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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
Duke Robillard Band
They Called it Rhythm & Blues
Robillard, his guitar, and band preside over a celebration of classic R&B and blues made up of 18 familiar and obscure numbers aided by heavy-hitting guests. Instrumentally, he remains a model of brevity…
Carl Verheyen – Slingshot
I admit that although I’ve seen Carl’s name a lot, I’ve never become familiar with his playing. But after hearing this great CD, that’ll change. He’s a fabulous player whose style falls somewhere…
Mick Mars
The Other Side Of Mars
On his first solo album, former Mötley Crüe guitarist Mick Mars leaves his glam-metal discography in the rearview, instead going full beast mode with epic themes, dense production, and exceptional guitarmanship. Gothic soundscapes,…
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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,
Jethro Tull
Masterwork Revisited
Jethro Tull’s 1975 masterwork gets the deluxe box-set treatment with all the trimmings. Packaged in a hardbound book cover, the set includes remastered tracks (with that classic “green” Chrysalis label); a fresh live…
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…
Joe Satriani, Eric Johnson, Steve Vai
Bass Convergence
Recorded at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles on their 2024 U.S. tour, G3 Reunion Live reunites the virtuosos who started it all. Three sets plus the encore jam capture the energy and…
The Martian Denny Orchestra
Bob Irwin, founder-owner of New York-based Sundazed Music and a rock and jazz guitarist for decades, has a guitar-centric mind. Part of the instrumental band the Pluto Walkers, Irwin, who now lives near…
Summer of Soul
Various artists
Buried for 50 years, the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival is now recognized as an historic concert series, thanks to the recent film, which won the Grammy for Best Music Film and Oscar for…
Shelby Lynne
Everso Records
Revelation Road comes from an artist who knows exactly what she wants and how to get it, and can come up with an end product that displays brilliantly the worth of the work…
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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
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) –…
Various Artists – All My Loving
“All My Loving” was a 1967 TV special on the BBC that scared some people – and it’s easy to see why. For older folks tuned in, video of musical acts and other…
Los Lobos
Never Left, But Back
Los Lobos have never put out a bad album; in fact, their artistic track record, spread over 20 albums and 37 years, is something major bands like the Stones and Van Halen wish…
Ike Turner & His Kings of Rhythm – Ike’s Instrumentals
Ike's Instrumentals
If it’s true that one’s personality is revealed through one’s music, then Ike Turner is probably every bit the lowdown, badass motor-scooter his reputation implies. And on this collection of rockin’ blues instrumentals…
Brian Ray – Mondo Magneto
Brian Ray – Mondo Magneto Brian Ray may not exactly be a household name, but the guy is no stranger to the music field. He’s spent the past few years in the band…
Steve Lowenthal and James Cullingham
John Fahey’s Blues
John Fahey is to the solo acoustic guitar what Jimi Hendrix was to the electric. Endlessly inventive, pioneering, and genre-defining, he was the player whom all subsequent guitarists had to listen to. Many…
Charles Lloyd and the Marvels
It doesn’t take a genius to realize that adding Bill Frisell to a project will yield great results. But teaming him with jazz saxophonist Charles Lloyd was a master stroke, in large part…
Doc Watson
Doc In NYC
Doc Watson appeared twice at Manhattan’s Bottom Line in 2002, in March and August. With him were guitarists Jack Lawrence, who replaced Watson’s son Merle when he retired from the road in 1983…
Cousin Harley
Blue Smoke: The Music Of Merle Travis
Canadian guitarslinger Paul Pigat has recorded under his own name (Boxcar Campfire) and with his wild, infectious rockabilly trio, Cousin Harley. The latter’s tribute to Merle Travis may be the group’s best effort…
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…
Eric Clapton
Not Done Yet
This new DVD featuring the highlights of Clapton’s tour through the Mid and Far East in ’14 offers some great music. But more importantly, it gives a glimpse into facets of the…
Ben Woolman
Self-distributed
Ben Woolman follows in the footsteps of great acoustic guitarists who need no accompaniment. He supplies clear, concise bass notes mixed with lovely melodies and chord changes to form songs that sound like…
The Who – BBC Sessions
Let’s face it; The Who deserves to be mentioned in the same breath with the Beatles and the Stones. Yes, you’ll like one more than the other, but Pete Townshend and company were…
Acoustic Alchemy
Heads Up
The knock against Acoustic Alchemy has always been that it’s background music, but the band has always created music that’s atmospheric in the best sense of the word. Granted, it’s not for guitarists…
Charlie Daniels Band
Before he became a leader of the Southern Rock movement, Charlie Daniels was part of a new breed of Nashville studio musicians who came to prominence in the late ’60s. In that role,…
Mick Ronson – Play Don’t Worry
I confess! When I was 15 years old, David Bowie and the Spiders From Mars seemed a little odd to me. When I got a little older, I realized what great rock and…
Ben Fong-Torres
That Lowell George could play the guitar has never been in dispute. But most of the rest of the story of Little Feat is. To start with, no one can quite agree on…
Tony Joe White
Smoke from the Chimney
When Tony Joe White died in 2018 at age 75, just after the release of Bad Mouthin’, that raw collection of originals and blues covers seemed an appropriate epitaph for the Louisiana singer/songwriter/guitarist.…
Peter Guralnick
Rocking The World
Sam Phillips was not a guitarist – though he did play drums and sousaphone in his high-school marching band. But he had great ears. And, in launching his Memphis Recording Service and later,…
Chuck Mead – Journeyman’s Wager
The BR549 co-founder’s new disc is loaded with great stuff, including his guitar work. In the band, Mead split lead duties with Chris Scruggs and Gary Bennett, but was more than capable of…
Led Zeppelin: Goin’ To California
How the West Was Won
The members of Led Zeppelin were of course British, but loved American culture and had a special relationship with southern California – both for epic gigs at the L.A. Forum and Long Beach…
