Pat Hare

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Auburn "Pat" Hare (December 20, 1930 - September 26, 1980) was an American electric Memphis blues guitarist and singer. His heavily distorted, power chord-driven electric guitar music in the early 1950s is considered an important precursor to heavy metal music. His guitar work with Little Junior's Blue Flames had a major influence on the rockabilly style, while his guitar playing on blues records by artists such as Muddy Waters was influential among 1960s British Invasion blues rock bands such as The Rolling Stones and The Yardbirds. He was born in Cherry Valley, Arkansas. He recorded at Sun Studios in Memphis, Tennessee, serving as a sideman for Howlin' Wolf, James Cotton, Muddy Waters, Bobby "Blue" Bland and other artists. Hare was one of the first guitarists to purposely use the effects of distortion in his playing. In 1951, he joined a blues band formed by Junior Parker, called Little Junior's Blue Flames. He played the electric guitar solo on "Love My Baby" (1953), which later inspired the rockabilly style. One of their biggest hits was "Next Time You See Me" which in 1957 reached #5 on the Billboard R&B charts and #74 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart. His guitar solo on James Cotton's electric blues record "Cotton Crop Blues" (1954) was the first record to use heavily distorted power chords, anticipating elements of heavy metal music. According to American writer and musicologist Robert Palmer: "Rarely has a grittier, nastier, more ferocious electric guitar sound be

top songs

albums

The Sun Records Collection

Sun Records: The 50th Anniversary Collection

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Sun Records - The Blues Years, 1950 - 1958 CD8

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The Sun Records Story CD1

Sun Records - Essential Blues Anthems

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Memphis Blues: Important Postwar Blues, CD B

Mystery Train

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Memphis Blues - Important Postwar Blues

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Wanted! - Outlaw Songs

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The Sun Records Collection [Rhino] Disc 1

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Memphis Blues - 100 Vintage Tracks

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Sun Records Colleciton

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