Dave Hole

Australian slide guitarist Dave Hole stands out for his intense, loud blend of rock & roll and blues, delivered through a distinctive approach shaped by left-handed origins and an early finger injury. Playing the instrument right-handed, he rests his fingers atop the neck while using a pick to execute slide passages and switching to fingerpicking for conventional lines.

Born in England on March 30, 1948, and relocated to Perth, Australia, at age four, Hole first encountered blues guitar near age six via a classmate’s Muddy Waters recording. He acquired his initial guitar at twelve yet set it aside after struggling without guidance in remote Perth, only resuming at sixteen by absorbing licks directly from albums. His key inspirations encompass Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Robert Johnson, Elmore James, and Mississippi Fred McDowell.

Hole turned professional in 1972 during a London band engagement, then returned to Perth in 1974 and spent two decades performing across western Australia’s isolated club venues. In 1990 he self-financed, produced, and tracked the album Short Fuse Blues with his band Short Fuse over three days, later promoting copies at shows and mailing one unsolicited to Guitar Player in the United States. The editor’s enthusiastic feature hailed him as the latest guitar wizard and likened his work to Stevie Ray Vaughan and Albert King, securing a distribution arrangement with Alligator Records.

Under that deal Hole issued Working Overtime in 1993, Steel on Steel in 1995, Under the Spell in 1999, and Outside Looking In in 2001, steadily expanding a loyal audience throughout the American and European blues communities.