Ellen McIlwaine, fiery slide guitarist and blues singer, dies at 75

She also noted — as did critics — that her music defied straightforward genre labels. “Perhaps she is rock’s foremost female guitarist, perhaps fame will take her to concert halls and recording contracts on major labels, but it seems doubtful despite her abilities,” Post music journalist Joseph Helguera wrote in 1975. “Her music is too much herself, in its melody, in its expression, in its entirety. She is reminiscent of no one else, of no one else’s style, a musical genre unto herself.”