Wayne Perkins, the session guitarist from Alabama who nearly joined the Rolling Stones and whose slide work appears on some of rock’s most famous tracks, died on March 16, 2026, at 74. He had a stroke on March 1, 2026, and did not recover.
His brother Dale Perkins confirmed the death, saying relatives were with him when he passed. “He was one of a kind, and we loved him very much,” Dale wrote.
Perkins earned a place in rock lore during a key moment for the Rolling Stones. After Mick Taylor left in late 1974, Eric Clapton suggested the young guitarist from Birmingham, Alabama, as a candidate. Perkins flew to Munich in 1975 while the Stones worked on material for their 1976 album “Black and Blue,” contributing memorable parts to “Hand of Fate,” “Memory Motel,” and the eerie slide on “Fool to Cry.”
He also recorded a fiery solo on “Worried About You,” though that song wasn’t released until the 1981 album “Tattoo You.” For a time, it seemed likely he would join the band permanently.
Ultimately, the role went to Ron Wood. Keith Richards discussed the choice frankly in his 2010 memoir “Life,” noting that although the band liked Perkins and considered him a player whose approach “wouldn’t have ricocheted against what Mick Taylor was doing,” they opted for Wood because he was English. “It is an English band,” Richards wrote, “and we all felt we should retain the nationality of the band at the time.”
Perkins later described the odd experience of recording with the Stones in a 1996 interview with the Los Angeles Daily News: “When I got there, it was the strangest thing — they played like the worst garage band I’d ever heard in my life.” Yet when the right studio vibe kicked in, the group shifted from awful to extraordinary.
The Stones weren’t the only major act he turned down. In December 1976, Lynyrd Skynyrd offered him a spot, which he declined; ten months later, their plane crashed on Oct. 20, 1977, killing his close friend Ronnie Van Zant and others. “Something didn’t feel right to me,” Perkins said in a 2022 interview with Culture Sonar. “Ronnie was one of my best friends. I knew all the guys in the band.”
Born in Birmingham in 1951, Perkins taught himself guitar at 12, influenced by players like James Burton and Chet Atkins. He left school at 16 to pursue music, becoming a regular at the famed Muscle Shoals Sound studio. The session musicians there—informally the Swampers—are referenced in Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama.”
His session credits read like a who’s who of the 1970s. By 1972, he co-founded the trio Smith Perkins Smith and signed to Island Records, which brought him to London. Through that Island connection, founder Chris Blackwell had him overdub guitar parts on Bob Marley and the Wailers’ landmark “Catch a Fire” album. Perkins played on “Concrete Jungle,” “Baby We’ve Got a Date (Rock It Baby),” and “Stir It Up,” though he wasn’t initially credited. He later recalled Marley running out “with a spliff about two feet long, trying to cram it down my throat.”
Joni Mitchell brought him in for “Court and Spark,” where he played electric guitar on “Car on a Hill.” His credits also include work with Joe Cocker, Leon Russell, Steve Winwood, and Jimmy Cliff.
Although he never became a household name, Perkins was highly respected by fellow musicians and guitar fans. Harvey Mandel and Rory Gallagher were also in the running during the Black and Blue sessions, but Perkins made the most lasting contribution to the album.
Throughout his life, he took a philosophical view of missing out on superstardom. He continued recording through the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, earning a reputation as one of rock’s top session players. In recent years, he fought multiple brain tumors before suffering the stroke that led to his death.
Wayne Perkins may not have joined the Rolling Stones or Lynyrd Skynyrd, but his guitar performances on some of the 1970s’ most cherished recordings secure his lasting legacy. His slide on “Fool to Cry” alone cements his place in rock history.
