# Ball and Chain guitar solo > Sam Andrew, James Gurley's guitar solo on Ball and Chain by Big Brother & the Holding Company (1968) starts at about 0:30. Canonical URL: Big Brother & the Holding Company, 1968. Solo by *Sam Andrew, James Gurley*. Raw, distorted guitar sets up Janis Joplin's slow-burn performance, with the lead lines left ragged. Ball and Chain, originally written and recorded by Big Mama Thornton, became a showcase for Janis Joplin's explosive voice, and the raw guitars of Sam Andrew and James Gurley set the stage. The playing is distorted and ragged, with feedback and loose, bluesy phrases that create a sense of tension and unease. Rather than polished solos, the guitars sound almost unhinged, matching the intensity of Joplin's slow-burn performance. Listen for the rough, feedback-laden tones and the way the guitar lines stretch and bend over the slow blues groove, and for how they drop back to leave space for Joplin, then surge again to push the song's emotional peaks higher. Ball and Chain by Big Brother & the Holding Company is featured in our Psychedelic (#23) list. The solo is played by Sam Andrew, James Gurley and the song was released in 1968. ## In our lists - [The 25 Greatest Psychedelic Guitar Solos](https://greatestsolos.com/list/psychedelic/) — #23 - [Top 20 Guitar Solos of 1968](https://greatestsolos.com/list/best-guitar-solos-1968/) — #18 ## Sources ### Who played the guitar solo on Ball and Chain? Sam Andrew, James Gurley played the solo on Big Brother & the Holding Company's Ball and Chain (1968). --- GreatestSolos ranks the greatest guitar solos by consensus across published lists. Agent guide: [llms.txt](https://greatestsolos.com/llms.txt) · [Sitemap](https://greatestsolos.com/sitemap.xml) · [Dataset (CSV)](https://greatestsolos.com/data/greatest-guitar-solos.csv) · [How we rank](https://greatestsolos.com/method/)