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| Mac Gayden (1941-2025) |
Mac Gayden, co-writer of the timeless pop hit “Everlasting Love” and a pioneering guitarist who recorded with Bob Dylan, died Wednesday at his Nashville home.
He was 83.
Gayden’s uncredited, percussive guitar on Dylan’s “Absolutely Sweet Marie” from Blonde on Blonde (1966), recorded in Nashville, was only recently recognized. A self-taught musician, Gayden shaped Nashville’s rise as a hub for non-country artists, collaborating with figures like Linda Ronstadt and the Pointer Sisters in the late 1960s and ’70s.
His innovative slide guitar, using a wah-wah pedal, defined J.J. Cale’s 1971 hit “Crazy Mama” and influenced Steve Miller’s 1973 chart-topper “The Joker.” Later, steel guitarist Robert Randolph adopted the technique. Gayden reflected on this in his 2013 autobiography, Missing String Theory, noting his role as the “father of the wah slide.”
“Everlasting Love,” co-written with Buzz Cason, became Gayden’s most enduring legacy. A wedding staple, it hit the Top 40 across four decades via Robert Knight (1967), Carl Carlton (1974), Rex Smith and Rachel Sweet (1981), and Gloria Estefan (1995). “Mac Gayden was a genius, the best guitar player I ever heard,” said Blonde on Blonde producer Bob Johnston in a 2015 Country Music Hall of Fame exhibition.
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