• Popa Chubby

    Music

    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,

    Read more >>

Jorma Kaukonen

In a career that spans a large portion of modern rock and roll history, Jorma Kaukonen has always had the patience and taste that make this one of the most aptly titled records…

Jeff Plankenhorn

Alone At Sea

Singer/songwriter Plankenhorn recently moved from Austin to Vancouver Island, and besides penning two numbers himself, he co-wrote seven with Austinites Scrappy Jud Newcomb, Gabriel Rhodes, and Michael O’Connor. “Maybe It’s Not Too Late”…

John Cowan – New Tattoo

John Cowan – New Tattoo John Cowan is one of modern bluegrass’ most influential innovators. On his latest release, he explores the more “popgrass” side of his musical personality. The opening/title track uses…

Drive-By Truckers

ATO Records and Self-Distributed

It’s been less than a year since the Drive-By Truckers released The Big To-Do, but the songs on Go-Go Boots don’t suffer from the quick turnaround. An album considerably quieter than other DBT…

America – Here & Now

The folk-pop songs of America have, for many, long been one of life’s guilty pleasures. And for every “Horse With No Name” there was a brilliant song like “Only In Your Heart,” “Tin…

Swamp Cabbage – Honk

Swamp Cabbage – Honk Swamp Cabbage is a trio led by guitarist/vocalist Walter Parks. Walter has been around, and is best known as the guitarist for Richie Havens. If that fact would have…

Kirk Fletcher

Blues gets a bad rap because of a preponderance of mediocre imposters who lack the magic. The great stuff will stir you and mesmerize. Two-time WC Handy Award nominee Kirk Fletcher has the…

Toronzo Cannon

In Chicago’s blues community, everybody knows Toronzo Cannon, although outside of the Windy City his name is less recognized. For years he battled it out on Chi-town’s fiercely competitive circuit. Having paid his…

Bob Dylan

Shadows In The Night, Dylan’s 2015 nod to Frank Sinatra, surprised those unaware of his love for the Great American Songbook. Using Sinatra’s original arrangements as a guide, he drew heavily from the…

Carl Verheyen – Solo Guitar Improvisations

I guess Carl is mostly known for his soaring electric work that shows off terrific chops and great compositional skills. Here, things are a bit different. It’s mostly just him and an acoustic…

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…

Jim Fox – Natural Blonde

Talk about a guitar feast! Fox, a fixture in L.A.’s jazz and studio scenes, goes toe to toe with two giants of those same circles, a generation his senior (John Pisano and Bob…

Sea Level

By today’s standards, Sea Level was a “jam band,” but 35 years ago, they were an eclectic group variously labeled as Southern rock, jazz-fusion, or West Coast funkpop. An offshoot of the Allman…

Darcy Kuronen – Dangerous Curves: The Art of the Guitar

Dangerous Curves: The Art of the Guitar

The Museum of Fine Arts is mounting a retrospective outlining 400 years of guitar design and history (VG November ’00). Although the guitar has become the dominant instrument in popular music over the…

Al Di Meola – Anthology

Al Di Meola needs no introduction, and most of the music on this fine two-CD collection will be familiar to most guitarists as well. The only question is What’s new? The 20 tracks…

Chet Atkins

In July 1958, Chet Atkins and his half-brother, singer-guitarist Jim Atkins, a member of Les Paul’s original 1930s trio, recorded six songs at RCA’s Nashville studio for this LP, conceived as six of…

Harry Taussig – Fate Is Only Once

In his liner notes to this extremely rare 1965 album, Harry Taussig lists Woody Guthrie, Jesse Fuller, Mance Lipscomb, Scrapper Blackwell, Libba Cotton, Mississippi John Hurt, John Fahey, Ravi Shankar, and koto master…

Eric Johnson and Mike Stern

Two iconic players joining forces can soar or falter depending on material, the players’ adaptability, the number of guest performers, and many other factors. Eric Johnson and Mike Stern certainly arrived at the…

Creedence Clearwater Revival – Boxed Set

This arrived just in time for me to program “Graveyard Train” to play over and over on Halloween, scaring (or at least bewildering) unsuspecting trick-or-treaters, wondering, “What’s with that old coot handing out…

The Alligator Christmas Collection

Various artists

First released in 1992, this cornucopia of blues is now on red vinyl, celebrating the spirit of the season. The opener sets the tone, the late Koko Taylor singing “Merry, Merry Christmas” with…

Brian Setzer – 13

Brian Setzer – 13 Brian Setzer is an amazing guitar player who has always played what he wanted, whether it was popular or not – from rockabilly to big-band. But some fans have…

The Meters – Trick Bag

Sundazed has done it again. This particular release is only one in a large series of CDs released by this fine band. And they did a great job with them all. Original liner…

Various artists

Think I’m Going Weird: Original Artefacts from the British Psychedelic Scene 1966-68

Do you crave fuzzed-out guitars, trippy pop, and all things Carnaby Street? If so, this five-CD/book set is a magical mystery tour of British psychedelia. You’ll hear groovy singles from The Who and…

Rod Piazza & The Mighty Flyers – Beyond The Source

There is no group more dedicated to the blues idiom then Rod Piazza and the Mighty Flyers. And they are a group. You can rest assured this it not some off-the-cuff aggregation. These…

Russell Malone – Heartstrings

Heartstrings

It’s the age-old question, does the use of strings somehow cheapen the music? Wes Montgomery is still to this day vilified for using strings. Wrongly, I might add. George Benson takes grief. Even…

Peter Ames Carlin

Sonic Boom: The Impossible Rise of Warner Bros. Records, from Hendrix to Fleetwood Mac to Madonna to Prince

Chances are a significant chunk of your music collection is from artists on the Warner Brothers, Reprise, Atlantic, Elektra, Asylum, and Sire labels. Innovative executives and record producers like Mo Ostin, Joe Smith,…

Ben Rogers’ Instrumental Asylum and The Break

Blaze Music

Even though there are probably more instrumental surf bands active today than during the genre’s early-’60s heyday, it’s very much an underground movement, populated by indie labels, mostly younger players, and a few…

Gil Parris – Blue Thumb

Blue Thumb

I first ran across Gil Parris on his 1998 self-titled release. It was a doozy that showed off his considerable guitar skills covering the gamut of jazz, blues, and country. This release does…

Corb Lund

Lund’s debut, 2014’s Counterfeit Blues, showcased him and his three-piece Hurtin’ Albertans (guitarist Grant Siemens, upright bassist Kurt Ciesla, and drummer Brady Valgardson) revisiting previously recorded material at Sun Studios in Memphis, a…

Ian Date & Robin Nolan – Go Ahead

Take an Aussie living in Ireland and a Londoner living in Amsterdam, stick them in a studio, and what do you get? Gypsy swing, of course. Date, the ex-Aussie, has played with George…