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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
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.…
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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
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…
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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
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…
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
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…
