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Artists
Ally Venable
Connection
On Money & Power, Ally Venable wields the power of wisdom and emotional connection. It’s an album about empowerment and comeuppance, but there’s plenty of playtime with guest stars Shemekia Copeland and Christone “Kingfish” Ingram. An audio bluesfest, it’s songwriting brings substance carried by guitarists swinging for the fences. What does the albums title represent?What
Kim Simmonds
1947-2022
The British blues movement of the late ’60s lost one of its original proponents and practitioners when Savoy Brown lead guitarist Kim Simmonds died December 13, following a year-and-a-half bout…
Steve Turner
The March To Fuzz
Thirty-five years after Steve Turner and Mudhoney became forever linked with two legendary pedals by coining their debut EP Superfuzz Big Muff, Turner has authored an autobiography, Mud Ride, and…
Davy Knowles
Manx Bluesman
The Isle Of Man, which sits in the middle of the Irish Sea, measures 15 by 30 miles. The quaint Manx country’s claims to fame are the annual TT…
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Sean Chambers
Shoulders Of A Legend
When Hubert Sumlin sideman Sean Chambers played a gig with Savoy Brown bassist Pat DeSalvo and drummer Garnet Grimm, the result was blues-rock ecstasy. Live From Daryl’s House Club is the next best thing to being there. Fans of incendiary slide playing and Rory Gallagher, look no further. How did you meet Pat and Garnet?I
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Lari Basilio
The Artist’s Way
On Lari Basilio’s latest record, Redemption, art and life collide to make beautiful music. Effortless instrumental guitar techniques merge with rib-sticking melodies to captivate and astonish. Bassist Leland Sklar and drummer Vinnie Colaiuta are back to add rhythmic fire, but Basilio’s muse is life’s challenges and, of course, super cool gear. You became a mother.
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Dudley Taft
Life At Full Speed
A songwriting blues-rocker in the purist sense, Dudley Taft is succeeding in an era when nothing comes easy for his ilk. His new album, The Speed of Life, required a departure from the norm; while his previous three were recorded at his own studio in Cincinnati, this one used down time during a European tour
Buzz Feiten
Unsung Hero
An unsung hero, accomplished inventor, and builder possessing priceless musical knowledge, Buzz Feiten’s list of session credits could fill a phone book – from Jimi Hendrix and B.B. King to…
Kristian Borring
Time Zone
Kristian Borring is a jazz guitarist who lives in Perth, Australia, but sends his fearless playing echoing around the planet via his trio, Number Junky, which just released its second…
Myles Goodwyn 1948-2023
Myles Goodwyn, co-founder, creative force, and guitarist/frontman in April Wine, died December 3, 2023. He was 75. Goodwyn grew up in Waverly, Nova Scotia, and was influenced by an uncle…
One Unforgettable ’60s-Oddity Magnatone
Monster Mash
Drew Moniot and his band, The Sequins, were on top of the world, playing Gibson SGs through endorsement-deal amp stacks as 16-year-olds in 1967. Among their many favorite memories was…
Dave Specter
Chicago Style
Dave Specter’s Message In Blue is chock full of imaginative instrumentals, great guest vocals, and blistering guitar work from Specter. But that’s not what he likes most about it. As…
Steve Hackett
No pigeonholes, please!
Photo coutesy Steve Hackett. It’s been said that musicians often “follow their muse” at certain points in their careers, but Steve Hackett, who is entering his fourth decade as a…
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Jonas Reingold
Bass Mechanic
Acclaimed as bassist for The Flower Kings, Jonas Reingold is a master four-stringer. He’s recorded with many artists, including Jon Anderson (of Yes), and has become an integral part of Steve Hackett’s band, re-creating the complex bottom of early Genesis. Twenty years ago, Reingold started the prog group Karmakanic (repeat it slowly a few times),
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Tommy Emmanuel
One-Man Orchestra
Tommy Emmanuel is a real guitarist in its truest sense. On Live At The Sydney Opera House, he stands onstage with only an acoustic guitar, and mesmerizes a packed house. His virtuosity employs country, Celtic, and folk fingerpicking styles that lift the spirit. The set is loaded with fan favorites, but a song suggestion from
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Jedd Hughes
More Personal
After landing on American shores in 2002 to study bluegrass, then shifting into a career as a country singer/songwriter/picker, Jedd Hughes has spent 20 years on an alternate – but rewarding – path as A-list session player and touring sideman. While being busy tempered his flow of original music, in 2014, he returned to songwriting.
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Classics: Norman Harris
Rare Pioneer
As a teenager who just wanted to play music, Norm Harris lived with the reality that he and his band weren’t going to be millionaires anytime soon. So he did what musicians do – side-hustled. But when most were manning the counter at a music shop or serving tables, Harris was up at the crack
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The Doobie Brothers
Road Rules
If you’re making a list of beloved bands with a long string of hook-heavy hits, the Doobie Brothers will surely be on it. Their new album, Walk This Road, features the creative core of vocalist/guitarist Patrick Simmons, vocalist/guitarist Tom Johnston, multi-instrumentalist John McFee, and vocalist/keyboardist Michael McDonald. The news of Walk This Road generated significant
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“Buy That Guitar” podcast with special guests Robb Lawrence and Kim Shaheen
Season 03 Episode 10 In Episode 3.10 of “Buy That Guitar,” host Ram Tuli is joined by Robb Lawrence and Kim Shaheen. Robb’s experience in the vintage market spans from the golden age of electric-guitar innovation to the modern world. Beyond simply studying the history, he lived it, documented it, and played alongside giants who
Beat Portraits: Burns Volume 1
Beginnings – The Early 1960s
In early 2009, VG columnist Peter Stuart Kohman turned his focus on Burns, the pioneering British guitar builder. We’ve compiled the first three installments for a special edition of VG…
Nancy Wilson
One Heart
The Covid-19 pandemic halted much of our lives, but there was a silver lining. Many musicians who couldn’t tour or record normally were able to make new music, including long-dreamed-of…
Bob Cowsill Plays a Topical Tune
New Cowsills album is an impressive self-contained work Before the Jackson 5 and the Osmonds, The Cowsills scored four Top 40 hits in the late ’60s. Here, Bob Cowsill used…
Ceil Thompson and her self-made guitar
“Dan’s Guitar Rx”: VG’s Rock-and-Roll High School(er)! In 2022, Dan Erlewine’s “Guitar Rx” column walked readers through a class-project guitar build by Ceil Thompson. It’s the epitome of custom-made cool,…
John Scofield
Variety is the Spice
Veteran jazz guitarist John Scofield has released a second album with Uberjam, which includes drummer Adam Detich, guitarist Avi Bortnick, and guest keyboardist John Medeski. It’s full of funk and…
Alvin Youngblood Hart
Electric Gutbucket
Alvin Youngblood Hart surfs the musical landscape of blues-based music to make his own great art. His influences range from Howlin’ Wolf, Link Wray, Thin Lizzy, and Skip James, to…
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…
Rob Fleming
From Bowie to KillerStar
KillerStar is no David Bowie cover band. Instead, it’s an uncanny project from U.K. guitarist Rob Fleming and drummer James Sedge, who brought in musicians from many of Bowie’s bands…
Duke Robillard’s Swingin’ R And B!
Blues/Jazz Great Jams on “Four Bills” Duke Robillard’s custom-made J.W. Murphy 17” archtop is the perfect accomplice for this great solo take on “Swingin’ for Four Bills,” a track…
Buddy Merrill
1936-2021
Buddy Merrill, guitarist, steel-guitarist, composer, arranger, recording artist, and occasional vocalist, died December 5. He was 85. A seasoned musician by age 18, Merrill became a member of Lawrence Welk’s…
Grant Geissman
Still Feeling Good
Admired for the iconic phase-shifter solo on Chuck Mangione’s 1978 smash “Feels So Good,” Grant Geissman can today look back on a successful career as a solo artist and sideman.…
Sunny War
Love and Nothingness
Eclectic folk-punk stylist Sunny War’s latest album, Anarchist Gospel, is a break-up album mixing black folk, acoustic gospel, and symphonic trappings. She’s backed by ethereal moods, rustic textures, talented guests…
Marty Stuart
Too Country for Country
Let’s say you’ve been on the country music scene for around 30 years, even though you’re only in your early 40s. And let’s say you’ve served as an instrumentalist for…
Scott Sharrard
Destined for the Gig
Anyone who has seen the Gregg Allman Band in person or caught its new CD/DVD, Back to Macon, Ga, knows guitarist/musical director Scott Sharrard covers a lot of musical ground.…
Carlos Santana
Holding That Tone
Carlos Santana is illustrating a point. “Most people play like this – around the note,” he says, making a fist with his left hand and rolling his right hand around…
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Swampy grooves mix blues with rock Enjoy Bex Marshall and her Ozark 3515BTE Custom Cutaway resonator delivering superbly on an exclusive rendition of the title track from her latest…
Anne McCue
Comes Into Her Own
As impressive as 2004’s Roll was, the eclectic Koala Motel (on Messenger Records) represents a major step up in Anne McCue’s playing and especially songwriting. Lucinda Williams, Jim Lauderdale, John…
“Buy That Guitar” podcast with special guest Howie Statland
“Buy That Guitar” podcast with special guest Howie Statland Season 01 Episode 10 In Episode 10 of VG’s “Buy That Guitar” podcast, host Ram Tuli is joined by Howie Statland…
Warren Haynes
G-Mule Shout!
Gov’t Mule’s blues-based rock has never followed a formula, opting instead for an improvisational modus operandi that gives its music unique breadth and scope – a fact supremely illustrated in…
Jol Dantzig
Back to Hands-On at Hamer
Jol Dantzig with a Hamer Monaco III. Photos courtesy Jol Dantzig. When the Hamer Standard first appeared in an unassuming black-and-white ad in a guitar magazine in the mid 1970s,…
Jim Schwall
Jim Schwall, guitarist, vocalist, and co-founder of Chicago’s Siegel-Schwall Band, died June 19. He was 79 and passed away at his home in Tucson. Schwall learned guitar as a high-school…
