Author Archives: Eric C. Shoaf

Duke continues his impressive output with a nod to his swing roots. Among guitarists, Robillard is known as a do-all, as he can be at home in almost any musical style, not only mimicking lines and copping phrases from the best of the genre, but adding deft touches to the finished product. His knowledge of [...]

The Beasts of Bourbon have always been a vehicle for vocalist Tex Perkins, but have also been as much a side project as a major recording and touring force. Well-regarded and influential in their home Australia, they have never had much reason to venture forth. But the new work may break them big in spite [...]

Rory Block has been involved with the music of Robert Johnson most of her life. At a young age, she apprenticed directly with Son House, Skip James, Reverend Gary Davis and other seminal blues greats. She knows the blues, and has won a number of WC Handy awards for her efforts over the years. On [...]

Neil Young has been prolific in recent years, releasing material from his vaults in the form of early concert performances and new material. Chrome Dreams II is a mix of newly recorded versions of songs written in the ’70s, and recently-written songs. Stylistically, it stays close to Young’s vision – which is to say he’s [...]

Kent “Omar” Dykes is best known for fronting Omar and the Howlers, and though this disc was planned a solo effort paying homage to fellow Mississippi blues man Jimmy Reed, as word got out, friends started showing up at the session, including Kim Wilson (who brought his harmonica), Lou Ann Barton, Delbert McClinton, and James [...]

The guy who played the slide part in Bob Seger’s “Like a Rock” and played in Fleetwood Mac lends insight on improving your slide playing. He covers a range of topics including setting up a guitar to achieve great slide tone, simple phrasing that produces dramatic results, changing your sound using different types of slides [...]

The guy who played the slide part in Bob Seger’s “Like a Rock” and played in Fleetwood Mac lends insight on improving your slide playing. He covers a range of topics including setting up a guitar to achieve great slide tone, simple phrasing that produces dramatic results, changing your sound using different types of slides [...]

If it’s true that an artist suffers for his music, then some guitar players suffer more than others. We can never know exactly what demons torment some of our favorite players, or why some choose to leave before their time, but Danny Gatton was a truly talented guitar player who never understood the level of [...]

Tube amp connoisseurs, your cup runneth over! This new edition of the veritable Tube Amp work distills all the facts and schematics from the first four editions, marries them to a large hardcover format, and adds the technological bonus of a CD-ROM. The resulting package covers all the great tube amp manufacturers with histories, pictures, [...]