2025 May Issue on Spotify

This month, we feature The Dobbie Brothers, Popa Chubby, Joey Molland, Carlos Alomar, Cream, David Bowie, Rush, Norman Harris, Greg Koch, Rik Emmett, Chris Walz, Elmore James, and more! Spotify…

Dave Mustainen

Alive and Shredding

One of the most rugged, resilient rock musicians ever, Megadeth founder Dave Mustaine is a thrash-metal pioneer who has weathered band turnover, addiction, and throat cancer. Megadeth’s new studio album,…

Aaron Moreland

Where Zeppelin Meets Son House

Growing up in a small Kansas town, 38-year-old Aaron Moreland took up guitar at 15, and his first garage band played classic-rock throwbacks like “Tush” and “China Grove,” occasionally getting…

Pop ’N Hiss: Humble Pie’s Smokin’

Free Wailin’

British rockers Humble Pie were steeped in blues and R&B influences that coursed through vocalist/rhythm guitarist Steve Marriott. When they finally broke with 1971’s Performance: Rockin’ the Fillmore, Marriott, guitarist…

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…

Brad Paisley

Two Vital Guitars From the Collection of a Modern Superpicker

Brad Paisley’s 2011 book, Diary of a Player: How My Musical Heroes Made a Guitar Man Out of Me, is essentially an autobiography. But really, it’s not so much about…

Keith Urban

Down-Under Uber-Picker

For a guy born in New Zealand and reared in Australia, Keith Urban certainly knows how to grab the attention of Yankee music fans. The supertalented artist not only writes…

Tom Petersson

Lower-End Innovator

It’s been a long time comin’… Like his longtime bandmate, Rick Nielsen, Cheap Trick bassist/songwriter Tom Petersson collects classic stringed instruments. Now a resident of Nashville, Petersson still plays the…

Buck Owens and The Buckaroos

“A Bunch of Twangy Guitars”

Buck Owens’ track to stardom had an unorthodox start and believe it or not, his singing didn’t launch that journey as much as his guitar skills; it started when another…

Charlie Starr

Celestial Guide

“It’s hot! 77 degrees,” exclaims Charlie Starr from a hotel room in Augusta, Georgia, a few hours before the third date of his band’s latest tour. Even better than winter’s…

Fretprints: Metallica’s Master of Puppets

Genre Giant

In 1984, Kerrang magazine coined the buzzword “thrash,” signaling the arrival of an unprecedented heaviness in rock music – not only in volume and aggression, but precision, velocity, complexity, and…

Nili Brosh

A Matter Of Perception

If you saw Tony MacAlpine on his early-2015 tour, you probably noticed a young woman accompanying him on a seven-string guitar. Berklee grad Nili Brosh effortlessly harmonized with MacAlpine, and…

Ivan Pongracic and Jeremy DeHart

Atlantis Rising

Lords of Atlantis is something a surf supergroup, comprised of members from The Madeira, Aqualads, Insect Surfers, and The Manakooras (VG, October ’22). Fronted by guitarists Ivan Pongracic and Jeremy…

Noshir Mody’s Elegant Flow

 Contemporary-jazzer sets the mood with “The Yards” Noshir Mody’s new album, “A Love Song,” is highlighted by his elegant lines and flowing compositions. Here he offers a sample with…

“Buy That Guitar” podcast with special guest Steve “Frog” Forgey

Season 03 Episode 04 In Episode 3.4 of “Buy That Guitar,” host Ram Tuli is joined by Steve “Frog” Forgey of Elderly Instruments. Forgey has been at Elderly Instruments since…

Jim Campilongo & Steve Cardenas

Mutual Musical Idiosyncrasies

Steve Cardenas and Jim Campilongo have been playing guitar together for a long time, though the constellations only recently aligned so they could record. Captured on three nights in September…

Steve West

Life Since “Louie, Louie”

What constitutes a Guitar Hero? Is it Hendrix or Van Halen, or is it your seminal six-string inspiration? Or what about someone whose solo on an iconic hit is forever…

Bob Seger and the Borneo Band

Lakeview High School, St. Clair Shores, Michigan, April ’73

If you were a Detroit kid in the 1960s, it was impossible to cruise Woodward Avenue and not hear a Bob Seger song rattling someone’s dashboard speakers. Perhaps more than…

Luther Allison

The Soul Fixin' Man

It’s Friday the 13th, but Luther Allison ain’t feeling superstitious. Halfway through a four-hour set in Minneapolis, he rolls into a rollicking version of his award-winning hit song “Cherry Red…

Ally Venable

Fire and Honey

Ally Venable’s latest album, Real Gone, features excellent production, accessible songwriting, intense guitar playing, and guest spots by Joe Bonamassa as well as blues legend Buddy Guy. But, ardent blues…

Elvin Bishop

Cultivating the Blues

Photos: Preston Gratiot. The first album Elvin Bishop played on wasn’t a chart-topper – it was a life-changer. For the raised-on-rock generation that credits 1965’s Paul Butterfield Blues Band for…

Classics: January 2024

Bill Woodward's 1953 Gibson Les Paul

Gravitational heavyweights in our culture, beyond baseball, hot dogs, and apple pie, few things say “American” more than music and road trips. This guitar is symbolic of both. One of…

Dan Fogelberg

The sociopolitical attitude of the American population is often said to be gauged in reference to a town in Illinois. But “How will it play in Peoria?” isn’t the only…

Tim O’Brien

Trailblazing Triple-Threat

If Tim O’Brien was a ballplayer, he’d be at least a “triple threat.” He’s a superb songwriter, a stellar mandolin player, a unique singer, and a powerful live performer. Born…

Carlos Santana

Musical Outreach

Carlos Santana’s creative drive is obsessive, restless – and relentless. For his latest album, Blessings and Miracles, he pooled the cosmic energy of his wife (renowned drummer Cindy Blackman Santana),…

Robben Ford

The One and Only

There’s never been a shortage of young guitar hotshots, but in recent years, particularly among blues players, these phenoms seem to be promoted more for their age than their playing.…

Rex Brown

Still Smoking

Throughout his career, Rex Brown has delivered the low-end as the bassist for Pantera, Down, and Kill Devil Hill. But for his new (and first-ever) solo album, Smoke on This,…

Larry Coryell

The Godfather of Fusion Returns

Photo courtesy In+Out Records. In the mid ’70s, the guitarist grabbed a Hagstrom Swede and formed the funky Eleventh House; later in the decade, Coryell could be heard playing lush…

Buck Dharma

Steinbergers and stilts

In the hyped-up worlds of entertainment and professional sports, most so-called “comebacks” usually aren’t. Often, veterans stay in the public eye (or attempt to) much longer than they should, subjecting…

Sonny Burgess

1929-2017

Sonny Burgess, one of the last of the great Sun Records stars, died August 18. He was 88 and had been performing with his old band, the Pacers. Burgess was…