Ted Newman Jones’ West-Texas Guitars

Melodious Coterie

Boxcars Among the vast papers, drawings, photographs, and tapes at Texas Tech’s Crossroads of Music Archive is a guitar beloved by the late Jesse “Guitar” Taylor. Known as “Dice,” it…

Damon Fowler Brings the Blues

Slow and Tasty on “Taxman” Damon Fowler has shared stages with Dickey Betts and Butch Trucks, so it makes sense that his music is loaded with guitar jams and sweet…

Dennis Kager

Techy’s Brain, Musician’s Heart

Amplifiers became a passion for Dennis Kager 45 years ago. And through the years, he has witnessed the zeitgeist surrounding the combination of guitar and amp. A guitarist as a…

Robert Quine

Prime Time

His name rhymes with “wine” and it’s not as well-known as others, but Ohio-born guitarist Robert Quine played a crucial role in the New York punk scene of the 1970s;…

Elliot Easton

Lefty Goes to the Left Coast Part 1

Last month, former Cars guitarist Elliot Easton conversed with Vintage Guitar about his experiences prior to the formation of the platinum-selling quintet that cruised out of Boston in the mid-Seventies,…

Pop ’N Hiss: King Crimson’s Red

Commendable Coda

In the late ’60s, a new style of rock emerged in Britain, influenced by classical music and fronted by bands like Yes, Genesis, and Emerson, Lake & Palmer. Dubbed “progressive…

The Rascals’ Gene Cornish

Wild Legacy

Gene Cornish is fond of the time he spent in the ’60s pop band The Rascals, which he credits for having never been sidetracked or making a bad decision… until…

Martin’s Gibson

Greg Martin’s infatuation with the sunburst Gibson Les Paul Standard started in 1966, when, “I saw the picture of John Sebastian of The Lovin’ Spoonful with his ’59 on the…

Tommy Emmanuel

The Song’s the Thing

Tommy Emmanuel cautions against using “the V word” – virtuoso – when describing his work. “I want to make musical statements that stand the test of time,” he said. “I…

Larry Carlton

Farewell, Mr. 335

As music becomes more unfamiliar and the past becomes a long reflection in the rear-view, veteran guitarists are increasingly mindful of artists who inspired and created timeless music. Larry Carlton…

Nicolas Meier

Jeff Beck Sideman Steps Out

If you’ve been to a Jeff Beck concert in the past few years, you may have said to yourself, “Who’s that other guy onstage?” It happens to be Nicolas Meier,…

Joe Satriani

Shockwave Supernova

Joe Satriani’s latest record is a concept album that bridges the gap between traditional blues guitar techniques, and the fiery yet accessible compositions that made him famous. For Satriani it’s…

Selwyn Birchwood

Blistering Blues

If you think the days of ferocious blues guitar are behind us, cue up Selwyn Birchwood’s latest, Exorcist. Within its grooves are blistering licks galore and the Florida guitarist’s powerful…

Paul Bigsby’s Myrtlewood Guitars

= Few things are as satisfying as a guitar with a good story to tell. Some vintage guitars might be beautiful and/or valuable, but boring as Paris Hilton – the…

Robben Ford

Crystal Visionary

Pure is Robben Ford’s first instrumental album since 1997’s Tiger Walk. A work of complex simplicity, it’s also a singular sonic statement on which Ford guides every aspect of melody…

Vinnie Moore’s Pandemic Musical Inspiration

Instrumental Whiz Adds Vocalists Neoclassical/metal guitarist Vinnie Moore’s latest music features vocals for the first time. Here, though, he sticks to hard-rock instrumental funkiness mingled with melodicism in a passage…

In Memoriam: Tony “T.S. McPhee

Groundhogs leader Tony “T.S.” McPhee ranked with the greatest British blues guitarists, whether solo acoustic or ensemble electric, slide or fretted. He died June 6 at 79. McPhee’s ability to…

Mike Keneally Makes the Gravy

Dig his Meaty “Celery” The track is called “Celery,” but Mike Keneally sure makes it meaty! With a splash of distortion, chorus, and delay courtesy of plug-ins (“No actual amps…

Lemmy Kilmister

In the 25-plus years that Motorhead has been purveying its fast, furious, high-decibel entertainment, there have been changes and there have been constants. The World’s Most Brutal Heavy Metal Band…

Mary Kaye

Beyond the Stratocaster Connection

Most informed guitar enthusiasts associate veteran “lounge” guitarist Mary Kaye with the unique ’50s Fender Stratocaster model (blond finish, gold hardware) that has assumed her proper name as its designation.…

Nancy Wilson

Sister Act

After the release of the acclaimed Red Velvet Car in 2010, sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson and their band, Heart, could have rested on their laurels. Instead, the sisters went…

Emmett Chapman

Emmett Chapman, inventor of the Chapman Stick, died at his home on November 1. He was 85 and had battled cancer. An innovative jazz guitarist, Chapman played a long-scale nine-string…

Christopher Thorn

Alt-Rocker/Studio Guru

Best known as half of the guitar tandem in the ’90s alternative-rock band Blind Melon (that’s his rhythm on “No Rain,” using his Gibson J-30), Christopher Thorn has since recorded…

Frank DiBussolo

Jazz Master

Frank DiBussolo is an eight-time Grammy nominee who has been a featured soloist in the bands of Buddy Rich, Dizzy Gillespie, and Art Blakey. He has also accompanied Frank Sinatra,…

Tony Mottola

Mr. Big, Guitar Pioneer

Some argue that Tony Mottola was more legendary than famous. In a career spanning 50 years, the guitarist logged thousands of studio dates and made hundreds of concert and television…

Tom Principato

Potomac Picker

A fixture in the Washington, D.C. area for more than two decades, twangmeister Tom Principato and his band crank out impressive guitar-based music and has won almost two dozen Wammy…

McKinley James’ Blues

 Family Barn Jam! With his ’82 Gibson 335 running into a Headstrong Corduroy (20-watt/6V6) amp, McKinley James shares a taste of his new album, “Working Class Blues,” with this…

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 an avuncular college professor – which is fitting, considering that…

Les Sabler

Long-Distance Jazz

Like many musicians, guitarist Les Sabler’s life has been turned topsy-turvy by the worldwide pandemic. Originally from Montreal, Sabler now resides in Nashville, but work on his newest album, a…

Martin Barre

Tull axe man solos agian

Jethro Tull guitarist Martin Barre’s new album, Stage Left, is his third solo effort, and not only does it contain great riffs and tones (every track but one is an…