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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
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…
Little Charlie and the Nightcats – Nine Lives
Little Charlie and the Nightcats – Nine Lives What can you say about Charlie Baty and the boys? This is their ninth record for Alligator since the late ’80s, and the mix of…
Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio- Close But No Cigar
No disrespect to bassists but there’s just something about a funked-up organ trio that sticks to your backbone. Made popular in the cool music joints of the ’50s and ’60s, organists Jimmy McGriff,…
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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,
Seth Walker – Leap of Faith
Seth Walker’s latest effort takes a slightly different path, mixing blues with soul and a group-driven R&B feel. Old-school horn charts dominate “Can’t Come With You,” where Walker’s vocals take on the soul/bluesman…
Gonzalo Bergara – Portena Soledad
For years, friends and fans have begged Gonzalo Bergara to record. Finally, he has a debut CD – and it’s been worth the wait. Bergara hails from Argentina but is based in California.…
North Mississippi Allstars
Blues Dance Music
Luther and Cody Dickinson’s latest pushes the boundaries of northern Mississippi blues music by integrating programmed loops and electronic dance beats. The four-song EP injects tinges of soul, gospel, blues, and The Blind…
Tony Gilkyson
Avenging Angel
You know an album is promising when its sidemen include Buck Owens pedal-steeler Jay Dee Maness and Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band drummer James Gadson. Tony Gilkyson delivers on that promise. Not surprisingly,…
Gov’t Mule
Heavy Load Blues
When a successful band of fine musicians is struck by the compulsion to revisit the muses of their youth by recording blues covers, it can go horribly wrong. Fortunately, Gov’t Mule’s first blues…
The Clash
In the far distant past – 1979, to be exact – the Clash were crowned “The Only Band That Matters.” The mantra originally appeared on a promo sticker stuck to their double LP…
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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
Buzzcocks
Late For The Train: Live & In Session (1989-2010)
On the punk-rock timeline, some bands haven’t quite received their just acknowledgment. Two Australian bands, The Saints and Radio Birdman, come to mind, as do groups like Flamin’ Groovies and Dr. Feelgood, which…
Richard Leo Johnson – The Legend Of Vernon McAllister
Richard Leo Johnson – The Legend Of Vernon McAllister A fascinating, unexpected concept album of acoustic steel-string instrumentals. Johnson has been compared to Michael Hedges, and, like that late innovator, his music is…
The Sonics
Sonics Boom Again
Sometimes, your memory of a favorite band is so locked in – and possibly blown out of proportion – that a reunion can’t possibly live up to its former self (or yours). And…
Mississippi John Hurt – Live
It still surprises me, but every once in a while I run into a neophyte who thinks the blues (all blues) is, by definition, depressing – as if there’s but one emotion conveyed…
Thin Lizzy
Vagabonds of the Western World 50th Anniversary
Long before “The Boys Are Back in Town,” Thin Lizzy was a pugnacious Dublin trio with bassist Phil Lynott and guitarist Eric Bell. Vagabonds was their third album and there’s nothing else like…
Carole King and James Taylor
Hear Music/Concord
There have always been singer/songwriters in rock (from Buddy Holly and Chuck Berry to the Beatles and Bob Dylan), but from 1968 to ’75, L.A.’s Troubadour helped launch the “singer/songwriter” as an entity,…
Styx
Crash of the Crown
BreaBreaking While 2017’s concept album The Mission embraced progressive rock, the new Styx album has even higher ambitions. Returning to their guitar/keyboard-fueled ’70s style, the band takes prog’s grandest elements and condenses them…
Neil Larsen – Orbit
A new disc featuring the wonderful keyboardist Larsen and a great band, with Robben Ford on guitar, recorded live to two-track with 12 songs that are memorable for various reasons. Most of this…
Dale Watson
What is there not to love about Dale Watson? He flies the flag for real country music in a day and age when real country isn’t accepted by country radio. His latest is…
Charlie Musselwhite – Sanctuary
With his debut album in 1966, harmonica vanguard Charlie Musselwhite met and set the standard for authenticity and adventurism in blues. But in the past few years,
Paul Brown
A lot of people paint the smooth jazz world with a broad brush that sometimes ignores the players who play with soul, intensity, and smartness. Paul Brown would be one such player. While…
Gregg Wright
Big Dawg Barkin’
Gregg Wright’s pandemic-fueled album displays the pent-up intensity of a virtuoso guitarist unleashed – the former Jacksons’ guitarist and bluesman comes fully loaded with pyrotechnics and sweet runs galore. Tempered by ’70s tours…
Spirit
Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus
Willie Nelson
At Budokan: 2/23/84
The Metallica Blacklist Album
Various artists
Conquering the charts 30 years ago with their “black album,” Metallica has become the global ambassador for heavy metal – and this 52-track tribute set confirms it. Artists from nearly every genre, from…
Blind Pig Records – 20th Anniversary Collection
It’s been 20 years since Blind Pig Records got its start in the humble Blind Pig Café in a basement in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Over the years, the label has released records by…
Slick SL-52 and SL-56
Budget Riff Rockers
Since 2004, Guitarfetish has been selling instruments, parts, pedals, and accessories online. Their Slick guitar line – designed and built with input from guitarist Earl Slick – includes the offset SL-56 and single-cut…
Jimi Hendrix
Electric Lady Studios: A Jimi Hendrix Vision
It’s astonishing – and fortunate – that so much unreleased Jimi Hendrix material exists, given his brief recording career. It seems every time he picked up his guitar in the studio, the Record…
Moving Pictures: How Rush Created Progressive Hard Rock’s Greatest Record
Will Romano
Rush’s Moving Pictures is often regarded as the band’s masterpiece, and this book unpacks the creative efforts of frontman/bassist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson, and drummer/lyricist Neil Peart. Examining the 1981 album’s “filmic…
Compiled by Ben Valkoff – Eyewitness: The Illustrated Jimi Hendrix Concerts
The second volume reviewing Hendrix concerts, this one covering the tumultuous period of ’68, when Hendrix worked through a relentless schedule of touring and recording. As noted in our review of the first…
Eric Johnson
EJ
Renaissance Guitarman Eric Johnson digs deep. Not in the way that guitarists will explode an artery to nail the ultimate epic guitar solo or clone the microscopic nuances of Stevie Ray Vaughan. EJ…
Dudley Connell and Don Rigsby – Another Saturday Night
Musical styles constantly evolve. If you love traditional music, this can be a problem. What is “genuine” and what is a synthesis that only appears to be authentic? Perhaps the best solution to…
The Atomic Bitchwax – II
Ed Mundell – my choice for Guitar God 2001. Although Mundell, lead guitarist for Monster Magnet (his day gig) and the Atomic Bitchwax (his side gig), might lack name recognition, he certainly doesn’t…
