“Unapproachable” is right. “Indescribable” may also be justified. Just like the myriad musics of Memphis, from where Tav Falco hails, his longtime band Panther Burns remains a fascinating and ongoing conundrum. The band was named for a Mississippi Delta town where a marauding panther was trapped in a thicket and burned. The cries of that [...]
Many supergroups lack true superpowers, but Derek and the Dominos was the real deal. Burned out on the supergroup phenom after his troubled times in Cream and Blind Faith, Eric Clapton sought anonymity from stardom and its demands behind the moniker “Derek.” He also ached to get back to the companionship of a band of [...]
From the opening notes of “Slow Train” to the echo of the last note of “Prisoner,” modern blues guitarslinger Joe Bonamassa’s Dust Bowl is a masterpiece. Bonamassa has released 11 previous solo albums and was crowned Billboard’s Blues Artist of 2010. But many blues-guitar fans have been hip to him for far longer. Dust Bowl [...]
Call it a “Gypsy jazz wall of sound.” John Jorgenson’s new album, Istiqbal Gathering, features the master guitarist backed by the full Orchestra Nashville – strings, woodwinds, brass, even percussion. The result would make Django Reinhardt himself envious. For Jorgenson, it all came naturally. “Recording solo guitar with a full orchestra is very different than [...]
After more than a decade of recording and playing his own original compositions, Tom Feldmann decided it was finally time to pay homage to the music the first inspired him to pick up a guitar. Tribute collects his versions of old-time gospel songs by the likes of Muddy Waters, Blind Willie Johnson, Fred McDowell, Lightnin’ [...]
All but forgotten today, with his low-slung guitar, stylish rhythm licks, and tasty leads, Lowman Pauling was one of the great guitar heroes of the ’50s. Guitarist for the R&B doo-wop band the 5 Royales, not only did Pauling pick melody lines and play leads, he also composed many of the band’s songs, sang in [...]
>Royal Trux took the Velvet Underground’s “Heroin” and made a career of it. The band was founded after the implosion of Washington, D.C. punkers Pussy Galore by guitarist Neil Hagerty and girlfriend Jennifer Herrema, who relocated to New York City. They named their combo after their skateboard’s “trucks,” and crafted a dark, lo-fi, underground sound [...]
After 30-plus years, seven studio albums, a live album, and two DVDs, Social Distortion may have just released its masterpiece. The band came rocking out of Fullerton, California, in 1978, playing a tough brand of rock equally inspired by the Rolling Stones, punk, and Hank Williams. They’ve been through ups and downs, drug addiction and [...]
Pete Anderson needs little introduction as a guitar slinger and producer with sublime guitar taste. For his production work on albums with Dwight Yoakam from 1986 to 2003, he has taken home a Grammy while the records have gone multi-platinum, selling more than 25 million copies and counting. While his guitar work with Yoakam was [...]
Pete Anderson needs little introduction as a guitar slinger and producer with sublime guitar taste. For his production work on albums with Dwight Yoakam from 1986 to 2003, he has taken home a Grammy while the records have gone multi-platinum, selling more than 25 million copies and counting. While his guitar work with Yoakam was [...]
