My old friend J.T. Miller used to regale me with tales of guitarist Lonnie Mack cruising the small-town streets of Aurora, Ind. (2003 population figures show 3,825 residents), in a new, possibly purple GTO – a first-generation muscle car that came his way courtesy of a blazing 1963 hit instrumental cover of Chuck Berry's "Memphis" on Cincinnati's Fraternity Records. I listened – anything was better than school, and besides, I liked the song. But that was before the Brits came and conquered, before hippies, before the blues became a staple of the far-flung youth culture, and before the words singer and songwriter were joined in the public imagination.

"Memphis" was an anachronistic oldie by the time Mack was signed by Elektra, where, though still a fabulous guitarist, he was remade as a guitar-playing vocalist who, very loosely speaking, might have had something in common with Johnny Winter. In fact, Mack's voice is powerful – just give a listen to "Why," which opens Glad I'm in the Band and features his big, almost growling baritone, as well as blues guitar playing as good as anything you'd find anywhere in those days. The songs show other influences – gospel ("Old House"), bluegrass ("In the Band") – but he was clearly most at home working in the blues idiom (according to me, at any rate; Mack steered his next two albums toward a more country-flavored, quiet direction). As on the opener, he pours it all out on "Let Them Talk," "Sweat and Tears," "Stay away from My Baby," and the heartbreaking "She Don't Come Here Anymore."