• Outlaws

    Artists

    Outlaws

    Rising Tides

    By the mid ’70s, Southern rock emerged as one of the most-exciting and successful genres in pop music, thanks to the Allman Brothers Band and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Another important early Southern-rock band making its mark with country influences was Outlaws – the Tampa group nicknamed “Florida Guitar Army.” Rhythm guitarist Henry Paul, lead guitarists Hughie…

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Punk-Rock Pioneer Ivan Julian

NYC Luminary Goes Avant-Garde! Ivan Julian does an experimental take on “Misty” before going into the solo from “Love Is Good,” followed by some of the title track from his…

C.C. Adcock

The Future of Swamp Rock

C.C. Adcock hunches over his Telecaster like a tiger ready to pounce. He stands on one foot, the other leg twisting like an unmanned fire hose – one leg wrapping…

Jules Leyhe

Bottleneck Breakout

Forget everything you know about slide guitar. Jules Leyhe just upended the genre on Your First Rodeo, an instrumental set that gleefully mixes styles with riveting results. On top of…

Mark Lettieri

Baritone Funk

Snarky Puppy’s Empire Central was recorded in front of a live audience and pays homage to the city of Dallas. Deep within the bowels of the band’s sophisticatedly funky 19-piece…

Roman Bulakhov

Ukrainian Trailblazer

If there’s a 21st-century guitar style, Roman Bulakhov is a prime example, particularly how he fuses rock, funk, jazz, hip-hop – and everything else – into a radical stew. The…

Mike Campbell

Still Thrilled

Boiled down, the music of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers is defined by a handful of essential elements: their leader’s character-filled voice, songs about life and its toils, swirling B-3…

Slash

Life is Grand After Guns N' Roses

Bursting onto the rock scene in 1987, Guns N’ Roses overthrew the shred and pop kings who’d previously ruled the decade. The group’s contrasting blues-based style revitalized classic rock and…

Jim Lauderdale’s honkey-tonk toe-dip

Singer/Songwriter’s Stylistic Twist Jim Lauderdale paid a visit to one of his favorite Nashville hangs and grabbed a gorgeous 1940 Martin D-28 to play “Wishbone,” a standout track from his…

Yngwie Malmsteen

Yngwie's New Attack!!

As one of the most fiery players on the planet, Yngwie Malmsteen developed an identifiable style and tone that blends classical music and heavy metal. VG sat with Malmsteen following…

Laur Joamets

Metamodern Sounds In Country Picking

The time-worn, well-trodden path to Nashville traditionally starts from a Tennessee holler, Arkansas cabin, or Texas jook. For Laur Joamets – the Teleslinger behind Sturgill Simpson – it all began…

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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…

Neal Schon

Neal Schon

“The Guitar Is My Voice”

Long before Neal Schon helped Journey sell more than 80 million albums, he was a rock-fusion gunslinger who turned down Eric Clapton’s request to join Derek and the Dominos so…

Pat Rush

Johnny, James, Et Al

If the name “Pat Rush” doesn’t immediately ring a bell, the names of people he’s played with – Muddy Waters, Johnny Winter, James Cotton, Allman Brothers, Dr. John, Jeff Healey…

Vintage Visionary

The First Golden Age of Ibanez 1973-1982

Thirty-Five years ago, Ibanez was a scrappy upstart guitar company that dared to challenge the big boys at Gibson and Fender. Today, is a dominant force in the guitar universe.…

Tony Gilkyson

Inevitable Musician

Whether nature or nurture, it seems inevitable that Tony Gilkyson would become a musician. His father, Terry, was a folk singer who wrote hits for Dean Martin, Frankie Laine, and…

Leslie West

Still Climbing

Upon first viewing you’ll notice that The Sound and the Story is different. The new video from guitarist Leslie West stands apart from other instructional guitar DVDs in that, while…

Depression-era classic by Roger McNamee

Moonalice guitarist on a ’42 000-21 Roger McNamee used his ’42 Martin 000-21 to play the Depression-era classic “Brother Can You Spare a Dime,” then gives a tour of the…

The Gringo Pistoleros’ Larry Wilson

Classic P-90 tones! The Gringo Pistoleros’ Larry Wilson shows us a bit of “I Can Still Remember When,” from the group’s album, “Echoes and Other Songs: The Rise And… Subsequent…

Sue Foley

Femme Flamenco

In a time when pop-music performers rely heavily on post-recording fix-ups and pre-recorded tracks onstage, it’s refreshing – even admirable – when someone takes the “honest road.” Singer/guitarist Sue Foley…

Chris Bishop Oscar Jordan Vintage Guitar magazine

Chris Bishop

Wizards and Technology

Riff rockers Crobot have been promoting their first album, Something Supernatural, with a live show offering full-bombast rock, contagious funk, and science fiction. The band’s success is owed in part…

Warner Hodges

Warner Hodges

In And Out of Scorcherland

If your ear was at all tuned to “alt-country” (a.k.a. cowpunk) in the late ’80s or you were lucky enough to be informed of it in the years since, you’re…

Jeff Senn and Crazy Aces

Dealing Out Twang

When you build guitars for a living, you might unwind with another hobby – say, beer-can collecting or crochet. Not Jeff Senn, mastermind behind Original Senn Guitars. He started a…

Brad Paisley

Keep Pushing Play

Ten years into what has become a stellar career, when Brad Paisley hits your town to play a show these days, it’s with nine semi tractor-trailer rigs and a fleet…

Adrian Belew

Still Going Up

Even after 45 years of guitar heroics with King Crimson, David Bowie, Frank Zappa, and solo, Adrian Belew’s career is still ascending. With his latest album, Elevator, Belew delivers Beatles-infused…

Pop ’N Hiss: Taste

Breakout Blues

The ’60s may have been the most musically significant decade in the history of popular music, but very few countries were represented then or in the years that followed. Fronted…

Jackie King

From Willie to T-Bone and Others

Jackie King’s pretty much done it all. Born in Texas, the son of a guitar player, his path took him from playing in bars at age 13, to hanging out…

Vinnie Moore

Perpetually Exceptional

Shred architect Vinnie Moore’s latest solo record, Double Exposure, holds the distinction of being both an instrumental solo album and a vocal-rock record. The glue that holds it together is…

Jon Butcher

Back to Barefootin'

Photos courtesy Jon Butcher. A little more than a decade ago, guitarist/vocalist Jon Butcher described his affiliation with the then-new quartet Barefoot Servants as, “The best thing I ever did.”…

Javier Batiz

The Mexican Mentor

The profile subject’s ingles was definitely better than the writer’s espa

Brennen Leigh

Honky Tonk Woman

Country singer, songwriter, and guitarist, Brennen Leigh has no shortage of gifts, ably documented on her latest album, Ain’t Through Honky Tonkin’ Yet, and it’s heart-yanking single “Running Out of…