Skin & Bones

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by Gilby Clarke

~ Slide guitar nirvana meets hard rock meets Americana ~

Gilby has lived a charmed musical career with several reinventions of himself. But his first solo album actually got him some attention as it was released shortly after he left Guns n’ Roses, following the Spaghetti Incident? album and tour. Most folks showed up for the crunchy guitars of the lead single (“Cure Me or Kill Me”).  This country-flavored one though, grabs your attention because it sticks out as something so obviously different from the rest of the record and different from everything else Gilby had done up to that point.

The combination of mouth harp and slide guitar give this a roots-rock feel that would become popular 20+ years later as more country-influenced blues acts started showing up on the radio. This is a little peppy for much of what passes as Americana these days, but really, you can totally see the Avett Brothers covering this.

The lyrics aren’t spectacular, but they’re a pretty good look inside the mind of a guy who has watched his life waste away and has no idea what to do next. Maybe Gilby was actually feeling that way when he wrote and recorded this. It wouldn’t be a surprise after having spent a few years with GNR. But given where he ended up over the next 15 years, he didn’t do too bad.

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