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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
Jimi Hendrix Experience
Hollywood Bowl: August 18, 1967
Imagine a Jimi Hendrix Experience concert where the audience actually disliked the band. That’s the scenario here, a secretly recorded gig opening for The Mamas & the Papas, a week before the U.S.…
Jonny Lang
Jonny Lang’s career has taken a turn that should befuddle the folks who saw him as a pretender to the Blues King throne. He started young, playing biting lead guitar and spitting gravelly…
Gretchen Menn
Magnum Opus
Gretchen Menn stands alone. One might argue that she’s the female counterpart to Steve Morse. Both are aviators, both play ungodly guitar, and both are ersed in the European traditions of the Classical…
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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,
John Pizzarelli
His 1998 mash-up album John Pizzarelli Meets The Beatles staked his claim as a hardcore fan, and he was subsequently invited to play on Paul McCartney’s 2012 pop standards album Kisses On The…
David Clayton and Todd K. Smith – Free: Heavy Load
Free: Heavy Load
This epic chronicles the story of the seminal British blues/rock band Free. Leaving no stone unturned, and with the help of more than 400 photos, authors David Clayton and Todd K. Smith have…
Big Time Sarah – A Million Of You
A 70-something sassy songstress, Big Time Sarah has been on the Chicago blues scene for over 25 years, and it’s obvious she can belt with the best of them. Of perhaps greater interest…
Billy Strings
Live, Volume 1
Billy Strings has travelled far from his days as bluegrass flatpicking prodigy, though that style remains a linchpin of his sound as he’s kept moving, developing greater depth and range. Strings’ ability to…
Antiseen
Antiseen celebrates 30 years of raw, southern punk-and-roll with their latest CD. It’s an impressive milestone for any band, much less a rag-tag group of fringe-dwellers. Is that part of the reason New…
Led Zeppelin
Zep Deluxe
Jimmy Page has been actively promoting these fresh reissues of the Led Zeppelin catalog and, in fact, they are rather impressive. There are CD and vinyl versions, each with a remastered original album…
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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
Circle Jerks
Wild In The Streets 40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition
Early L.A. punk was a many-headed monster, birthing everything from the glammy Runaways to the more prototypical Germs, as well as rootsy outfits like X and the Blasters. Even the Go-Go’s broke in…
Robert Randolph & the Family Band
The latest album by sacred steel giant Randolph and his band is a non-stop, foot-stomping mix of R&B, soul, rock and roll, and gospel that is as invigorating as it is smart. Randolph’s…
Bill Kirchen – King of Dieselbilly
Bill Kirchen – King of Dieselbilly You can smell the diesel as soon as the music starts pouring out of the speakers! Kirchen is a master guitarist who spent time with Commander Cody,…
Seks Bomba – Somewhere In This Town
This is one of the most fun, most clever, and downright best CDs I’ve heard in a long time. I can’t even begin to describe what this Boston band does. Let’s say you…
Monte Montgomery
That guitar players will ever stop reinterpreting Jimi Hendrix’ “Little Wing” is neither likely nor necessary. The song is so rich and inviting, so mesmerizing to play, its beautiful chord structure and melody…
James McMurtry – Childish Things
James McMurtry – Childish Things McMurtry’s Too Long In the Wasteland, from 1989, was an auspicious debut in more ways than one. Among its 11 original tracks were a few that instantly sounded…
Tonechaser – Understanding Edward: My 26-Year Journey with Edward Van Halen
Steve Rosen
Imagine having Edward Van Halen at your house, playing new Van Halen songs or listening to no-vocals cassettes of in-progress albums in EVH’s cigarette-smoke-filled car. How about jamming with the guitar icon? It…
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…
Abby and Norm Group – Volume 1: The Book of Norman
This band is led by Norman Zocher and Abby Aronson, both professors at the Berklee College of Music. The style is jazz, and it’s a fine mix of different modern styles. Abby is…
M. Taylor, M. Simpson, M. Carthy, J. Martin – The Valley & Martins 4
M. Taylor, M. Simpson, M. Carthy, J. Martin – The Valley & Martins 4 The London Times called Martin Taylor “the finest British guitarist of his generation” – which is, if anything, an…
Lionize
Maryland’s Lionize has concocted an appealing blend of Deep Purple-style heavy rock, reggae, and sci-fi imagery. With a musical vision that began on 2005’s Danger My Dear and reaching a creative peak on…
Dale Watson
Dale Watson is a country-music traditionalist, and while he mines familiar veins on Carryin’ On, he also throws in a dash of the pop/country style that dominated both charts in the late ’60s…
Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet & Mike Neer
Savvy Show Stoppers Dim The Lights, Chill The Ham Sport Fishin’: The Lure Of The Bait, The Luck Of The Hook Steelonious
Hayes Carll
You Get It All
Cory Wong
Striped
Mitch Seidman, Jamie MacDonald, Claire Arenius
Kyran Music
The set, recorded live at the Open Music Collective, in Vermont, perfectly captures the workings of this trio and the inherent quirkiness in the playing of Mitch Seidman, who surprises on pretty much…
Cow Bop
Picture yourself in a smoky cowboy-jazz joint around 1952, and you’ll get the picture on where Cow Bop is coming from. The combo’s music is tantalizing postwar bop, but with ample heaps of…
Peter Case – Who’s Gonna Go Your Crooked Mile? Selected Tracks
Peter Case is one of those “folky” types who deserve more than a trite description. Yes, he plays acoustic guitar, occasional harmonica, and writes great songs. But he shows a background that encompasses…
Wes Montgomery – Live in ’65
Jazz guitar was forever split into two schools early in its development, each defined by a stylistic genius – the bop-anticipating, electric lines of Charlie Christian and the acoustic swing of Gypsy Django…
Kentucky Thunder
Self-distributed
First, this Kentucky Thunder has nothing to do with Rickey Skaggs’ band. And instead of bluegrass, they serve up hot-buttered white Southern soul, a la Delaney and Bonnie. Since the band has four…
Living Colour
Black-Rock Renaissance
Beating the odds with the Grammy-approved album Vivid in 1988, Living Colour ascended victoriously amidst a heaping handful of black rock bands sent packing by record companies for not playing blues, dance music,…
Mark Knopfler
The Studio Albums, 2009-2018
It’s not a sin to prefer Mark Knopfler’s solo albums to his mega-band, Dire Straits. While the latter grew into a stadium-filling phenomenon, Knopfler’s solo records are more-intimate affairs, blending Celtic folk,…
Dan Summer & Kathryn Hobgood Ray l
Snoozer Quinn: Fingerstyle Jazz Guitar Pioneer
Legend has it that Ed “Snoozer” Quinn could shake your hand while playing guitar – and never miss a beat. A pioneering fingerstyle-jazz picker, he was famous in the late 1920s and ’30s,…
Joe Goldmark
Blue Steel
Along with his work with Jim Campilongo and others, San Francisco-based pedal steel guitarist Joe Goldmark has produced eight solo CDs (and three earlier vinyl albums) covering broad swaths of popular music, among…
Albert Ray
The Drifter Comes Back To Town
