A Trophy Carved in Les Paul’s Studio, Slash Takes the Les Paul Spirit Award in Hollywood
The Guns N’ Roses guitarist was honored at a private studio night and played the press four songs from Flying Blind.
Some awards come in glass. This one came out of a recording studio. Slash received the 2026 Les Paul Spirit Award on Monday night, October 5, at a private celebration inside the Les Paul recording studio in Hollywood, Blabbermouth reported as the news went out this week. The trophy was made from hand-carved acoustic boards that Les Paul built and used in his own home recording studio, which means no two of these awards are alike.
The Les Paul Foundation presented the honor with Gibson Gives, the philanthropic arm of Gibson. The room held music industry figures, artists, friends and press, and the night included a reception and a tour of the studio, according to BroadwayWorld.
The award goes each year to someone who exemplifies Les Paul’s spirit through innovation, engineering, technology and music. Slash joins earlier recipients Bob Weir, Nile Rodgers, the Edge, Peter Frampton and Steve Miller. For him it was personal. He and Les Paul were friends who often played together.
“Les was so much more than a great guitarist and innovator. He was an actual inventor who changed the instrument itself, built groundbreaking recording equipment and completely reimagined how artists could record music,” Slash said. “I feel incredibly lucky that I got to know him, hang out with him and play music with him.”
Michael Braunstein, executive director of the Les Paul Foundation, offered a picture of what might have been. “If Les were still alive today, Slash and he would be jamming onstage together somewhere regularly,” he said.
Before the presentation, invited press got an early listen to four songs from Flying Blind, the coming album from Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators. They heard “Good Time Girl,” “One of Your Kind,” “Flying Blind” and “Looking for a Miracle.” The album, recorded largely live with producer Michael “Elvis” Baskette, is due February 26, 2027, on Gibson Records. The Flying Blind World Tour 2027 will take the band across Latin America, North America, the United Kingdom and Europe, with the Wiltern among its stops.
The honor lands on a long résumé. As a member of Guns N’ Roses, Slash wrote the signature riffs on “Sweet Child O’ Mine” and “Welcome to the Jungle,” and he later found global success with Velvet Revolver before going solo. He is a Grammy winner and a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee with more than 100 million albums sold, and TIME ranked him second only to Jimi Hendrix on its list of the 10 greatest electric guitar players, BroadwayWorld noted.
His most recent solo album, Orgy of the Damned, came out on Gibson Records in 2024 and spent 13 weeks at the top of the Billboard Blues Albums chart. Tour dates are on Slash’s official site.
