Rick Vito — Slidemaster: The Instrumental Slide Guitar Collection

Many a high-profile project has been seared by Rick Vito’s bottlenecking.

Those are his char marks singed across Jackson Browne’s “Tender Is the Night,” followed by Bob Seger’s “Like a Rock.” That was back during the 1980s, when he was also a member of Bonnie Raitt’s troupe. Before that, in the ’70s, he signed on as one of the touring “friends” in Delaney & Bonnie & Friends; Bobby Whitlock, John Mayall and John Prine also kept Vito’s slide purring back

then. Plus, in between leading a virtual murderers’ row of rockers and rowdies in tribute to personal hero Elmore James—by way of onstage tribute to another personal hero, Fleetwood Mac’s Peter Green—as well as cutting more recent albums with Peter Frampton, Hank Williams Jr., and Boz Scaggs, Vito somehow found time to front The Mick Fleetwood Blues Band. The man’s Rolodex could choke a horse.

Oh yeah, there is also his tenure as lead guitarist of Fleetwood Mac.

Vito stepped in after Lindsey Buckingham stepped out (momentarily). From 1987-1991, spotlights were on him making the most of those years: touring, recording (1990’s Behind the Mask), and pulling off some absolutely bewitching sleight of hand that reigned atop the Billboard charts. “As Long As You Follow,” a No. 1 single off 1988’s 8X Platinum Greatest Hits, distinguishes itself by those guitarisms. Sure, Christine McVie delivers her soft ode to second chances with the usual poised persuasion of someone who has been through that wringer. Vito, nevertheless, ends up stealing the show with cascading church-bell chimes, crying-seagull string bends and a one-of-a-kind liquid solo that pours off the strings.

But as 1991 drew to a close, Vito actualized a Mac lyric when deeming it time to—go his own way. Rick’s solo business soon opened and records—with his own name stamped atop each of them—began stacking up.

Of the 11 prior albums, Slidemaster uniquely stands apart. Not necessarily for showcasing both new material as well as a couple of remixed, remastered highlights pulled from Soulshaker (2019), Mojo On My Side (2017), and Rattlesnake Shake (2005).

But for what its 40 minutes lack. Namely, singing. Because Vito readily sings, as last verified by

2024’s Cadillac Man. Not here, though. Not at all. The Instrumental Slide Guitar Collection corrals a dozen bite-sized, three-minute morsels that ignore the mic. Each comes with its own distinct personality—something needed for when a bottleneck does the only talking.

“Vegas Jump” gets the slide rolling, anxiously. Already nervous at baseline, the tight and tense vibrato keeps urgently pitching higher and higher towards the point of liftoff, like that attained on Sundays by sacred steel. In other words, this is no place for slumber. “Albatross” works quite effectively as the antidote. It’s a spot-on reading of the gentle, dreamlike atmosphere Peter Green created with Santo & Johnny’s “Sleepwalk” in the back of his mind but with Fleetwood Mac circled around him. Now, like then, mallets soften the blow on the drums in order to avoid any chance of breaking the spell. “The Big Beat,” in direct contrast, pounds out a Bo Diddley rhythm over which Vito rumbles and skids in a case of 1950s revisionism. “The Danger Zone” is noir in both title and action, made for drama in the risky, wee hours beyond midnight.

And deeper we go.

“Red Hot Baby” finds its magic at the bottom of the bottle, much in the way as did Blues On the South Side, a 1963 Chicago guidebook to the art of boozy romps implemented by Homesick James, Elmore’s cousin. This Vito original scoots around the barroom to an easy and loose pulse anchored by a bottom-heavy thump. The combination makes latching onto its pull all the easier for revelers, even if you’re tipsy. More laidback and vocal is “Slide the Blues,” whose deep swoops sing out and then answer themselves in call-and-response.

Still deeper.

Wade into “River of Blues.” The piece is intentionally slow in pace, rocking back and forth, setting the trance while maximizing emotional depth. It’s a raga of sorts, where little, intricate curlicues get shaved off from the fretboard with each pass of the bottleneck. Such woozy sounds are vastly more exotic and miles removed from those Vito gleaned from formative days listening to Robert Nighthawk albums. If anything, the technique is closer to that of the great gurus of Indian slide guitar like V.M. Bhatt or Debashish Bhattacharya. How do you follow that mood piece? Enter “The Supernatural.” First levitated in 1967, Peter Green’s magnum opus with John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers spun on Side 2 of A Hard Road. Here, the odyssey breathes again, readily identified by those long, suspended tones ringing out forever until eventually plunging into kamikaze dives.

Ultimately, the showcase opens fully to reveal what a slide can do in expert hands: mimic the human voice in its phrasing and intonation. That is, to sing lyrics by way of glissando and microtones. Both Sam Cooke’s soulful “A Change Is Gonna Come” and “The Lord’s Prayer” are stunningly beautiful when vocalized from Vito speaking with his hands: gliding the bottleneck along the strings with just the exact timing, at just the precise spot, with just the right touch. That’s a job calling for a real Slidemaster.

Label: MoMojo Records

Release date: 4/3/26

Artist website: Rick Vito.com

Label website: MoMojo Records.com

Reviewed by Dennis Rozanski

https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=OLAK5uy_mEient-7MSGxM7KbU-RNI23EJGc2Gvjmg&v=soN6BKmsn4U