-
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
Marty Robbins – The Essential Mary Robbins
With a repertoire so extensive and wide-ranging, it would be impossible to track down, let alone list, all the session players backing this country icon on this two-disc retrospective. The Mottola/Caiola crew played…
Erin Harpe and the Delta Swingers
Some retro acts are more concerned with image and outfits than music. This record is a bit theatrical but with enough substance to give it staying power. A charming, versatile singer, Erin Harpe’s…
Leslie West – Big Fat Assed Guitar
Leslie West has been sort of a one-trick pony in his 30-plus years as a rocker. But when that trick is one of the smoothest, most fluid and violin-like vibratos around, when its…
-
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,
-
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
-
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,
Robert Plant and the Strange Sensation – Soundstage
Robert Plant and his band, The Strange Sensation, play 11 songs; covers, old Zep songs, and newer Plant tunes. The band is the perfect complement, anchored by guitarists Liam “Skin” Tyson and the…
Muddy Waters and The Rolling Stones
Reissues and new arrivals
The cup runneth over with Rolling Stones live discs, a heady mix of reissues and new arrivals. Ladies & Gentlemen… is the soundtrack to the concert film shot over four nights in the…
The Sadies – New Season
If you’re at all into guitar tones and cool songs, it’s hard not to love The Sadies, with brothers Dallas and Travis Good, whose feet are firmly in the country and country-rock of…
Charlie Byrd, Barney Kessel, Herb Ellis – Great Guitars Live
Great Guitars Live
Call it a gimmick if you will, but the Great Guitars super trio of Charlie Byrd, Barney Kessel, and Herb Ellis made some great music. The concept came by accident. Byrd’s own trio…
Frank Zappa – The Freak-Out List
Sexy Intellectual/MVD
Though unauthorized, this 90-minute DVD attempts to get inside Frank Zappa’s head by way of the influences he listed in the liner notes of the 1966 debut of his Mothers Of Invention, Freak…
Robert Plant
Rounder
Around the time Lorne Michaels offered the Beatles a whopping $3,000 to reunite on “Saturday Night Live” in 1976, there was a brilliant piece of satirical writing wherein the reunited Beatles signed with…
-
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,
-
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
-
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,
-
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
-
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,
-
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
The Mavericks
Since reforming five years ago, the Mavericks have released two studio albums and 2016’s All Night Live, Vol. 1. And again here, the core quartet of vocalist-guitarist Raul Malo, guitarist Eddie Perez, keyboard…
Kris Kristofferson
Nearly a half century ago, a longhaired former Army chopper pilot named Kris Kristofferson was Nashville’s hottest new songwriter. Today, after decades of success, the 80-year-old singer/songwriter and actor is a member of…
Various Artists – Concerts for a Landmine-Free World
Ever since the first Farm Aid concert, musical extravaganzas for worthy causes have become standard fare. Concerts for a Landmine-Free World is different from the usual star-studded gangbang because it features roots-oriented artists.…
Luther Allison – Where Have You Been?
The title of this disc echoes the question many blues fans ask when they first hear Luther Allison’s amazing Alligator releases, Soul Fixin’ Man and Blue Streak, and learn that he walked away…
Zac Harmon – From the Root
Northern Blues Music
When he’s got his groove going, Zac Harmon sings a little like Chuck Jackson and his guitar technique is straight from the Albert King College Of Musical Knowledge; “Keep The Blues Alive” is…
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…
The Band
50th Anniversary
Released in 1971, Cahoots wasn’t a major hit, but it reaffirmed The Band’s songwriting prowess and gifted vocalists, Levon Helm, Rick Danko, and Richard Manuel. Fifty years later, guitarist Robbie Robertson asked legendary…
James Brown – I Got the Feellin’
While a generation may remember James Brown as a soul star who fell on hard times, or as a man whose death has led to a tabloid-ready story of a fight for his…
Dino Saluzzi – Responsorium
Responsorium
Argentine Dino Saluzzi is at the forefront of a new generation of bandonéonistas arriving on the scene since the overpowering force of Astor Piazzolla. Yet while many have remain trapped in the strands…
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
When the Kids In The Hall, an irreverent sketch comedy troupe from Toronto, got their own TV show in ’89, they chose “Having An Average Day,” an instrumental by a local trio, Shadowy…
Dave Hole – Outside Looking In
Dave Hole’s new album is a firebreathing slide extravaganza. Armed with a ’72 Gibson ES-345, Hole returns to his fat, bluesy guitar tone. Backed by bass, keyboards and drums, Hole sings lead on…
The Yardbirds – Ultimate
The Yardbirds: Ultimate
Two fallacies that invariably arise in discussions of the Yardbirds: 1) declaring them the fathers of psychedelic music and/or heavy metal; 2) focusing on their colossal lead guitar lineage at the expense of…
Steve Herberman Trio – Ideals
Reach Music
Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie
Lindsey Buckingham/Christine McVie
When Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks joined Fleetwood Mac, the group not only had three lead singers in its arsenal (with Christine McVie already onboard), it had three distinctive songwriters. But there was…
Russell Malone – Heartstrings
Heartstrings
It’s the age-old question, does the use of strings somehow cheapen the music? Wes Montgomery is still to this day vilified for using strings. Wrongly, I might add. George Benson takes grief. Even…
Nobuki Takamen
Summit Records
Takamen has become a mainstay in New York’s jazz clubs, and this record shows him to be a mature player with a keen sense of composition, considerable technical skill, and a supportive band…
Joanne Shaw Taylor
Nobody’s Fool
Combining her love of blues and accessible pop, Nobody’s Fool finds Joanne Shaw Taylor leaning into songcraft and transforming life lessons into fine music. Co-produced by Joe Bonamassa and Josh Smith, Taylor’s eighth…
Tedeschi Trucks Band
You might get the idea that the band led by husband-and-wife team Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi are feeling a bit laidback on their latest effort. But listen again, and you’ll get a…
Scorpions
Rock Believer
The 19th studio album by Germany’s metal titans reveals a re-energized band recording live in one room, like they did in the ’80s, and with no outside songwriters. Guitarists Rudolf Schenker and Matthias…
Bob Dylan
Shadows In The Night, Dylan’s 2015 nod to Frank Sinatra, surprised those unaware of his love for the Great American Songbook. Using Sinatra’s original arrangements as a guide, he drew heavily from the…
John McLaughlin
Live At Ronnie Scott’s
John McLaughlin is one of those guitarists whose career converges with great milestones in jazz and rock. Yes, he has stories; given his collaborations with artists like Jimi Hendrix, Jaco Pastorius, Carlos Santana,…
Redd Volkaert – No Stranger to a Tele
Anybody who’s paid any attention to guitarists in the past decade or so won’t be too surprised when I say what a nice album this is. Redd, as many of you probably already…
