Albert Collins: Master of the Telecaster by Simon Godfrey

For more than thirty years, Albert Collins built a fierce reputation in clubs and juke joints long before the wider world took notice.

Known as the Master of the Telecaster, Collins created one of the most distinctive sounds in blues: sharp, percussive and instantly recognisable. His unusual open tuning, bare-fingered attack, sliding capo and piercing electric tone produced music that felt both icy and incendiary.

Albert Collins: Master of the Telecaster traces his journey from Depression-era East Texas and the segregated clubs of Houston to international stages at Live Aid, the Grammy Awards and major blues festivals. It covers his formative years, his long struggle to make a living from music, his regional recordings, and the breakthrough that came with Alligator Records and the landmark album Ice Pickin'.

Along the way, the book explores his key recordings, his collaborations with musicians such as Johnny Copeland, Robert Cray and Gwendolyn Collins, and the band that became the Icebreakers.

This is the story of a guitarist who waited decades for recognition—but never lost his cool while waiting.

Part biography, part musical appreciation and part journey through the changing blues world of the twentieth century, Albert Collins: Master of the Telecaster celebrates the life, music and enduring influence of one of the coolest men ever to plug in a guitar.

Know the story. Hear the blues differently.