• Smith/Kotzen

    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

    Read more >>

Bill Frisell, Nels Cline, David Torn, and others

European Union

You may have heard the name Terje Rypdal, but not really know the six-string legend or his music. For close to 50 years, Rypdal was a major force in Europe, pushing the lines…

Danny Gatton – Funhouse

Funhouse

This is incredible stuff. Hardly a scoop to guitar players. What surprises me is that there are tapes of Danny Gatton out there that sound this good, and we’ve never heard them. This…

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) –…

Del McCoury Band

Almost Proud

Over four decades, Del McCoury carved a unique niche in the bluegrass universe. His pure tenor voice and flawless rhythm guitar – complete with subtle bass runs – have propelled a band that…

Black Label Society

Doom Crew Inc.

BLS’ 11th album has Zakk Wylde sharing duties with guitarist Dario Lorina. Huge tones, harmonized lines, and blistering solos dwell in the realm of metal-infested stomp and fretboard intensity. Dedicated to their roadcrew…

Albert Glinksy – Theremin: Ether Music and Espionage

The theremin holds the distinction of being the only instrument that is played without being touched. Using a human body’s natural capacitance to manipulate radio waves, the theremin was also the first electronic…

Eric Bibb, Rory Block, & Maria Muldaur – Sisters and Brothers

I like this one for a couple of reasons. The first is it’s a perfect example of some vets getting together and just making good music. No ego involved, just three people who…

West, Bruce, & Laing – Why Dontcha

When one third Cream and two thirds of Mountain joined to form West, Bruce & Laing in 1972, expectations were not exactly high. This, their first album, was a decent effort and enough…

Creedence Clearwater Revival

What band has ever had a year like Creedence Clearwater Revival did in 1969? After its debut in ’68, John Fogerty’s group released a followup, Bayou Country, in January ’69 and “Proud Mary”…

Electric Willie

Yellowbird

Avant-garde guitarists Elliott Sharp, Henry Kaiser, and Glenn Phillips share a love for the blues, so when a threeway collaboration was suggested, it morphed into a tribute to Willie Dixon. To differentiate it…

Eric Clapton

Still Slowhand

There’s a lot of looking back going on here. For his 23rd solo album, Eric Clapton reunites with producer Glyn Johns, who not only worked with the Rolling Stones on Sticky Fingers and…

Anthony Wilson – Adult Themes

Here’s the third album from guitarist, arranger, and leader of his own big band, Anthony Wilson. He’s young, but he definitely can look backward to the likes of his father, Gerald, and other…

Cheryl Wheeler – Defying Gravity

After 11 releases in 22 years, you might assume Cheryl Wheeler has written songs about nearly everything. But her latest release proves she still has plenty of fresh insight. In the last two…

Gurf Morlix

Rootball Records

Gurf Morlix’s latest effort is a tribute to his old buddy, Blaze Foley, a singer/ songwriter who was shot to death in 1989. Morlix has taken 15 of Foley’s songs and given them…

Devo

Devo is far from the only band that was years ahead of its time. The difference is that 40 years after its formation, the group’s music and videos are still ahead of their…

Grateful Dead – Live at Cow Palace

The Grateful Dead was an electric jug band with more in common musically with Jim Kweskin than Jimi Hendrix. On this new three-CD set, you can hear this ultimate jam band at its…

Jeff Golub – Do It Again

I can hear the naysayers already. They’ll call this album a boring, derivative, smooth jazz standerbearer. That’s fine. Listen closely, though, and you’ll hear a soulful guitarist doing heartfelt covers of some of…

The Allman Brothers

Recorded for a live radio broadcast just a couple months before Duane Allman’s death, this rediscovered collection showcases a band at the top of its powers. Yes, the set list and arrangements are…

Roky Erickson – Halloween

The story of the former singer of Texas’ 13th Floor Elevators was well known to rock fans, who’d given him up for lost prior to his miraculous comeback of the past few years.…

Andy Timmons Band

To translate one of the touchstones of popular music is not something most guitarists would attempt, but Timmons and his trio take the Beatles’ classic and turn it into an instrumental rock album…

Barry Levenson – Heart to Hand

Barry Levenson has most all the tools; the heart, the hands, the chops, and experience. What places this release a step ahead is the production, which in this is also the work of…

Pete Levin

Self-distributed

The past few Pete Levin albums have featured his fine organ playing, great songs, and lots of room for whatever guitarist was working with him. Jump! is no different, with Dave Stryker on…

Al Kooper – Black Coffee

Al Kooper – Black Coffee A passing glance at the resume Al Kooper has amassed over nearly a half-century is enough to make anyone ask, “What do you have to do to get…

Cesar Rosas – Soul Disguise

I’ve been of the opinion for a couple of years now that Los Lobos is one of the finest rock bands around. Rosas is one of the singer/guitarists in that band. This is…

The Rolling Stones

Rolling In The Blues

Mick Jagger’s famous 1968 statement – “What’s the point in listening to us doing ‘I’m A King Bee’ when you can hear Slim Harpo do it?” – has been a (sometimes) credo for…

Van Duren – Open Secret

Van Duren was an exponent of “power pop” way back in the mid 1970s. He did some recording in Memphis, but things didn’t get far. But here he reaffirms his love of the…

Trikuti – Trikuti

Trikuti is a unique band that goes from jazz to metal and back, not in a song-to-song pattern, but in the space of a few bars. The opener here, “2012,” is a perfect…

  • Yes

    Yes

    Close to the Edge: Super Deluxe Edition

Check This Action: Time Capsules & Travelogs

At the start of the new millennium, Playboy asked various musicians to list their favorite songs of the 20th century. Richard Thompson took the assignment further, beginning with “Sumer Is Icumen In,” dating…

The Boxcars

Mountain Home Music Company

Fresh from his double win at the 2010 International Bluegrass Musicians Association (IBMA) awards for “Mandolin Player of the Year” and “Instrumental of the Year,” Adam Steffey teams with The Boxcars on arrangements…

Jim Croce

You Don’t Mess Around with Jim 50th Anniversary

Jim Croce was a pop artist with laser-guided instincts for writing hits. In an impossibly short run of fame – barely two years – he wrote singles that remain staples of ’70s AM…