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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
Juicy Lucy
Juicy Lucy/Lie Back and Enjoy It/Get A Whiff A This
Any discussion of unsung guitar greats needs to include Glenn Ross Campbell. Thankfully, his work with Juicy Lucy is documented on this two-CD three-fer. Between Freddie Roulette playing Chicago blues on lap steel…
Selwyn Birchwood
Living In a Burning House
Selwyn Birchwood’s third album for Chicago-based Alligator Records represents new creative frontiers for the 36-year-old Florida native. The robust use of keyboards and baritone sax makes it his most sonically expansive effort to…
Marcus King
Young Blood
Young gun Marcus King enlists Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys as producer on this latest project. Young Blood combines blues, rock, and a pervasive swampy feel with southern-fried vocals and mondo guitar…
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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,
R.L. Burnside – Well… Well… Well
Well… Well… Well
If you’ve ever heard R.L. Burnside play, you’ll know the significance of this album’s title; “Well… well… well” is one of his pet phrases, a constant punctuation to his conversation. Burnside is a…
Chris Hillman
Flying High
To understand this album’s significance, it’s worth recounting the highlights of Chris Hillman’s distinguished career. An admired West Coast bluegrass musician, in 1964 he picked up an electric bass and joined the original…
Cage the Elephant – Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked
Brothers Brad and Matt Schultz had a rough youth in small-town Kentucky, where music, money and hope were hard to find. Growing up in an eventually broken home with six people squeezed into…
John Lennon – Rock ‘N’ Roll
In 1975, ex-Beatle Lennon paid homage to his rock and roll roots – something Paul McCartney wouldn’t get around to until 1999’s Run Devil Run. Lennon’s early-rock credentials were beyond repute, as anyone…
The Yardbirds – Birdland
Birdland
It’s hard not to be skeptical over every “reunion” that comes along when you’ve got Toad The Wet Sprocket reuniting after all these years – five to be exact. If that’s a reunion,…
Justin Currie – The Great War
Rykodisc
Justin Currie was bassist, lead singer, primary songwriter, and co-founder of the Scottish band Del Amitri, which didn’t make much of a splash outside their native U.K. circa 1980 because they simply came…
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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
Buck Page – Right Place To Start
There have been more than one group known as the Riders Of The Purple Sage (not counting country-rock’s New Riders Of The Purple Sage). In 1936, Buck Page was a founding member of…
Leslie West – Blues to Die For
Mountain had just one real hit – the two-and-a-half-minute blast of “Mississippi Queen” can still be heard on classic rock radio. And while it has a 12-bar structure, it isn’t a blues song.…
Jamey Johnson
Like earlier country outlaws, Jamey Johnson forges his own paths while never forgetting his forebears. One is singer-composer Hank Cochran, who died in 2010. A giant among Nashville writers, Cochran wrote many tunes…
Andy Brown
Chicago-based Andy Brown is 40 years old – meaning that some of the songs here were popular decades before he was born, as well as illustrating his maturity, along with the fact that…
Squirrel Nut Zippers
Beasts of Burgundy
Rare it is when a band forms, blows the doors off with their music, falls apart, regroups – and hits new highs. In fact, this first new album from the Squirrel Nut Zippers…
Brian Setzer
Sparking Another Rockabilly Riot
Three decades, umpteen records, and several stellar bands into his career, and Brian Setzer still makes rockabilly sound fresh and exciting. This album has much of the verve of his debut, 1981’s Stray…
Groovy Eyes – High Flyin’ But No Foolin’
High Flyin' But No Foolin'
What the hell’s going on in Finland? It seems like every act I hear from there is amazing, regardless of genre – from the instrumental surf of Laika & The Cosmonauts to the…
Carrie Elkin
Red House Records
How many versions of the song “If That Mocking Bird Don’t Sing” have you heard? I’ve listened to more than I can count on all my digits. So when I heard Carrie Elkin…
Vandenberg’s Moonkings
He’s had a decade away from the spotlight, but former Whitesnake guitarist Adrian Vandenberg has returned with Vandenberg’s MoonKings. After a false start with the ill-fated Manic Eden starring Rudy Sarzo and Tommy…
Neil Young
Hitchhiker
Neil Young fanatics known to obsess over a not-so-secret history of unreleased albums were agog at the announcement the mercurial Canadian would finally offer one of these scuttled LPs as an official release.…
San Francisco String Trio
May I Introduce to You
As the title may tell, here’s yet another collection of Beatles tunes – this one entirely from Sgt. Pepper – done mostly in the form of jazz instrumentals. The trio is Mimi Fox…
John Monteleone
The Chisels Are Calling
Captured in this documentary, John Monteleone’s hand-crafted fretted instruments draw inspiration from the past. His chief inspirations are legendary guitar craftsmen John D’Angelico and Jimmy D’Aquisto, and he incorporates untraditional design ideas such…
The Aristocrats
The rock-fusion trio known as the Aristocrats are back with a second album fortified with artistic maturity from gigging around the world. With a stronger, more-cohesive musical vision, bassist Bryan Beller, drummer Marco…
David Lindley w/Wally Ingram – Live In Europe
The logical followup to the Lindley/Ingram Twango Bango studio CDs, this live counterpart features even better sound quality – with more definition, hotter drums, and fuller bass without sounding muddy. As for the…
Damon Fowler
Blind Pig
Damon Fowler has a smokyMemphis-like style of soul and blues at its peak on his third album. The combination infuses his originals (“After The Rain”) with a Southern rock feel that recalls Lynyrd…
David Gilmour
Interlude
This is David Gilmour’s fourth solo album – although some argue that the last three Pink Floyd albums (recorded without Roger Waters) were ostensibly Gilmour solo sets. Floyd or not, this record captures…
Phil Keaggy – Zion
Zion
Phil Keaggy doesn’t always get his due. Those of you familiar with his work know what I mean. He’s a marvelous singer and guitarist who’s been around awhile, but because he records mostly…
Dale Watson and his Lonestars
On Sundays, when he’s not on the road, Dale Watson and his band play the Texas Big T Roadhouse and host their Chicken S#!t Bingo game. This record captures the fun. It showcases…
Geoff Muldaur – Password
Geoff Muldaur has had a long, and at times, rocky career. He began as a principal member of the influential Jim Kweskin jug band and was instrumental in creating a funky ensemble sound…
Pete Levin
As with his last record, keyboard whiz Levin concentrates on the organ and invites outstanding guitarists to join him. Among those taking part here are John Cariddi, Mike DeMicco, Jesse Gress, and the…
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…
