Pearl Jam – Mike McCready

Posted by Albert Costill on May 23, 2007 in General | Comments

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Sir Mike MCCready doesn’t need much of an introduction. Hands down he is one of the greatest guitar players of this generation. He first grabbed our attention when he was part of Temple of the Dog. He rules on Reach Down.

Mike is the backbone of Pearl Jam. Besides being an amazing guitarist, his live performances are electric. His bluesy improvs never disappoint fans.

Mike and Eddie are a force to reckon with. The duo seem to have the legendary singer/guitarist connection down. They performed Masters of War at the 1993 tribute concert for Bob Dylan, as well as Yellow Ledbetter on the Tibetan Freedom Concert album and The Long Road (with Neil Young) on America: A Tribute to Heroes.

Mike also contributes to the writing process with songs that include Sometimes, Present Tense, Brain of J, Faithfull, Given To Fly, Light Years, Marker in the Sand, Come Back, Inside Job, Unemployable, Let Me Sleep and of course Yellow Ledbetter.

Mike has also contributed his talents on tracks for Heart, Screaming Trees, Peter Frampton, The Wallflowers, Brad and The Minus 5. He also played guitar on the track Fever Dog, by fictional band Stillwater, in Cameron Crowe’s fantastic semi-biography flick Almost Famous.

That should be enough, but not for this guitar god. He has side projects that include The Rockfords and Mad Season. Mad Season was a super-group consisting of Alice in Chains vocalist Layne Staley, Screaming Trees drummer Barrett Martin and bassist John Baker Saunders from the Skin Yards. Their only album, Above, is awesome and they also do a great version of John Lennon’s I Don’t Wanna Be A Soldier on Working Class Hero: A Tribute to John Lennon.

Mike even uses his talent to raise awareness for Crohn’s disease, which he suffers from.

So, all hail Sir Mike McCready and all of his greatness!

Check out Mad Season’s Long Gone Day, live with Mark Lanegan: