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Taylor Guitars Expands Jacob Collier Offerings With Two New 5-String Models
Academy Series and GS Mini 5-String Models Bring Jacob Collier’s Innovative DAEAD Tuning To More Players Worldwide At Accessible Price Points EL CAJON, Calif., November 10, 2025 — Taylor Guitars, the…
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Steve Hackett
No Limits
Steve Hackett is one of the busiest guitarists around, regularly issuing new studio and live albums. His latest, Live Magic at Trading Boundaries, focuses on his classical/acoustic compositions. Included are…
NEWSWIRE
ARTISTS
Tommy Castro
'Guilty' of Paying His dues
Tommy Castro is a charismatic singing gunslinger who has developed a sound featuring stinging blues leads floating atop hard-charging, old-school…

George Gruhn
How a Zoologist Became a Guitar animal
If you bumped into a bearded, corduroy-jacketed George Gruhn in a Nashville coffee shop, you might think you’d stumbled upon…

Jeff Plankenhorn
New Innovations For Lap Steel
Jeff Plankenhorn has always made music his way, using stringed instruments he created. He picked up guitar at age 10,…

Steve Hill
One-Man Band
Canadian guitarist Steve Hill is a flat-out rocker, smashing blues into rock and roll with terrifying force, as heard on…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS

McKinley James’ Blues
Family Barn Jam! With his ’82 Gibson 335 running into a Headstrong Corduroy (20-watt/6V6) amp, McKinley James shares a…
Robin Ranger
1993 Robin Ranger, serial number 931353. Photo: Bill Ingalls, Jr. Instrument courtesy of Charles Farley. The saga of Alamo Music…

The Epiphone Devon Tremolo EA-35T Combo
Tonally TransAtlantic
After giving the upstart Fender a run for its money in the amplifier department throughout the 1950s, Gibson segued into…
Epihone Deluxe Archtop
Head-On With the L-5
Webster’s latest defines the word “deluxe” as “…notably luxurious, elegant, or expensive.” The Epiphone Deluxe archtop guitar was certainly luxurious.…
APPROVED GEAR
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Icon In Reach
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Playpen Power
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Double Echo
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Dual-Mode Delivery

Mesa/Boogie Mark Five: 25
Stage, Studio, Etc.
Mesa/Boogie Mark Five: 25 Price: $1,299 (list) Contact: www.mesaboogie.com Housed in teensy cabinets, so-called “lunchbox” amps are all the rage,…

DNA Analogic Effects
Chemical Reaction
If you‘re a “first impressions mean a lot” kind of gearhead, DNA Analogic’s line of effects pedals may just win…

Guild Jetstar
High Flyer
In 1964, Guild launched its original Jetstar as the company’s budget-friendly solidbody. With a more-conventional shape than the S-200 Thunderbird…
El Dorado Vintage, Plain and “Gator” Straps
Secure, sturdy, and stylish
We’ve checked out (and recommended) El Dorado straps before, but that was many years (and new readers) ago, so the…
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Thin Lizzy
The Acoustic Sessions
Thin Lizzy’s first studio release in decades, this album reimagines tracks recorded 50+ years ago by the trio of vocalist/bassist Phil Lynott, guitarist Eric Bell, and drummer Brian Downey. The songs are from Lizzy’s first three albums – 1971’s Thin Lizzy, ’72’s Shades of a Blue Orphanage, and ’73’s Vagabonds of the Western World. Recently,…
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Eve Monsees and Mike Buck
& Their Groovy Orbit
This is not a solo album as much as an anthology of Austin artists and styles – from blues to country to ’60s garage and psych, demonstrating the versatility of singer/guitarist Monsees (Eve & the Exiles, Blue Bonnets) and her husband, drummer Buck (LeRoi Brothers), as producers/organizers. The tracks span three years, but the names…
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3Below
Live in Mérida
The members of 3Below mostly play in the bass clef. You may know names like fretless master Michael Manring (Michael Hedges) and “touch guitarist” Trey Gunn (King Crimson), but Mexican fusioneer Alonso Arreola is a wondrous addition. Together, they play world-inflected music rife with virtuosity, fresh sounds, and intoxicating results. Accompanied by Emmanuel Pina on…
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Genesis/Steve Hackett
Lamb Lies Down on Broadway 50th/Live Magic at Trading Boundaries
One of those double-LP masterpieces of the ’70s, The Lamb was Peter Gabriel’s final achievement with Genesis, quitting immediately after the 1975 tour. The music (remastered here and also available in ATMOS and HD formats) remains brilliant – a rock opera featuring Tony Banks’ keyboards, Steve Hackett’s haunting guitar, and both bass and electric 12-string…
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B.B. King
In France
By 1977, when this French live album was recorded at the Nancy Jazz Pulsations Festival, the “King of the Blues” had truly crossed over. He’d played Fillmores West and East and won a Grammy in 1970 for “The Thrill Is Gone.” In typical major-label fashion, subsequent albums saw him surrounded by rock stars and studio…

































