Wayne Perkins, Guitarist Who Almost Played With Rolling Stones and Lynyrd Skynyrd, Dies at 74

Wayne Perkins, the Alabama-born guitarist who played on landmark records by Bob Marley and the Wailers as well as Joni Mitchell, died Monday at the age of 74 after suffering a stroke. Known for his skill as a session musician and his near-misses with rock royalty, Perkins left a mark on the music world that spanned genres and decades.

“For those who haven’t heard, Wayne passed away yesterday peacefully,” his brother Dale wrote on Facebook. “Our sisters and family members were there with him. We appreciate all the kind thoughts and memories. He was one of a kind and we loved him very much, and thank you all.”

Near-Miss With the Rolling Stones

Perkins came close to rock superstardom in 1975 when Eric Clapton recommended him to the Rolling Stones as a replacement for Mick Taylor. He flew to Munich as the band was preparing songs for the 1976 album Black and Blue.

“It was always one of my goals to play lead guitar with the biggest rock & roll bands in the world,” Perkins told the Los Angeles Daily News in 1996. “When I got there, it was the strangest thing — they played like the worst garage band I’d ever heard in my life. I knew the records, but I wasn’t impressed with them live. Then, the right light in the studio went on and something magic happened. All of a sudden they went from awful to incredible.”

Though he didn’t become an official member, Perkins overdubbed a slide guitar part on “Fool to Cry” and contributed to “Memory Motel” and “Hand of Fate.” He also recorded a guitar solo on “Worried About You,” which wouldn’t be released until Tattoo You in 1981. Keith Richards later reflected, “We liked Perkins a lot… It wasn’t so much the playing, when it came down to it. It came down to the fact that Ronnie was English! Well, it is an English band, although you might not think that now.”

Lynyrd Skynyrd Offer and Personal Reflections

In late 1976, Perkins was offered a spot in Lynyrd Skynyrd, which he ultimately declined. “Something didn’t feel right to me,” he told Culture Sonar in 2022. “I turned them down in December ‘76 and the plane crash was in October ‘77. I think about that one from time to time. Ronnie [Van Zant] was one of my best friends. I knew all the guys in the band and I would have made a ton of money.”

Perkins grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, and started playing guitar at 12, inspired by James Burton and Chet Atkins. After leaving high school to pursue music full time, he began working at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio. There, he performed with artists such as Joe Cocker, Leon Russell, and Jimmy Cliff. The studio musicians, informally known as the “Swampers,” later became famous through Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama.”

Recording With Bob Marley and Joni Mitchell

In 1973, Chris Blackwell of Island Records brought Perkins into the studio with Bob Marley and the Wailers for the Catch a Fire sessions. “I’d never played on anything like that,” Perkins said to the New American Journal in 2025. “But I’d been thrown in the mix with a lot of heavy-duty bluegrass players so you couldn’t really scare me with anything.”

Perkins played on “Concrete Jungle,” “Baby We’ve Got a Date (Rock It Baby),” and “Stir It Up,” although he was not credited initially. He later recalled Marley’s humor during the sessions, “I ran out there with a spliff about two feet long trying to cram it down my throat.”

Months afterward, Joni Mitchell invited Perkins to record for Court and Spark, where he played electric guitar on “Car on a Hill.” These sessions reinforced his reputation as a versatile guitarist capable of adapting to different styles and artists.

Later Career and Legacy

Perkins continued to perform and record through the 1980s and 1990s, even as session work became less common in the changing music industry. Despite missing out on joining the Stones, he maintained a sense of humor about it. “If I had joined,” he said in 2009, “by now I’d probably be a dead millionaire.”

Wayne Perkins’s career bridged the worlds of rock, reggae, and folk, leaving a quiet but enduring influence on musicians who followed. His contributions on recordings by some of the 20th century’s most important artists remain a lasting record of his skill and adaptability, celebrated by those who knew him and the fans who continue to discover his work.