymond Everett Reach, Jr. (born August 3, 1948) is an American pianist, vocalist, guitarist, composer, arranger, music producer and educator, named by AL.com as one of "30 Alabamians who changed jazz history." He serves as President and CEO of Ray Reach Music and Magic City Music Productions.Reach has performed and recorded in various genres, including pop, R & B, Motown/soul, gospel, rock, classic rock, country (contemporary and traditional), contemporary Christian, classical and jazz music, but is perhaps best known for his work in jazz, combining jazz piano stylings with Sinatra-style vocals. He resides in Birmingham, Alabama.- Nationality: United States of America
- Birthplace: Birmingham, Alabama
- Photo:
- Photo:
- Metaweb (FB)
- Public domain
Mark Wilkerson is an American musician, who was the lead singer and guitarist for rock band Course of Nature, previously known as COG.Wilkerson co-wrote the song "It's Not Over" which was released as a single and as the opening track on the eponymous album by Daughtry. On December 6, 2007, the song earned him and the other co-writers a nomination for Best Rock Song for the 50th Annual Grammy Awards.On May 3, 2007, Wilkerson gave a concert to help the relief efforts of Enterprise High School in Alabama, two months after a violent storm destroyed the school and killed eight students.- Nationality: United States of America
- Birthplace: USA, Alabama, Enterprise
- Photo:
- Steppenwolf is a Canadian-American rock band, prominent from 1968 to 1972. The group was formed in late 1967 in Los Angeles by lead singer John Kay, keyboardist Goldy McJohn, and drummer Jerry Edmonton (all formerly in Canadian band The Sparrows). Guitarist Michael Monarch and bass guitarist Rushton Moreve were recruited by notices placed in Los Angeles-area record and musical instrument stores. Steppenwolf sold over 25 million records worldwide, released eight gold albums and 12 Billboard Hot 100 singles, of which six were top 40 hits, including three top 10 successes: "Born to Be Wild", "Magic Carpet Ride", and "Rock Me". Steppenwolf enjoyed worldwide success from 1968 to 1972, but clashing personalities led to the end of the core lineup. Today, John Kay is the only original member, having been the lead singer since 1967. The band is now called John Kay & Steppenwolf.
- Nationality: United States of America
- Birthplace: Huntsville, Alabama
- Photo:
Lyman Corbitt McAnally Jr. (; born July 15, 1957), known professionally as Mac McAnally, is an American country music singer-songwriter, session musician and record producer. In his career, he has recorded ten studio albums and eight singles. Two of his singles were hits on the Billboard Hot 100, and six more on the Hot Country Songs charts. His ninth chart entry came in late 2008, early 2009 as a guest vocalist on Kenny Chesney's Number One cover of his 1990 single "Down the Road". He has also produced for Sawyer Brown and Restless Heart, written several singles for other artists, and is a member of Jimmy Buffett's backing band, The Coral Reefer Band.- Nationality: United States of America
- Birthplace: Red Bay, Alabama
- Photo:
Kenny Brown (born July 5, 1953 on the Air Force base in Selma, Alabama) is an American blues slide guitarist skilled in the North Mississippi Hill Country blues style. Brown apprenticed with Mississippi Joe Callicott, who was his neighbor in Nesbit, Mississippi, from age 12 to 15, when Callicott died. He had heard Othar Turner and others in nearby Como picnics, and cited Junior Kimbrough, Johnny Winter, and Johnny Shines as influences.Around 1971, beside working in construction, Brown began playing with two other musicians. Johnny Woods would make an occasional playing partner to his death in 1990. More steady was Brown's learning with R. L. Burnside, who claimed Brown as his "adopted son," and affectionately called him "white boy on guitar" and "my white son." Brown has noted that they had trouble to book dates, when European event organizers would hear he is a white musician playing the traditionally African American blues, and that American record producers and critics have similar reservations.Still in the early seventies they started to perform in their region, and would keep up as a duo for twenty years. Cedric Burnside joined their tours from about 1994, as Burnside's reputation surged. In the 1990s and early 2000s Brown participated in most of Burnside's tours and recordings, including the Burnside-Jon Spencer Blues Explosion collaborations and the remixed albums. Brown first appeared abroad in Sweden in 1989, and later in the 1992 Åmåls Blues Fest with George "Mojo" Buford.On record, he plays second guitar on two of Junior Kimbrough's albums throughout, and on some tracks on the posthumous compilation, God Knows I Tried. He is on tracks by Asie Payton, CeDell Davis and Paul "Wine" Jones, as well as Frank Frost and Cyndi Lauper. Brown's own debut album was Goin' Back to Mississippi (1996), produced by Dale Hawkins. He has recorded one album for Fat Possum Records, Stingray (2003). He released Cheap, Fast, and Dirty (2006) with Danish guitarist Troels Jensen, at Olufsen Records. Meet Ya In The Bottom (2008) is a CD Baby release. His double album Can't Stay Long (2011) was released on Devil Down Records. In their 2003 tour he has opened for Widespread Panic (and the extended combo Smiling assassins), as he earlier had with Burnside,Brown's guitar work was featured in the 2006 film Black Snake Moan, where he provided backing for star Samuel L. Jackson's vocals. He can be seen in the film's climax as a guitarist in a blues band, playing alongside Cedric Burnside. Brown lives in Potts Camp, Mississippi, in the North Mississippi Hill Country with his wife Sara.- Nationality: United States of America
- Birthplace: USA, Alabama, Selma
- Charles Franklin Hodge (December 14, 1934–March 3, 2006), better known as Charlie Hodge, was an American singer, vocal coach and musician who was a confidant and best friend of Elvis Presley, and lived at Graceland.
- Nationality: United States of America
- Birthplace: USA, Alabama, Decatur
- Photo:
Joseph Leon Williams (February 3, 1935 – December 1, 2018), better known as Jody Williams, was an American blues guitarist and singer. His singular guitar playing, marked by flamboyant string-bending, imaginative chord voicings and a distinctive tone, was influential in the Chicago blues scene of the 1950s. In the mid-1950s, Williams was one of the most sought-after session guitarists in Chicago, but he was little known outside the music industry, since his name rarely appeared on discs. His acclaimed comeback in 2000 led to a resurgence of interest in his early work and a reappraisal as one of the great blues guitarists. Williams was known for his imaginative chord selection, characterized by raised fives, and minor sixths and minor sevenths with flattened fives. He usually played with an unusual open E tuning, originally taught to him by Bo Diddley. In 2013, Williams was inducted to the Blues Hall of Fame.- Nationality: United States of America
- Birthplace: Mobile, Alabama
- Photo:
Johnny Watson (April 12, 1867 – November 1, 1963) was an African American blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player, best known for his recordings under the name Daddy Stovepipe. Watson also recorded as Jimmy Watson, Sunny Jim and Rev. Alfred Pitts. He may have been the earliest-born blues performer to record. Many of his recordings were jug band duets with his wife, Sarah Watson, who was usually credited as Mississippi Sarah.- Nationality: United States of America
- Birthplace: Mobile, Alabama
- Photo:
William Brent Hinds (born January 16, 1974) is an American musician best known as a member of the Atlanta, Georgia metal band Mastodon, in which he shares guitar duties with Bill Kelliher and vocal duties with Troy Sanders and Brann Dailor. Hinds is also lead guitarist/singer for the surfabilly band Fiend Without a Face, and is involved in other projects, including classic rock bands The Blood Vessels, West End Motel, Four Hour Fogger, The Last of the Blue Eyed Devils, Giraffe Tongue Orchestra, and Legend of the Seagullmen.- Birthplace: Pelham, Alabama
- Eddie Hinton (15 June 1944 – 28 July 1995) was an American songwriter and session musician best known for his work with soul music and R&B singers. He played lead guitar for Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section from 1967 to 1971 and after leaving the band, he was replaced by Pete Carr as lead guitarist.Hinton was born in Jacksonville, Florida, on June 15, 1944, to Laura Deanie and Horton C. Hinton. Hinton's parents divorced in 1949, and he and his mother moved to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where his mother later remarried. He formed the Five Minutes, also known as Five Men-Its, who quickly garnered regional recognition. Two of the members of the group, drummer Johnny Sandlin and keyboardist Paul Hornsby, would join Duane and Gregg Allman in the Hour Glass and later go on to success as record producers. Hinton, Sandlin and Hornsby all spent time working as session players in Muscle Shoals. Hornsby and Sandlin worked at Rick Hall's FAME Studios (Florence Alabama Music Enterprises) and from there went to Capricorn Records in Macon, Ga. Hinton had joined some former FAME players known as the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section (or "the Swampers") who split off from Hall and started their own studio, Muscle Shoals Sound, in Sheffield. Hinton was replaced at MSS by Wayne Perkins. As a session guitarist in Muscle Shoals, Hinton played on hit records recorded by Wilson Pickett, Arthur Conley, Aretha Franklin, Joe Tex, Solomon Burke, Percy Sledge, The Staple Singers, The Dells, Paul Kelly, Johnny Taylor, Elvis Presley, The Box Tops, R. B. Greaves, Boz Scaggs, Evie Sands, Looking Glass, Toots Hibbert and Otis Redding. Hinton was a songwriter in his own right as well. His most well known song is "Breakfast in Bed" which has been recorded many times, most notably by Dusty Springfield and by UB40 with Chrissie Hynde. He also co-wrote "It's All Wrong But It's All Right" sung by Laura Lee. Willy Deville recorded his song "Help Me To Make It (Power of a Woman's Love)" on his album Coup de Grâce.
- Nationality: United States of America
- Birthplace: Tuscaloosa, Alabama
- Lee Clayton (born Billy Schatz, October 29, 1942) is an American rock and country musician and composer.
- Nationality: United States of America
- Birthplace: Russellville, Alabama
- Photo:
Donald "Don" Hugh Helms (February 28, 1927 – August 11, 2008) was a steel guitarist best known as the steel guitar player of Hank Williams' Drifting Cowboys group.- Nationality: United States of America
- Birthplace: New Brockton, Alabama
- Photo:
Jimmy Johnson (born February 4, 1943, Sheffield, Alabama) is a member of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section who was attached to FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, for a period in the 1960s. In 1969, with the backing of Atlantic Records executive Jerry Wexler, Johnson became a co-founder of the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, along with the drummer Roger Hawkins, the bassist David Hood, and the keyboardist Barry Beckett. The studio was originally located at 3614 Jackson Highway in Sheffield and later moved to 1000 Alabama Avenue, also in Sheffield. Johnson worked as a record producer and as a guitarist. He has performed with Wilson Pickett and Aretha Franklin. He also engineered three tracks on the Rolling Stones' album Sticky Fingers.- Nationality: United States of America
- Birthplace: Alabama
- Photo:
- Metaweb (FB)
- Fair use
Robert Petway
Robert Petway (possibly October 18, 1907 – May 1978) was an African-American blues singer and guitarist. He recorded only 16 songs, but it has been said that he was an influence on many notable blues and rock musicians, including John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, and Jimi Hendrix. There is only one known picture of Petway, a publicity photo from 1941.- Nationality: United States of America
- Birthplace: Boykin, Alabama
- Photo:
