“I’m playing tonight with George Harrison and Buddy Guy,” Eric remarked over the phone. You are going to arrive and perform.” Recalling getting Eric Clapton’s impromptu invitation to a star-studded jam session, Richie Sambora.
Once, Slowhand was approached by Sambora to appear on one of his singles, and soon after, the two were trading licks at the Roxy with a few other legendary blues musicians.
(Photo courtesy of Pete Still/Redferns and Mick Hutson/Redferns via Getty)
Former Bon Jovi electric guitar player Richie Sambora credits Eric Clapton and B.B. King as two of his greatest inspirations since, like many rock guitar greats, he grew up listening to the blues.
But those icons would later become close friends and collaborators for the ardent bluesman, as demonstrated by the fact that Slowhand once extended an invitation to him to join a star-studded impromptu jam session.
In the most recent issue of Guitar Player, Sambora recounted the incident and discussed how, informally, the invitation signified his complete acceptance by the blues world and his status as an equal among his contemporaries.
“I wrote a song called Mr. Bluesman about a young man like me following blues guys around in 1991, when I was wrapping up Stranger in This Town,” Sambora explains. Eric agreed to play on it when I asked him to.
“He called me one day and said, ‘Richard, this is Eric.'” I’m like, I’m still insane and starstruck, [drops his lips in awe]. George Harrison, Buddy, and I are performing the Roxy tonight, he says. You’re going to play some music.
Sambora accepted the invitation without hesitation, of course: “I’m like, ‘I promise you, I will be there!'” I’m pissing in my pants in the interim. Harrison was absent, so John Lee Hooker, Eric, Buddy, and me were present.
Sambora, who had tried to hold his own against his heroes, ended up leaving quite an impression on Guy and Clapton, thus it was understandably a weird experience for him.
He goes on, “I did whatever it took to get through the entire thing, which was to play every lick I knew about three times faster.” Buddy is yelling, “Come on, come on!” as Eric is giggling.
At the end, we were backstage after blowing the roof off the venue. “Hey boy, was that you playing them strings up there?” Hooker asked, glancing at me. I responded, “Yes, sir.”
“You just keep playing,” he added. You’re doing fine. I knelt down and gave him a hand kiss.
That was only the first of many meetings Sambora would have with the biggest names in the blues community. He continues, saying that he also grew close to B.B. King.
“We would just contact one other if Buddy was nearby or I was in the area. The same was true for B.B. I found acceptance in the blues world. But, dude, I done the job. I completed the tasks. I enjoyed every minute of playing in the blues clubs, and I did it for a purpose.
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