Jeff Slate & Friends | John Lennon Birthday Bash

Ever since he was a wee lad, Jeff Slate has been about the riffs. His obsession started with his post-punk era band the Mindless Thinkers, on to the Kinks/Small Faces vibes of The Badge and can’t stop/won’t stop with his solo work. He’s recorded and toured with a who’s who of rock — Pete Townshend, Roger McGuinn, Jeff Tweedy, Sheryl Crow, Margo Price, the Wallflowers and more — and his solo records have included members of Guns ’n’ Roses, the Heartbreakers, David Bowie and Paul Weller’s bands and Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds.

Slate has written quite possibly THE book on Roy Orbison, a memoir with Earl Slick, more liner notes than a normal human could possibly consume — including for the Beatles, Stones, Dylan and Hendrix — and is a regular guest host on SiriusXM. And though he’s been a counselor at the famed Rock ’n’ Roll Fantasy Camp, please don’t ask him about your mid band. The man has standards.

• Fred Pessaro, CREEM