Bob Log III is a US slide-guitar one-man band associated with experimental rock and rock and roll. He is born in Chicago and raised in Arizona, with Tucson closely tied to his musical identity and early career.

Early life and influences

Log gets his first guitar at 11 and moves to slide guitar by 16, playing Delta blues and shaping his style around Mississippi Fred McDowell. He grows up listening to AC/DC, Screaming Jay Hawkins, Bo Diddley, Hasil Adkins and Chuck Berry, and later describes his idea of rock and roll in those terms: guitar turned up, dancing and having a good time.

Career

He begins recording and touring with Mondo Guano, a Tucson-based four-piece group that plays slide guitar, blues and homemade percussion. After leaving that band, he performs as one half of Doo Rag with Thermos Malling. He later continues as a solo artist and spends six years making music with Doo Rag.

As a solo performer, Log warms up audiences for R. L. Burnside, Blues Explosion, Ween, Franz Ferdinand and Ani DiFranco, among others.

Style and performance setup

Bob Log III builds his songs from slide guitar, a kick drum, a homemade foot cymbal fitted with a kick pedal, distorted telephone-microphone vocals and drum machine accompaniment. He describes his live setup in the song “One Man Band Boom,” where he presents himself as a one-man band from Tucson and assigns different parts of the performance to his feet, hands and mouth.

Membership and identity

He is also linked to Doo Rag as a member, alongside Thermos Malling.