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Artists
Joey Molland
The word “underrated” is belabored in music journalism, but Joey Molland was just that. As co-guitarist in Badfinger, he was part of a quartet signed to the Beatles’ Apple Records, yielding glorious AM hits like “Come and Get It,” “Day After Day,” and “No Matter What.” The foursome fell into obscurity and tragedy a few
David Hamburger: masterful playing, 00-18 deep dive
David Hamburger and his ’56 00-18 Singer/songwriter David Hamburger is also an impressive fingerstyle player who knows a great guitar when he plays it. Here, he shares the title track…
Kim Simmonds
Half a Century with Savoy Brown
Now in its 46th year, the Savoy Brown band, fronted by founder/lead guitarist Kim Simmonds, has returned to its blues-and-boogie roots following a foray as a power trio in which…
Frank Gambale
Soulmine
Frank Gambale has had an amazing career playing the music he loves. From being the go-to guy for sweep-picking, and later replacing Al DiMeola in Return To Forever, Gambale drops…
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Duke Robillard – Lowdown
Vintage Guitar is happy to offer the premier of the new music video by Grammy nominee Duke Robillard. “Lowdown” is the first single from his upcoming album, Blast Off!, set for release February 20 on Nola Blue Records. “When thinking about a powerful song to launch the album, I chose a hard-rocking Tom Waits tune
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David Bowie’s Young Americans
David Bowie was always creatively restless. The English musician decided to step away from the glam rock he’d recorded for a few albums concluding with 1974’s Diamond Dogs, which included a few songs with tinges of soul, R&B, and funk. On tour promoting the album, he played a handful of soul covers. Bowie had long
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Fretprints: Cream’s Disraeli Gears
Supergroup Alpha
Jack Bruce claimed Cream was two bands – live trio and studio group. Live, bassist Bruce, guitarist Eric Clapton, and drummer Ginger Baker were renowned for their highly improvisatory, powerful performance that was unprecedented in rock. Moreover, they were actually a jazz group (“…we just didn’t tell Eric,” Bruce said), as exemplified by their excursions
Hannu Könönen: Surf Stirred with Rautalanka
From Finland’s Icy Fjords Hannu Könönen used his home-assembled guitar to play “Lets’s Surf to the Dawn,” a track from “Sound Recycle Machine,” the latest album by his band, The…
Kevn Kinney
Small 'N Happy
As any fan of Drivin ’N Cryin can attest, Kevn Kinney at his creative best surrenders little to the greatest singer/songwriters in pop – his message is delivered in succinct,…
Tom Petersson’s Gretsch 12-string Basses
Tricked-Out Trio
Cheap Trick fans are aware of his contribution to the band’s songs, but few know he actually invented the 12-string electric bass and has been using one since 1977 to…
Paul Gilbert
"How Pat Travers Saved My Soul!"
Any guitarist who can play Emerson Lake & Palmer’s “Karn Evil 9” and nail the keyboard solo is a bad motor scooter. Paul Gilbert is one such guy. From his…
Guitarist/Producer Yates McKendree Shines on “Wise”
New album reflects array of influences Though just 21, Yates McKendree is already a veteran of storied stages, and his debut album, “Buchanan Lane,” has been nominated for a…
Rocco Prestia
The Power of Tower
Rocco Prestia Photo: Neil Zlozower. Bass great Jeff Berlin calls him “my all-time favorite groove player.” The equally formidable John Patitucci proclaims, “The guy has not only been a serious…
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Check This Action: Up Jumped Elmore
When someone recently asked me to recommend the most essential Elmore James album, I answered, “Any and all.” I’ve never heard a bad Elmore cut, and I’ve heard nearly everything he recorded. Everybody knows that he set the standard for slide guitar in electric blues, but he was also a fantastic singer and wrote some
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Javier Batiz
Mexican guitarist Javier Batiz, a teacher and inspiration to Carlos Santana and other musicians, passed away December 14 at his home in Tijuana, Baja California. He was 80. Known as the “Godfather of Mexican Rock,” “La Layenda” (The Legend) and other sobriquets, Batiz came to appreciate American blues guitarists such as B.B. King and John
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Josh Meader
Jazz Evolution
Josh Meader is a jazz and fusion player who breaks ground with virtuosity that’s never flashy for its own sake. On his new album, Tide of Times, the young Aussie ace blends styles on a dime, hybridizing music before our eyes; videos online include an especially stunning non-album rendition of “Misty.” It’s fascinating, seeing Meader
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Chris Walz
Debut, Long Time Coming
Chris Walz has done his share of performing. He played young Woody in the stage production of Woody Guthrie’s American Song. From the late ’90s to 2001, Walz toured and recorded with banjo player Greg Cahill’s Special Consensus bluegrass band. And for 10 years he took the role of guitarist Fred Hellerman in Weavermania, a
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Greg Koch
Way Of The Gristle
On Blues, Greg Koch reaches the outskirts of infinity with an album that showcases his wicked guitar skills and love for Muddy Waters. Flying V blues master Larry McCray drops by with the Memphis Horns, and the result is a passionate pentatonic party with soul and fireworks. How did this album come about?Devon Allman had
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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 rock star, then released a string of solo albums, a book of poetry, and an autobiography. His latest project, Ten Telecaster Tales, is a book
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…
Producer Dave Cobb Draws Artists of All Ilks
Music-City tune Charmer
Grandson of a Pentecostal minister, as a kid, Dave Cobb attended church every day, weaving old-time hymnal music into his DNA. Rather than constraining his musical inclinations, church music –…
Nels Cline
Avant-jazz Punk terrosist
Avant noise terrorist with a jazz jones; improv worshipper; atomic flamethrower hurling molten punk-infused spit balls. Guitarist Nels Cline fits all three bills. And that’s barely scratching the surface. Working…
Robben Ford
The Space Between the Notes
When it comes to blues, Robben Ford has always been inspired by the most profound practitioners of the form and gone his own way with the understanding that true blues…
John5
Rocker’s new album not what you might think
Don’t let John5’s stage persona fool you. Underneath that peroxide-white hair, sinister colored contact lenses and high-priest-of-evil wardrobe breathes one impressive and versatile guitarist. True, the Michigan-born guitarist (real name…
Check This Action: Folk Festival of Blues
I heard blues records earlier than I can remember. My dad had Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee albums, and a family friend had records by Lead Belly and Jesse Fuller.…
Jimmy Johnson
Chicago bluesman Jimmy Johnson passed away January 3 in Harvey, Illinois. He was 93. Born November 25, 1928, in Holly Springs, Mississippi, Johnson (VG, September ’20) grew up picking cotton,…
Jonathan Pearce
Kiwi Krunch
Hailing from New Zealand, the Beths play crackling power pop fronted by singer/guitarist Liz Stokes with Jonathan Pearce on lead guitar. On its new album, Expert in a Dying Field,…
Michael Johnny Walker
Vintage Attitude Required
The term “vintage” isn’t always literal when it comes to gear, but it certainly can be used to describe attitude. Michael Johnny Walker has spent his career chasing tone and…
Eric Gale
Crystal Vision
Eric Gales’ new release, Crystal Vision, is an autobiographical blues-rock tour de force with inspired twists and turns. Long labeled by myopic music critics as a Hendrix knock-off, Gales actually…
Ewan Currie’s Hairy Tones
Sheepdogs guitarist plays “So Far Gone” Ewan Currie and his band, The Sheepdogs, do retro-rock the right way. Here, Ewan and his ’74 Les Paul Deluxe show us some of…
Steve Cropper
An MGs/Rascals Soul Summit
Before they were called Booker T. & The MGs, the first song the house band for Memphis’ Stax label cut on their own was the instrumental “Green Onions” – which…
Fretprints: Jimi Hendrix
The Creation of Are You Experienced?
It was a bio-pic fantasy. The scene: Outside a London venue where Jimi Hendrix is performing for the first time. Leaving the club, Pete Townshend encounters Jeff Beck, just arriving.…
Tommy Emmanuel
Advocate of the Atkins Legacy
Experiencing a Tommy Emmanuel performance is one of those “You-shoulda-been-there” musical epiphanies. Emmanuel strides onstage with his acoustic guitar, display
It was 27 years ago today
27 years ago today the first issue of your favorite guitar mag came off the presses of a weekly newspaper in New Salem, North Dakota, a town 25 miles west…
Guthrie Govan
Aristocratic Guitar
Guthrie Govan is at times more stunt pilot than conventional guitarist – his superhero skills mean he can play almost anything. Fortunately, with the Aristocrats, he deploys insane chops in…
Cory Wong
Emperor Of The North
Cory Wong’s latest solo album, Striped, is a jubilant record and his eighth this year. Defying the temperature of the times with joy, fun, and positivity, Wong can also be…
Greg Howe
Nimble-fingered fusion monster Greg Howe has been keeping busy since the release of Extraction in 2003. He has appeared as a guest on a number of stellar fusion projects, most…
Pete Seeger
1919-2014
Renowned folk singer/songwriter, musicologist, organizer, and political activist Pete Seeger died January 27 at a hospital in New York City. He was 94 and passed from natural causes. Seeger was…
Greg Howe
A New Wheelhouse
Greg Howe is a globe-trotting, guitar-clinic-teaching, concert-performing fusion monster. He’s known for taking risks and pushing his playing into fresh environments. His latest album, Wheelhouse, shows the guitarist coming full…
Brennen Leigh’s Heart-Tugging Honky-Tonk
Shades of Norman Blake and Dolly Parton A student of the “Carter Scratch” guitar technique – melody on the low strings, rhythm on the high – Brennen Leigh plays and…
