“It is with heavy hearts that we bear the news that John Mayall passed away peacefully in his California home yesterday, July 22, 2024, surrounded by his loving family.”
So read the @johnmayallofficial Instagram post. Music fans the world over felt the loss of the godfather of the British blues, and hundreds of thousands of people sent kind words and gratitude to the family. But for this article, we’re going back 45 years to a lesser, but still very real, tragedy.
In scorching 1979, a brush fire caught John Mayall’s Hollywood pad and it went up in flames. With it burnt a music collection that was nothing short of legendary. This wasn’t just any old stack of records; it was the heart and soul of the blues, an irreplaceable anthology that had fed the creativity of guitar gods like Clapton, Green, and Taylor.
Mayall’s collection was a goldmine, filled with the kind of vinyl that makes rockers weak at the knees. We’re talking 45s and 78 originals from the likes of Robert Johnson, the man whose guitar could make a stone weep. Mayall had rare pressings of ‘Cross Road Blues’ and ‘Terraplane,’ Holy Grail recordings for blues lovers and masterclasses for any guitarist worth their salt.
And then there were the Charley Patton records. Patton was the OG of delta blues, with a voice that could cut through the Mississippi humidity and guitar skills that laid down the law for all who followed. Gems like ‘Pony Blues’ and ‘High Water Everywhere’ carried the weight of a thousand stories from the Deep South.
Son House was another cornerstone of Mayall’s stash. His ferocious slide guitar and gut-wrenching vocals on absolute gems like ‘Death Letter’ and ‘Grinnin’ in Your Face’ were pure, unfiltered emotion. House’s influence on the genre was undeniable, and losing these records was like losing a piece of the blues’ very soul.
But it wasn’t just these classics that went up in smoke. Mayall’s house was also home to countless live tapes from the ’60s, capturing the raw energy and blistering performances of his own bands. There was Clapton during his tenure with the Bluesbreakers, playing with a ferocity that would soon catapult him to stardom. Early recordings of Fleetwood Mac’s Peter Green showcased his distinctive, soul-drenched guitar style. And Mick Taylor’s early days were preserved in these tapes, highlighting the fluid, expressive playing that would make him a key member of The Rolling Stones.
The loss of this collection now feels as if part of history has disappeared. It wasn’t just vinyl and tape — it was a living, breathing archive of the blues. Each was a piece of the genre’s DNA and of musical evolution. The fire erased a critical link to the past, sounds that had inspired not just Mayall, but an entire generation.
Despite this, we’ll remember Mayall as a legend who shaped the British blues explosion and kept the blues flame burning bright. After this, he reformed the Bluesbreakers, kept touring, and kept recording, never letting the music die. Even more so now after his passing, the fire that consumed his collection is a stark reminder of how fragile our connection to the past can be. It underscores the importance of preserving these musical legacies, ensuring that the stories and sounds continue to inspire and resonate.
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- 1979 Fire
- Blues Records
- Bluesbreakers
- British Blues
- Charley Patton
- Clapton
- John Mayall
- Music History
- Peter Green
- Robert Johnson
