Rusty Zinn

Rusty Zinn emerged as a red-haired guitarist whose commanding tone and technical command defied his youth while growing up amid the Santa Cruz mountains of northern California. Classic R&B first reached him through his mother’s stash of 45s, among them scarce sides by Fats Domino and Elvis Presley. During his teenage years his brother introduced Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf discs that struck the budding blues devotee as a revelation, prompting him to spend every spare dollar on further blues releases and to absorb the guitar approaches of Robert Jr. Lockwood, Eddie Taylor, Luther Tucker, and Jimmy Rogers. Those influences led him to take up the guitar himself at age seventeen, building on earlier experience as a drummer. A pivotal evening arrived when he witnessed Luther Tucker performing alongside Jimmy Rogers at a neighborhood venue, an encounter he later described as life-altering; afterward he tracked down every available Tucker sideman recording, including sessions with Little Walter Jacobs, Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson, and James Cotton. Roughly a year later, when Zinn returned to see his idol, Tucker summoned him onstage and began mentoring the younger player, passing along specific guitar techniques. Throughout the late eighties Zinn gigged steadily with various northern California blues outfits and frequently supported visiting artists such as Snooky Pryor and Jimmy Rogers.

After enlisting in Mark Hummel’s group, Zinn sharpened his skills across hundreds of performances and countless road miles. At one such engagement—the San Francisco Blues Festival—harpist Kim Wilson made his acquaintance and subsequently invited Zinn to Austin’s Arlyn Studios to contribute to the 1993 Antone’s release Tigerman. Wilson soon assembled a touring unit featuring Zinn on guitar, ex-Canned Heat bassist Larry Taylor, and former Blaster “Blue” Gene Taylor on keyboards; the ensemble’s travels repeatedly showcased the guitarist’s uncommon facility despite his being only in his early twenties. In early 1996 Wilson persuaded BlackTop Records to record Zinn, resulting in the 1996 debut Sittin’ & Waitin’, on which his friend and mentor Kim Wilson appeared throughout and served as producer. Three years afterward came Confessin’, followed by The Chill in fall 2000. The guitarist’s next projects appeared on Bad Daddy Records: the soul-inflected Zinfidelity, Vol. 1 in 2005 and Reggaeblue in 2007.