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Music
Smith/Kotzen
Black Light/White Noise
This is the third album from rock veterans Adrian Smith (Iron Maiden) and Richie Kotzen (The Winery Dogs). The busy axeslingers – especially Kotzen, who is always involved in solo and band projects – released their full-length debut and an EP in 2021. Smith-Kotzen has happily blossomed into a going concern. What’s interesting about Smith/Kotzen’s
Basily – Swing for the Gipsies
The Dutch Gypsy group Basily has been prolific in releasing recordings and playing concert dates on the Dutch scene, but remains virtually unknown in the rest of the world. This new album will…
Ernie Hawkins
Corona Records
Ernie Hawkins is a genius of the acoustic guitar who has mastered the country-blues stylings in the vein of Reverend Gary Davis. On Whinin’ Boy, he finds himself in a band setting more…
Stephen Bruton – Spirit World
A CD of personal or autobiographical songs can be tricky. The music can wind up meaning far more to its creator than it does to its audience. That’s bad. Luckily for everyone, Stephen…
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Chris Walz
All I Got and Gone
This traditional folk singer/guitarist’s solo debut is impressive. He’s been an educator at Chicago’s Old Town School of Folk Music for three decades, but his approach is by no means academic. He not only reveals the influence of folk and blues legends such as Doc and Merle Watson, Elizabeth Cotten, Etta Baker, Dave Van Ronk,
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Nels Cline
Consentrik Quartet
ls Cline long ago established a parallel career as an eclectic instrumentalist and contemporary jazz virtuoso. His fourth Blue Note album is an extended set that unveils Consentrik Quartet, his new band with acoustic bassist Chris Lightcap, drummer Tom Rainey, and tenor/soprano saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock. Their concepts are ambitious and their sound is free, Cline
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Charlie Musselwhite
Lookout Highway
John Mayall is invariably cited for the succession of guitar greats who passed through his band. But Charlie Musselwhite just might be the American equivalent. In a 60-year career, his six-stringers have included Harvey Mandel, Luther Tucker, Louis Myers, Tim Kaihatsu, Robben Ford, Fenton Robinson, Johnny Heartsman, Junior Watson, Andrew “Jr. Boy” Jones, John Wedemeyer,
Johnny Cash
Bear’s Sonic Journals: At the Carousel Ballroom, April 24, 1968
Barely two weeks before the release of Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison, the album that made him an institution, Cash, wife June Carter Cash, and the Tennessee Three performed for a crowd of…
Graham Parker – Don’t Tell Columbus
Graham Parker has stepped it up a notch in recent years. Always a fine songwriter and singer, he hit a lull in the late ’80s and most of the ’90s. This is his…
Southern Culture On the Skids – Countrypolitan Favorites
Once again, Southern Culture On The Skids proves itself the ultimate party band with the ultimate party record. In other hands, the concept behind Countrypolitan Favorites (Yep Roc) might come off as sheer…
Dave Stryker and Steve Johns
Rippin' The Blues
Dave Stryker is becoming the go-to guy for bluesy bop guitar. And he keeps finding clever ways to do it without sacrificing soul or integrity. His last record, Eight Track, was a collection…
Steve Smith – Hard Road
Not all great pickers and songwriters live in Nashville, L.A., or New York. Some reside in far off places such as Las Cruses, New Mexico. Steven Smith is a case in point. His…
Jackson Browne & David Lindley
Inside Recordings
In his 40-year recording career, Jackson Browne has used a battalion of guitar greats, from Clarence White to Mark Goldenberg. But from ’71 to ’81, his guitarist (and fiddler and steel player and,…
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Popa Chubby
I Love Freddie King
The latest from blues dynamo Popa Chubby is a star-studded tribute to the late great Freddie King. Produced by Mr. Chubby and Mike Zito, I Love Freddie King is a blues guitar love-fest covering some of King’s most potent and popular songs. With Popa fronting the band on guitar and vocals, guests include Eric Gales,
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Rush
Rush 50
The goal of any anthology is to capture the broad scope of an artist’s career. Rush 50 is a strong attempt, starting with their first singles (previously unreleased) all the way to their final live recordings in 2015. In between are reams of epic studio and stage recordings, summing up the band’s career in one
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Rik Emmett
Ten Telecaster Tales
At the risk of starting a brawl, Rik Emmett’s guitar work was arguably too good for Triumph. As evidence, his latest project centers on a custom-built Loucin that inspired both a book and accompanying music. “Magic Power” this is not. On Ten Telecaster Tunes, Emmett delivers 10 solo performances on the instrument he calls Babs,
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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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Greg Koch
Blues
The Gristle Master returns with scintillating blues and the influences that made him the six-string slayer he is today. On this live recording, Koch uses an array of guitars including his signature Reverend, a Deluxe Tele, Custom Shop Les Paul, and a Custom Shop Strat while sharing stages with Larry McCray, Jimmy Hall, Malford Milligan,
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2025 December Issue on Spotify
This month, we feature Rick Derringer, Kid Ramos, Booker T and The M.G.’s, Steve Stevens, Phil Manzanera, Doug Aldrich, Kenny Burrell, Eric Johanson, Gary Moore, and more! Spotify is free or available without ads via a paid subscription. Go to www.spotify.com and search “Vintage Guitar magazine,” or if you already have an account Listen to
Black John – The Soul of John Black
Black John is actually John Bigham, who some music listeners may know from his days with Fishbone or as a percussionist with Miles Davis. Bigham’s latest effort is a powerful mix of soul,…
Matt Rae – High Strung
Matt Rae’s new record stretches beyond the Telecaster playing for which he is so well-known to include old-fashioned music a la Jimmy Bryant and Speedy West. In fact, the jazzy swing of “Happy…
Lee Ritenour
In honor of his 40th year of recording, Lee Ritenour blended a bit of new material with journeys in time, revisiting tunes he’d recorded starting with First Course, his 1975 debut. He kicks…
Kris Kristofferson
Nearly a half century ago, a longhaired former Army chopper pilot named Kris Kristofferson was Nashville’s hottest new songwriter. Today, after decades of success, the 80-year-old singer/songwriter and actor is a member of…
Ry Cooder and Manuel Galb
Ry Cooder is a guitarist with an ear tuned to a past no one else hears anymore. Inspired by the music of old-time Havana, he brought together a troupe of master Cuban musicians…
Emmylou Harris – All I Intended To Be
In a career spanning 30-plus years, Harris’ constants have been her high standard of quality (in her material, in her bandmates, in herself) and her unpredictability. That she has managed to remain popular…
Jack Bruce and the hr-Bigband
A Bass Legend And Much More
Jack Bruce was one of the most fascinating figures in rock and roll – although he preferred to be known as a jazz musician. As one-third of Cream (with Eric Clapton and Ginger…
David Grissom – Loud Music
When you’ve made your living and reputation as a hired gun, and finally decide to cut a solo album, what do you do? In the case of David Grissom, the question is particularly…
Long Train Runnin’: Our Story of the Doobie Brothers
Tom Johnston, Pat Simmons, Chris Epting
For 50 years, the Doobie Brothers’ feel-good hits have been radio staples. In these pages, vocalists/guitarists Tom Johnston and Pat Simmons share memories and insights such as how the much-hyped psychedelic band Moby…
Frank Zappa
Zappa/Erie
Many fans regard 1973 to ’76 as the zenith of Zappa’s career, encompassing beloved albums like Over-Nite Sensation, One Size Fits All, Bongo Fury, and his FM masterpiece, Apostrophe (’). This live set…
INXS – Shine Like It Does: The Anthology 1979-1997
A completely beautiful package for a band that really deserves the recognition. In the 1980s and ’90s, these Australian rockers made perfect pop/rock records that were laced with funk, soul, and R&B. They…
Paul Priest – The Keeley Effect
The title references the “impact” of the guitar effects pedals made by Robert Keeley in making the album. That’s all fine and good, but more important is the fine music, propelled by the…
Gilkyson, Gorka, Kaplansky
Red House Records
Eliza Gilkyson, John Gorka, and Lucy Kaplansky have played on each other’s albums and shared concert stages, but the idea for a group album surfaced when they played together during Red House Records…
Guthrie Trapp
Life After Dark
Guthrie Trapp has spent the last couple decades in Nashville, supporting major acts in the studio and on the road. His second solo album shows he’s learned plenty of lessons, because while this…
Gary Clark Jr.
Live North America 2016
Gary Clark Jr. has brought back the soaring psychedelic blues-rock guitar solo. After a backlash of post-Hendrix overkill, replaced with severely articulate blues Nazi-approved Chicago and West Coast swing vocabulary, the pendulum is…
Creedence Clearwater Revival
At The Royal Albert Hall
Stop the presses! New CCR is big news, and for one big reason – rarity. Beyond the band’s seven studio albums from 1968 to ’72, and three previous live albums, there’s nothing else…
Soundgarden
If Mudhoney mined the irreverent punk yang of the “grunge” sound that began seeping from the Pacific Northwest in the late ’80s, Soundgarden dredged its sludgy proto-metal yin – through a somewhat inauspicious…
Mike Barfield – Living Stereo
Living Stereo
This might come as a surprise to those familiar with the singer from his days with the countrified Hollisters. Barfield downplays the country and plays up the southern soul vein, with great originals…
Martin Taylor – In Concert
In Concert
After finishing Gershwin’s “I Got Rhythm” – following his tongue-in-cheek, herky jerky, impossible-to-snap-your-fingers-to intro with a laughably fast walking bass figure, over which he somehow threads both melody and comping chords (simultaneously) –…
The Sender
All Killer No Filler (1977-2001)
The PR for this double-LP (and CD) casts the Senders as “punk,” concentrating on seven live tracks featuring guitarist Johnny Thunders (New York Dolls, Heartbreakers). But 24 other cuts reveal the New York…
The Mother Truckers – Let’s All Go To Bed
Austin needs another talented guitar player and singer/songwriter like Texas needs more tornadoes, but when the Mother Truckers relocated from the Bay Area they were immediately embraced by the Live Music Capital of…
