WRTC hosts have done a number of tributes to Peter Green who passed away July 25 at the age of 73.
The first spotlight on Green took place July 25 with three hours of music from throughout his career on Authentic Radio. Click here to listen to an archive of the show. The Aug. 1 tribute on Greasy Tracks, focused on deeper tracks in a career overview. Click here to check it out, while a playlist is here.
The start to Green’s rise to critical acclaim and later commercial success — both of which he would shun – came simply because of who he replaced when he joined as the lead guitarist in John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers in July 1966 to fill the place of Eric Clapton who left to form Cream.
Green had subbed for Clapton for a handful of shows eight months earlier, but upon taking on the role, Green’s new boss was his biggest champion. When going into the studio to start recording A Hard Road, Mayall told Decca Records producer Mike Vernon: “He (Green) might not be better (than Clapton) now. But you wait… he’s going to be the best.”
While he would only remain with Mayall for less than a year, the time spent in studio and on the road with the Bluesbreakers became a valuable experience for Green who would go on to form Fleetwood Mac in 1967, bringing on two Mayall alums, bassist John McVie and drummer Mick Fleetwood.
In time, the group would boast three guitarists with Jeremy Spencer and Danny Kirwan rounding out the line-up which would release three outstanding studio albums (Fleetwood Mac, Mr. Wonderful and Then Play On) before Green left the band in 1970.
It was during his Mac days that Green penned some of his greatest songs, “Black Magic Woman,” “Albatross,” “Man Of The World,” “Show-Biz Blues,” “Rattlesnake Shake” and “Long Grey Mare.”
In the post-Mac period of his career, Green dealt with a series of mental health issues, inconsistent studio creation and album output and a number of different line-ups of players.