As a young guitarist, on the way to carving out his own gutsy blues rock sound in Rival Sons, Scott Holiday was heavily influenced by Eric Clapton. Like so many players, Scott cut his teeth learning rite-of-passage riffs such as Sunshine Of Your Love by Cream and Steppin’ Out from Clapton’s brief but hugely significant tenure with John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers. Speaking to TG during Rival Sons’ world tour in support of their new album Lightbringer, Scott hails Clapton as one of the most influential guitarists of all time, and explains why the Brit bluesman is an “ever-present force” in his own playing.
Young Eric: Breaking the Blues in Britain and becoming ‘God’
There were English guys playing blues in the ’60s, but I think we all can fairly agreeably come to the same conclusion that Clapton is the quintessential white guy playing the blues who brought so much attention to it. Clapton was predominantly a fan of Muddy, B.B. King and Howlin’ Wolf, or Robert Johnson, Buddy Guy and Hubert Sumlin. These were his guys and I think it’s fair to say that not as many people would
