He could rip the standards behind his back, looking sideways into a mirror that wasn’t there. He did a workingman’s job on a slow blues: he’d twist it, turn it, moan it, groan it, and bring it back down. 77th greatest guitarist who ever lived (according to Rolling Stone), Vestine played lead guitar in Canned Heat. Their biggest hit Goin’ Up Country (l967) provides background music today for car commercials that use the landscape to sell the vehicle. The song was originally a call to return to nature and/or a young man’s decision to dodge the Vietnam War and head north to Canada: “—gonna leave the USA.”
