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Music
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
Les Copeland
Earwig
A new wrinkle on the proverbial “overnight sensation after 20 years on the road,” Les Copeland’s “debut” comes after eight albums released on his own and sold-out bandstands over the course of 16…
Frank Zappa
Apostrophe (’) 50th Anniversary
Great googly-moogly! Frank Zappa’s potty-mouth masterpiece is a half-century old and now fêted with a 75-track box set. The original LP has been expertly remastered to increase separation between tracks without sacrificing analog…
Duke Robillard
Stony Plain Records
One of the busiest players around today, Duke takes a break from touring, producing, and recording jazz, jumpswing, and bop to crank out his most uncompromising blues set in 20 years. Twelve original…
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Paul Johnson
The Hepcats Live at the Ajax Novelty Company
This isn’t live, there may not be an Ajax Novelty Company, and the three felines known as the Hepcats are actually the brainchild of Paul Johnson, whose Belairs were early-’60s pioneers of surf music. Suspend reality and dig how the “trio” expertly articulates layers of acoustic guitar. Across decades, Johnson has embraced folk-rock, psychedelia, and
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Yes
Close to the Edge: Super Deluxe Edition
Are you a high-fidelity audio geek? If the answer is, well, yes, this Rhino release brings together an HD experience of Close to the Edge in no fewer than four versions, plus rarities and a ’72 concert. For starters, the 2025 remaster sounds as close to the analog 1972 mix as you’re going to get
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Pink Floyd
Have You Got It Yet? – The Story of Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd
It’s understandable that fans warily approach the flood of pseudo-documentaries and biopics. Add the fact that the late Syd Barrett, Floyd’s original guitarist/leader, suffered from mental illness, and exploitation alarms are sure to go off. But this documentary handles the subject with dignity instead of sensationalism. Interviews by longtime Floyd cover artist Storm Thorgerson with
Joe Bonamassa
Achievement Blues
On disc 2 of Joe Bonamassa’s latest, there’s an interview with Howlin’ Wolf: “I’m gonna tell you what the blues is,” the Wolf says. “A lot of people holler about, ‘I don’t like…
Grant Green
Prolific though he was, there have been more albums devoted to jazz guitar great Grant Green posthumously than were released in his lifetime. Not surprising, considering he died at 43. A heroin addict…
Young Rascals – Collections
Originally released over a five-year period, these seven albums show a band that knew what would work on the radio, and also how to stretch things a bit. As you’d expect, the early…
Dave Alvin – West of the West
Dave Alvin is one of America’s best songwriters, and as such runs the risk of alienating casual fans when he does an album of covers. But then again, maybe not… The idea with…
John Scofield and Eddie Henderson
Inakustik
These two new releases showcase guitarist John Scofield in far different ways. The DVD finds Scofield in a quartet setting and is the perfect vehicle for his skills, displaying chops on cuts like…
Brother Red – Kickin’ It
Kickin' It
Let’s get down to bizness. B3 bizzness, that is. That’s what Brother Red be all about. Three piece. Sho-nuf! But now we got monstrous left hand and pedal B3 bass. No frills. “Cut…
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The Wildhearts
In the raging ’90s, The Wildhearts blasted out of Newcastle upon Tyne like some unholy melding of Guns ’N Roses, Cheap Trick, and The Replacements. Hard rock, power pop, and punk still make up their secret sauce, heard on this latest effort with original singer/guitarist Ginger Wildheart. Ben Marsden plays lead, while Kavus Torabi adds
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Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band
Honeysuckle
Resonator-slide specialist Reverend Peyton returns to his primary influences – early 20th-century African-American music – compelling him to shout from the hollers and the hills. Rootsy, acoustic, inter-war blues is the specific genre, and Peyton doesn’t hold back. With top-tier tutelage from the likes of David “Honeyboy” Edwards, T-Model Ford, and Robert Belfour, he masterfully
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Mike Campbell with Ari Surdoval
Heartbreaker: A Memoir
In his autobiography, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers guitarist Campbell admits he’s quiet and shy. Self-doubt plagued him his entire life, and when problems arose in the Heartbreakers, a lack of confidence had him blaming himself first, even when he wasn’t responsible. Perhaps his attitude was psychologically rooted in his impoverished childhood and coming from
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Alan Gogoll
Lioness Lullabies
Venture online and watch a few videos by Tasmanian guitarist Alan Gogoll and you’ll see he’s nothing short of a phenomenon. On acoustic, he conjures artificial harmonics in a manner that almost defies gravity. Better still, he never shows off these chops – everything on Lioness Lullabies is in the service of the song and
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Jimmy Vivino
Gonna Be 2 of Those Days
A veteran vocalist/guitarist/keyboardist and purveyor of blues, R&B, and rock’, Jimmy Vivino has an incredible résumé. A longtime fixture in Conan O’Brien’s house band, he has played on movie, radio, and Broadway projects and worked with Levon Helm, Hubert Sumlin, Al Kooper, Jimmie Vaughan, Donald Fagen, Warren Haynes, Laura Nyro, along with innumerable others. He’s
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Thin Lizzy
The Acoustic Sessions
Thin Lizzy’s first studio release in decades, this album reimagines tracks recorded 50+ years ago by the trio of vocalist/bassist Phil Lynott, guitarist Eric Bell, and drummer Brian Downey. The songs are from Lizzy’s first three albums – 1971’s Thin Lizzy, ’72’s Shades of a Blue Orphanage, and ’73’s Vagabonds of the Western World. Recently,
Raul Malo
From the opening trumpet notes, you know Sinners and Saints won’t be your ordinary country CD. The title cut sounds like the end result of a Ventures meeting with Nino Rota at a…
Rocky Athas
Livin’ My Best Life
Hailing from the Dallas neighborhood of Oak Cliff, home of T-Bone Walker and the Vaughan brothers, Athas falls closest to Stevie Ray’s maximalist attitude. However, the title track on his new album aims…
Willie Nelson – The Complete Atlantic Sessions
It’s ironic that one of the terms coined to describe the music various singer/songwriters were making in Austin in the early 1970s was “progressive country” (others being “redneck rock” and the more marketable…
Flying Burrito Brothers – Sin City: The Best of the Flying Burrito Brothers
Sin City: The Best of the Flying Burrito Brothers
I confess. Sometimes I find it hard to separate the myth of Gram Parsons from the actual musician. I don’t think there’s any denying the talent of the man. A gifted songwriter to…
Patterson Barrett – I Must Be Dreaming
Austin Fixture Finally Goes Solo
“It’s been a long time co-min'” is applicable to Patterson Barrett, who for decades has played in Austin. Born in Washington, D.C., his family resided in a Maryland suburb of the District until…
Steve Trovato – Country Jazzmaster
Jerry Reed’s “Guitar Man” is the perfect opener for Steve Trovato’s sophomore release – not only thematically (the song made famous by Elvis is about a “swinging little guitar man”) but stylistically. His…
Hank Williams
In 1950, Hank Williams and fellow Grand Ole Opry stars George Morgan and Milton Estes recorded programs in Nashville for Garden Spot, a Texas-based plant-nursery company. Most recently released Williams radio and stage…
John Thomas
Intrigued by that “Only A Gibson Is Good Enough” decal on the headstock of his World War II-era Gibson Southern Jumbo, musician and writer John Thomas began delving into the story behind the…
American Epic
Truly Epic
This three-part documentary chronicles the early days of modern electrical recording in the 1920s and 1930s. Many seminal rural blues, country, Cajun, Hawaiian, norteño, and gospel acts were first recorded during this era…
Justin Cody Fox
New Southern
North Carolina singer/songwriter Justin Cody Fox’s latest involves a ’61 Gibson SG and former Black Crowes guitarist Audley Freed. With Fox and Freed on guitars and sharing production duties with Tommy Brothers, New…
Randy Napoleon
Rust Belt Roots
Napoleon is a jazz professor at Michigan State University, but there’s nothing clinical or academic about his guitar playing. The veteran of the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, Michael Bublé, and Freddy Cole dives into…
Steve Earle – Jerusalem
Here are a couple of records from one of America’s best songwriters. One is a batch of cuts made for movie soundtracks, or for some other reason didn’t fit on his albums. The…
Jimmy Gaudreau – 2:10 Train
Rebel records
Dykes & Vaughan – On the Jimmy Reed Highway
Kent “Omar” Dykes is best known for fronting Omar and the Howlers, and though this disc was planned a solo effort paying homage to fellow Mississippi blues man Jimmy Reed, as word got…
Hilton Valentine
Tatty
For players in their late 50s and early 60s, the Animals’ #1 “House Of The Rising Sun” is often cited as a benchmark, with guitarist Hilton Valentine’s arpeggiated intro as indelibly stamped as…
Danny Gatton – Redneck Jazz Explosion Volume 1 and Volume 2
The Danny Gatton files have so much great stuff that we may be hearing from the genius of the guitar for quite some time. These two amazingly cool discs are from live sets…
The Hot Club of San Francisco
Original Gadjo
Django Reinhardt is inarguably near the top of the most-influential jazz artists, considering how many ensembles (speaking globally) strive to emulate his Quintette du Hot Club de France 70 years after his death.…
Rocky Athas
Livin’ My Best Life
Hailing from the Dallas neighborhood of Oak Cliff, home of T-Bone Walker and the Vaughan brothers, Athas falls closest to Stevie Ray’s maximalist attitude. However, the title track on his new album aims…
Alan Gogoll
Lioness Lullabies
Venture online and watch a few videos by Tasmanian guitarist Alan Gogoll and you’ll see he’s nothing short of a phenomenon. On acoustic, he conjures artificial harmonics in a manner that almost defies…
Asleep at the Wheel
Half a Hundred Years
Fifty years, hundreds of personnel changes, and multiple Grammys later, the “hippie country band” Ray Benson and steel guitarist Lucky Oceans organized in rural West Virginia in 1970 is now a beloved American…
Matteo Mancuso
The Journey
When guitarists as diverse as Al Di Meola and Joe Bonamassa are singing your praises, something’s up. Sicilian guitar prodigy Matteo Mancuso’s debut record displays effortless facility, charisma, and fresh ideas instead of…
Tommy Castro and the Painkillers
R&B stalwart Castro comes out with guns blazing on his latest, adding some raucous rock and roll to his usual helping of soul and blues. There’s an added edge to songs like the…
