Alan Christie Wilson (July 4, 1943 – September 3, 1970), nicknamed "Blind Owl", was an American musician, best known as the co-founder, leader, co-lead singer, and primary composer of the blues band Canned Heat.

Some of Wilson's first efforts at performing music publicly came during his teen years when he learned trombone, teaching himself the instrumental parts from the aforementioned jazz record.

Wilson developed into a dedicated student of early blues, writing a number of articles for the Broadside of Boston newspaper and the folk-revival magazine Little Sandy Review, including a piece on bluesman Robert Pete Williams.

Because Wilson forgot his glasses during the trip, Fahey gave him the nickname "Blind Owl" owing to his extreme nearsightedness, roundish facial features and scholarly nature.

As Canned Heat's drummer Fito de la Parra wrote in his book: "Without the glasses, Alan literally could not recognize the people he played with at two feet, that's how blind the 'Blind Owl' was.

Fahey's 1992 album Old Girlfriends and Other Horrible Memories features more of "Raga Kafi" in "Fear & Loathing at 4th & Butternut", although Wilson was not credited.

The band's name was taken from Tommy Johnson's 1928 song "Canned Heat Blues", about an alcoholic who turned to drinking the cooking fuel Sterno.

The group landed gigs at the Ash Grove in Hollywood, and, after Perlowin dropped out, Hite invited his friend Henry "The Sunflower" Vestine, from Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention, to join on guitar.

It featured Hite, Wilson, Vestine, Brotman, and new drummer Frank Cook in Otis's studio just off Vine Street in Los Angeles.

[citation needed] Over a summer hiatus, Brotman left Canned Heat and was replaced by Larry "The Mole" Taylor, an experienced session musician who had played with Jerry Lee Lewis and The Monkees.

During a gig at the Ash Grove, Canned Heat earned the attention of singer-songwriter Jackie DeShannon, who was married to the head of A&R at Liberty Records, Bud Dain.

[13] In July 1967, the band released their first album, Canned Heat, featuring reworkings of older blues songs, for Liberty Records.

In an interview with DownBeat, Wilson remarked, "...on 'On the Road Again' I appear in six different capacities – three tamboura parts, harmonica, vocal, and guitar, all recorded at different times."

The song, an incarnation of Henry Thomas' "Bull-Doze Blues", was rewritten by Wilson and caught the "back to nature" attitude of the late 1960s.

The "rural hippie anthem" became the unofficial theme song for the Woodstock Festival where Canned Heat performed at sunset on August 16, 1969.

[15] The studio version of "Going Up the Country" was featured in the Woodstock film; and in recent years has been heard in television commercials for Geico Insurance, Subaru, and Pepsi.

Wilson arranged to join Vestine's new band Sunn, and Frank Cook's group Pacific Gas and Electric; however, both options fell through.

His increasing isolation became obvious, as footage of the band at this time showed Wilson standing apart from his bandmates, and often hiding behind rows of amps.

The upside-down American flag was Wilson's idea in response to America's social distress at the time, and his concern over the first Moon landing a year before.

It was reissued in 1995 with extensive liner notes by David Evans as Delta Blues and Spirituals on Capitol Records and was posthumously dedicated to Wilson.

The last live footage of Wilson was taken at Canned Heat's performance at the Kralingen Music Festival, Rotterdam, Netherlands, on June 26, 1970.

Wilson appeared with Canned Heat performing "One Kind Favor" during a party scene in the film The Naked Zoo, which was released in 1971.

Wilson had no interest in purchasing a home, and whenever Canned Heat was not on tour, he would go camping to Yosemite or Sequoia National Park in his van at every opportunity.

[27] In 1970, Wilson established a conservation fund called Music Mountain Foundation, in the Skunk Cabbage Creek area of California, to purchase a grove to be added to Redwood National Park.

Wilson wrote an essay called "Grim Harvest", expressing his concern for the logging of redwoods, which was printed as the liner notes to Future Blues.

"[32] His recording career spanned only three years; despite this, he left behind a rich legacy of inspiration to fellow artists, music scholars, and listeners alike.

Wilson's friend John Fahey has said that he was "among the most significant influences on my musicianship", and that his work "must be appreciated for its immortal, spellbinding beauty."

Stephen Stills's song "Blues Man", from the album Manassas, is dedicated to Wilson, along with Jimi Hendrix and Duane Allman.

Wilson is also noteworthy for being one of the first environmentalists during the rise of the 1960s "New Environmentalism" movement and was highly dedicated to protecting and preserving the California redwoods.

The model had a stoptail bridge (an adjustable fixed-bridge piece and a separate stopbar or tailpiece) that provided both string support and intonation in one unit.