• The Doobie Brothers

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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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Larry Collins 1944-2024

Larry Collins, a guitar prodigy mentored by renowned flatpicker Joe Maphis, and half of the ’50s brother/sister act The Collins Kids, died January 5 in Santa Clarita, California. He was…

Robben Ford

Crystal Visionary

Pure is Robben Ford’s first instrumental album since 1997’s Tiger Walk. A work of complex simplicity, it’s also a singular sonic statement on which Ford guides every aspect of melody…

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…

Rik Emmett

Canadian Custom

Rik Emmett is a master of many guitar styles and other artistic endeavors. As co-lead vocalist/guitarist in the hard-rock trio Triumph from 1975 to ’88, he experienced life as a…

Jerry Douglas

Slide Ruler – Jerry Douglas’ Love Affair with the Dobro

You know, it’s the coolest-looking instrument that ever was made!” It should come as no surprise that Jerry Douglas is speaking about the Dobro and the various other resonator-equipped guitars…

Jay Geils

More of That Jazz

Guitar maestro Jay Geils is a musical chameleon. In the ’70s, the J. Geils Band kicked out nine records that sent killer blues/R&B licks flying off of turntables all over…

Ron Jackson: Standards and Originals

Warm, Inviting Jazz a la Montgomery and Benson Jazz guitarist Ron Jackson is a specialist on the seven-string. Here, he uses his Eastman AR810CE-7 with a Benedetto S7 pickup (made…

Ally Venable

Heart of Texas

On her fourth album, Ally Venable serves up a heaping helping of poignant songs wrapped in Texas-style blues-rock. Ballsy wah work, gutsy bottleneck slide, and special guests make her new…

Andy Bassford

The Harder They Strum

Legendary fish-out-of-water reggae guitarist Andy Bassford has been a first-call sideman for decades. Now, he’s stepping out front with his first solo album – a remake of the soundtrack to…

Cheetah Chrome

The Dead Boys Live Again

As the punk rebellion exploded in 1977, the New York scene became dominated by the Ramones, Television, Patti Smith, Richard Hell & the Voidoids, and (newly transplanted from Cleveland) a…

Denny Laine 1944-2023

Denny Laine, best known for his affiliations with the Moody Blues and Paul McCartney and Wings, died  December 5 after an extended battle with interstitial lung disease. He was 79.…

How Ron Wood’s New Barbarians Saved the Stones

Ear-to-Ear Violence

Today, the Rolling Stones continue to perform live, more than 50 years since their first gig. But few realize how an unsung side project formed and funded by Ron Wood…

Tommy Castro

A Penchant for the Blues

Tommy Castro is known as a hard-working musician with a penchant for the blues. The rep is well-deserved. “One year we had 350 gigs,” Castro notes. But his attitude took…

Pop ’N Hiss: Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble’s Texas Flood

The Blues, Reborn

Music in the early ’80s was dominated by the shiny blips and bloops of keyboard-driven new wave and the first rumblings of fleet-fingered guitar explosions of glam metal. The blues,…

John McLaughlin

50 Years in Fusion

The name John McLaughlin is synonymous with jazz-rock fusion, the genre he helped invent and sustain for the past 50 years. At the end of 2017, the guitarist will be…

Rod Abernethy

Fuzz: Carolina Acoustic Connections

A fixture on the North Carolina music scene, guitarist/songwriter Rod Abernethy has accumulated many memories, including the purchase of his mainstay instrument, a 1954 Gibson J-200. “When I graduated from…

Reunited

Bruce Forman Honors Barney Kessel

From 1957 to ’60, guitarist Barney Kessel, bassist Ray Brown, and drummer Shelly Manne recorded four LPs for Contemporary Records as a group called Poll Winners, a byproduct of each…

Charlie Daniels

Same Ol' CD

There are more facets to veteran Charlie Daniels’ entertainment enterprises than many of his fans may realize. Not only has the affable guitarist released 29 albums since 1971, he’s also…

Neil LeVang

Neil LeVang

Six Strings Behind — and Beyond — Champagne Music

Neil LeVang was about to get a lecture. Days earlier, the A-list studio guitarist’s new boss, Lawrence Welk, had golfed with a couple well-known singers who mentioned that LeVang had…

Jim Campilongo

Taking Chances With Kindness

Fans of forward-thinking Telecaster spank and cluck will get a kick out of Jim Campilongo’s new album, Live At Rockwood. What he does with two hands and a guitar plugged…

Fretprints: Earl Hooker

Unsung Blues-Guitar Legend

Chicago, 1959. Ask any blues musician where to go, and the answer was likely, “Wherever Earl Hooker is playing.” Earl was the blues-guitarist’s guitarist, a commanding presence on the city’s…

Howard Roberts

Howard Roberts and the Black Guitar

Webster’s Dictionary defines genius as “…a person gifted with extraordinary powers of intellect, imagination or invention.” The definition could as easily be applied to describe Howard Roberts – virtuoso guitarist,…

George Lynch

New Roads

A lynch pin is a narrow shaft of metal that keeps a wheel from falling off – without it, the whole thing collapses. Same holds true for George Lynch, the…

Jack Petruzzelli

Jack Petruzzelli

Fab Sideman For Osborne, Wainwright, Smith

“The first time the Beatles were on Ed Sullivan, I was in my mother’s womb,” says Jack Petruzzelli. “That was February ’64, but then when they appeared the second time…

Andrew Synowiec’s Ebullient Tonefest

Uplifting Instrumental Rock! Check out Andrew Synowiec and his Heritage Custom Core H-150 P90 ripping through a chunk of “Lead Foot,” a track from his newest album, “Fun.” Don’t miss…

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Chris Isaak

Sun Worship

Most pop-music fans became aware of Chris Isaak through his 1991 hit “Wicked Game” and its uber-high-profile video, directed by famed photographer Herb Ritts and featuring the singer/guitarist gettin’ all…

Fanny’s June Millington

Grrrl Power’s First Flash in Rock

Before The Runaways, before the Go-Go’s and Bangles, and before there were Riot grrrls, there was Fanny. One of the first all-female rock groups signed to a major label, the…

Classics: February 2024

Sean Slade’s 1964 SG Junior

They might not seem to have a ton in common aside from first names. J Mascis, Dinosaur Jr.’s co-founder and guitarist developed a style equal parts guitar heroics and left-side-of-the-dial…

Larry McCray

All In the Family

“A lot of people…think [blues is] all the same. So I try to take that element out. I don’t want to restrict myself in terms of genre or influence.” It’s…

Dave Edmunds

Dave Edmunds

Full Solo Circle

The career of Welsh guitarist Dave Edmunds has included hits and collaborations with other notable musicians, including Rockpile, with bassist Nick Lowe. First, though, he drew notice in his home…