• Ally Venable

    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

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Adrian Belew

Musical Modernist

Bleeps, squawks, and other sounds emanate from the guitars of Adrian Belew, who has gigged with the likes of Frank Zappa and Talking Heads, not to mention his quarter-century association…

Tommy Shaw and James Young

Styx’s Crowning Achievement

“One thing I like about how Styx does progressive stuff is we try and make it friendly progressive, not math,” said Styx vocalist/guitarist Tommy Shaw, referring to the band’s 17th…

Heaven and Hell

Neon Knights Reunite

                            In 1979, Black Sabbath was at a crossroads after the departure of original frontman Ozzy Osbourne.…

Mick Ralphs

Good Company

In 1972, one of Britain’s best bands, Mott The Hoople, still hadn’t made any impact on the charts. Its record company, Island Records, was getting impatient. Then, a future rock…

Pop ’N Hiss: Marshall Crenshaw’s Field Day

Jangle All the Way

Marshall Crenshaw’s brief chart run remains a bright spot of 1980s rock – effectively, the final blast of New Wave before the genre was buried by Thriller, Purple Rain, and…

Scott Gorham

Heavy Fire

It’s hard out there for a ’70s guitar hero. With the struggles of keeping older fans happy verses the challenge of presenting new material, it can be an arduous battle…

Kenny Wayne Shepherd

Into The Future

Kenny Wayne Shepherd’s Dirt On My Diamonds Volume One finds the Strat-wielding blues-rocker blending the best elements of pop country, Southern rock, and the blues. Composed at FAME Recording Studios…

Vinnie Moore

Heavy Melodic Shred

Vinnie Moore emerged in the mid ’80s, garnering praise for his work as a solo instrumentalist and for his contributions to Alice Cooper’s Hey Stoopid album and tours. In 2003,…

The Return of Jerry Kennedy’s 00-18

Seventy Years Gone

Nashville legend Jerry Kennedy has won Grammy awards and owned numerous collectible instruments. And if Guinness World Records tracked such things, he’d likely own the mark for most years passed…

Tony Rombola

Gothic Blues

Godsmack guitarist Tony Rombola is moonlighting once again, on the third album by Apocalypse Blues Revival with fellow Godsmack member/drummer Shannon Larkin, bassist Brian Carpenter, and singer Shane Hall. The…

Paul Kossoff

The Story of the Back Street Crawler

For a scant few years beginning in the mid 1960s, Great Britain was responsible for producing arguably the finest crop of rock guitarists ever. It began with Eric Clapton, who…

In Memoriam: Sammy Ash

Sammy Ash, COO of the family-run Sam Ash Music chain, died September 16, 2023, after a year-long battle with stage four melanoma. He was 65. Named after the grandfather who…

Steve Vai

Taming The Hydra

After finishing a sold-out tour with Joe Satriani and Eric Johnson for the G3 Reunion concerts, Steve Vai joined Adrian Belew and Tony Levin to perform interpretations of the ’80s…

Exquisite fingerstyle from Will Ackerman

Trademark Melodies from an Icon Will Ackerman and his Steve Klein guitar show us a piece of the lovely “I Had To Go There” from his new album, “Positano Songs.”…

Dan Hawkins

Toast of the Town

When The Darkness roared out of England with its 2003 debut Permission to Land and the hit “I Believe in a Thing Called Love,” the music world was slapped across…

Jeff Hanna

A Half-Century of Dirt

Equal parts anniversary party, all-star jam, and “you really needed to be there” celebration, a September ’15 performance by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band at the Ryman Auditorium kicked off…

Redd Volkaert

Reddy and Willing

For Redd Volkaert, 2008 has been a good year. His band, Heybale, released an excellent debut in the spring, and with summer came his fourth solo disc, Reddhead. He’s on…

John Notto double-up

Dirty Honey guitarist shares riffs from “Can’t Find the Brakes” John Notto used his road-dog Gibson Custom Shop Les Paul ’58 reissue on pieces of two tracks – “Won’t Take…

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Eliot Lewis

Growing Up With Legends

Eliot Lewis was just 10 years old when he started rubbing elbows with legendary performers, thanks to a friend’s father who was a heavyweight in the music business. “Every week,…

Dana Sutcliffe

Here’s the Scoop

Many know Dana Sutcliffe from his classic guitar design, the Alvarez Dana Scoop produced from the late 1980s through the early ’90s. But most are likely unaware that today he…

Bex Marshall and her ’63 Hummingbird

Family History Straight from the “Classics” feature in the August issue, here’s Bex Marshall playing the ’63 Gibson Hummingbird bought new by her uncle, David, in his days with the…

J.D. Simo

Tele-Free Trio

J.D. Simo moved to Nashville seven years ago and quickly landed in the coveted hot spot as the lead guitarist in the Don Kelley band. After four years playing four…

Brent Rowan

The Right Tool for Every Studio Job

“Nashville Cats play clean as country water” according to John Sebastian of the Lovin’ Spoonful. He might as well have been referring to Brent Rowan. One of a select few…

Travis Stever

Travis Stever

A Conceptual Break

Few rock bands have explored the “concept album” format as thoroughly as Coheed and Cambria; the band’s first seven full-length discs followed a sci-fi story line (known as “The Armory…

Mason Razavi – Masterful Jazz

 Gibson L-5 on “You Stepped Out of a Dream” Mason Razavi is known in jazz circles for his superb comping, soloing, and chord melodies, informed by greats of the…

“Buy That Guitar” podcast with special guest Tony Nagy

Season 03 Episode 05 In Episode 3.5 of “Buy That Guitar,” host Ram Tuli is joined by Tony Nagy, manager of the repair shop at Gruhn Guitars. Vintage instruments, prized…

Pop ’N Hiss: Albert King’s Born Under a Bad Sign and Live Wire/Blues Power

Power, Indeed

In February of 1968, Albert King stepped onto the stage of San Francisco’s Fillmore Auditorium for the first time. With the Jimi Hendrix Experience headlining, John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers featuring 19-year-old…

Exquisite fingerstyle from Will Ackerman

Trademark Melodies from an Icon Will Ackerman and his Steve Klein guitar show us a piece of the lovely “I Had To Go There” from his new album, “Positano Songs.”…

Freddie King’s Gibson ES-345 Keeps on Playin’

Family Ties

Watching her baby boy become rapt whenever his grandma played country blues on her guitar, Ella May King had a notion… So, as soon as his tiny hands could fret…

Albert Lee

English Country Gentleman

Photo courtesy of Ernie Ball. Admittedly, Albert Lee doesn’t play a Gretsch Country Gent, but a more appropriate description of the veteran guitarist might be hard to formulate. Lee has…