João Erbetta: Eclectic instrumentalist

Five-guitar run on “Bubbles” João Erbetta’s all-instrumental album, “Los Angeles,” is eclectic and quirky. Here, the guitarist/banjoist/bassist/keyboardist/steel-guitarist plays five guitars made by fellow Brazilians to blend jazz with country for…

Reb Beach

There’s no two waysabout it – thanks to MTV dunces Beavis and Butthead, Winger gets no respect. But the band knows how write killer pop-rock tunes, has one of the…

Chris Duarte

Texas Guitar Makes a Comeback

Chris Duarte photo courtesy Carol Howell/Loophole Entertainment. Blue Velocity, the latest record from the Chris Duarte Group, is a rarity in today’s music world – a knock-down, drag-out, “crank ‘er…

Bobby Black

Steel Before and After Commander Cody

When he got the invitation, Bobby Black wasn’t sure. The pedal-steel virtuoso, a 20-plus-year veteran of San Francisco’s music scene, had just been asked to join the long-hairs in Commander…

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…

Mark Andes

Son of Straight Arrow

There probably aren’t too many fathers of rock stars who’ve had a song written about them, but such is exactly the case with veteran actor Keith Andes. His son Mark…

Sunny War

Art & War

Sunny War’s latest album, Simple Syrup, digs deep into the complexities of the human experience. As an acoustic fingerstylist who draws inspiration from the world, being quarantined has been a…

Scott T. Jones

Midwest Fusion Ace

A lot of guitarists aspire to play jazz-rock, but it’s a high bar. Based in St. Louis, Scott T. Jones hits the mark – and then some, heard on his…

Fretprints: Ronnie Montrose

America’s Metallic Answer

The cultural and musical hotbed that was San Francisco in the ’60s produced numerous important bands – Santana, Grateful Dead, Steve Miller, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Jefferson Airplane, Big Brother, and…

Check This Action: Feeling Jazzy

Jazz guitar is one of my main loves, whether it’s Eddie Lang’s work with Bing Crosby in the early ’30s or Rick McRae playing at an Austin restaurant next week.…

Douglas Naselroad

Instrumental Healing

Music heals the soul. For many, crafting the instruments that make music has healing power, too. In 2012, the non-profit Appalachian Artisan Center in Hindman, Kentucky, hired Douglas Naselroad to…

Noah Zacharin

Simple Pleasures

While some regard folk guitar as a relatively simple style, Noah Zacharin is a seriously agile fingerpicker. Also a fine singer/songwriter, his album, Points of Light, uses his six-string dexterity…

Lloyd Green

From the A Team to Americana

Lloyd Green with the the signature model pedal-steel guitar he designed for the Sho-Bud company in 1973. Prior to this, a single on a double-neck cabinet with pad didn’t exist.…

Jim Marshall

Father of the Mighty Marshall Stack

When it comes to guitar amplifiers, two names stand tall beyond the others: Leo Fender and Jim Marshall. Even “civilians” recognize these names. Two names, from two different countries, with…

Jabo, Vince, and Broadcaster 0048

Special Addition

It’s routine for Vince Gill, as one of Nashville’s true connoisseurs of electric and acoustic gear, to receive tips about rare guitars for sale. In 2012, one such call shined…

Kenny Burrell

Playing It, Meaning It, Living It

Few can claim the title of living legend. Kenny Burrell is just such a person. In fact he’s more – he’s living history, past, present and future. His credentials are…

Alex Machacek

Stripped Down

When you get the thumbs-up from icons like John McLaughlin and Chick Corea, it’s got to feel good. But, fusion guitarist Alex Machacek isn’t one to rest on his laurels,…

Jerry Miller

One Guitar Man

Jerry Miller was part of one of the most unique rock groups of the 1960s, the West Coast’s own Moby Grape. The band’s first album delivered a staggering array of…

Bill Frisell

For the December ’14 issue of Vintage Guitar magazine, Dan Forte interviewed Bill Frisell. Here’s a look at the many guitars used by the ultra-versatile superpicker. The issue is available at www.store.vintageguitar.com. This…

Have Guitar Will Travel 088 – Kevin Bernier and De’Wayne

In Ep 88 of “Have Guitar Will Travel,” host James Patrick Regan speaks with guitarist Kevin Bernier of the Suffers, and with power-pop singer De’Wayne. Kevin tells how the Suffers…

Mick Ralphs

Back To Bad Co., And Beyond

Guitarist Mick Ralphs, whose pulverizing riffs were first heard in the late ’60s in the original Mott the Hoople, has charged back into the limelight. Mott was a ferocious quintet,…

Bruce Kulick

B-A-C-K to KKB

Most associate the name, face, and licks of Bruce Kulick with his 12-year stint in the non-masked Kiss. A busy pro player before and after, he’s yet another member of…

Johnny Rivers

Johnny Rivers on July 4, 2006. Photo: Elliot Cohen. When Bob Dylan names your version of one of his songs as his favorite of the more than 25,000 covers done…

Tom Keifer

Thick and Thin

Tom Keifer is a tad young to be on the (very) long list of musicians inspired first and foremost by the Beatles’ “arrival” in the U.S. in 1964. But he’s…

Joe Perry

Rockin' On Bobo

Although Honkin’ On Bobo has been labeled by some as a blues record, Aerosmith views its new release as being a true rock record – and perhaps the most rockin’…

Jorge Garcia’s FM Anthems, in Jazz

Fresh takes on revered classics Joge Garcia’s “Still Crossing” is a collection of stellar instrumental performances of familiar tunes like “Kashmir,” “Little Wing,” and a classical spin through Joni Mitchell’s…

Billy Mure

Supersonic Guitarist Remembered

Guitar great Billy Mure (born November 4, 1915) passed away September 25, at the age of 97. He last performed on August 2, playing Dixieland banjo at Squid Lips, where…

Pop ’N Hiss: UFO’s Lights Out

Shining Bright

Most critics and fans agree that the finest studio album by British hard-rockers UFO was 1977’s Lights Out. The group’s sixth studio effort is renowned as a cohesive yet varied…

Reinier Voet’s double-up demo

Gypsy jazz, direct from Amsterdam Reinier Voet shows us bits of “Swing 49” and the solo-guitar piece “Bagatelle Nr1,” both from “Images,” the new album by the Reinier Voet Quartet.…

Michael Manring

Bass Convergence

Most music fans who learn that the eclectic trio 3Below is all bass players will react with, “You gotta be kiddin’!” However, musicians who appreciate the unusual will stay for…