“Memphis” (Lonnie Mack) #5 7/20/1963

Occasionally cover songs that barely sound like the originals become hits, too. Lonnie Mack was a blues/country guitarist in the Cincinnati area who drew upon those and many other influences to create a style that in turn influenced young guitarists like Stevie Ray Vaughan and Duane Allman. Lonnie owned and regularly played the seventh Gibson “Flying V” guitar ever made. He didn’t know the words to this Chuck Berry tune but sort of structured an instrumental around the basic melody and turned his version into a Top 5 hit in the summer of 1963.