Even if English Romani picker Albert Lee hadn’t cut A Long Way from Lubbock with the Crickets in 1974, he still deserves a big bronze star on any Lone Star Walk of Fame. Raised in London, the future Mr. Telecaster began mastering guitar a decade-and-a-half earlier through the same muse as incoming Beatles and Stones: our Panhandle shooting star, Buddy Holly. The gentlemanly, countryfied Clapton thus employed his fingerstyle technique to Americana luminaries including the Everly Brothers, Emmylou Harris, Nanci Griffith. Now 78, the Grammy-winning string bender pulls into Saxon’s intimate roadhouse for a history lesson.
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