on two cuts by a 21-year-old White boy from Cambridge by the name of Al Wilson. Al plays second guitar on Empire State Express and harp on Levee Camp Moan. Al never recorded before, but he has backed John Hurt, Skip James, Sleepy John Estes, Bukka White and many others. He is good, and the record will prove it."
He moved to LA thanks to John Fahey, another blues scholar as well as noted and eccentric guitar virtuoso:
During his time performing in Cambridge, Wilson met American guitarist John Fahey. From Fahey, he acquired the nickname "Blind Owl" owing to his extreme nearsightedness, roundish facial features and scholarly nature. In one instance when he was playing at a wedding, he laid his guitar on the wedding cake because he did not see it. As Canned Heat's drummer, Fito de la Parra, wrote in his book: "Without the glasses, Alan literally could not recognize the people he played with at two feet, that's how blind the 'Blind Owl' was." With Fahey's encouragement, Wilson moved with Fahey to Los Angeles with the aim of having Wilson assist Fahey with his UCLA master's thesis on Charley Patton. In Los Angeles Wilson met Bob Hite, a fellow blues enthusiast and record collector who later established Canned Heat with Wilson.
Wilson died – possibly suicide – from a barbiturate overdose:
On September 3, 1970, Wilson was found dead on a hillside behind bandmate Bob Hite's Topanga Canyon home; he was 27 years old. An autopsy identified his manner and cause of death as accidental acute barbiturate intoxication. Wilson reportedly had attempted suicide a few months earlier, attempting to drive his car off a freeway in Los Angeles. He was briefly hospitalized for significant depression, and was released after a few weeks. Although his death is sometimes reported as a suicide, this is not clearly established and he left no note. Wilson's death came just two weeks before the death of Jimi Hendrix, four weeks before the death of Janis Joplin, and ten months before the death of Jim Morrison, three artists who also died at the same age. Along with his talent and intellect, Wilson had a reputation for social awkwardness and introversion which may have been a symptom of his depression.
And so joined the 27 club.
Here's an Al Wilson memorial site.
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