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Music
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,
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…
John 5 – The Devil Knows My Name
The third solo album from the guy with the Tele, platinum hair, and heavy makeup, best known for his work with Marilyn Manson, David Lee Roth, Rob Halford, and Rob Zombie. Several of…
Ace Frehley
Ace is back – and he told you so! The former Kiss guitarist shares a buffet of the gems that influenced him – Hendrix, Clapton, Page, and the Rolling Stones, to name a…
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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
Florence Joelle
Zoltan Records
Florence Joelle sings rock and roll like Billie Holiday might, croons a torch ballad as Wanda Jackson may, and spices it all with a bit of Patti Smith attitude. Add to that Joelle’s…
Mike Bloomfield – I’m Cuttin’ Out
When the late Mike Bloomfield burst onto the guitar scene in 1965 – on the Paul Butterfield Blues Band’s self-titled debut and Highway 61 Revisited by Bob Dylan – it was like nothing…
Allison Moorer
Ryko
Allison Moorer couples a pitch-perfect voice with an edge you rarely find in commercial country music. Her first recordings displayed a rustic rock-and-roll leaning you’d expect from someone with her looks and vocal…
Hans Theessink & Terry Evans with Ry Cooder
Despite the title’s implication of down-and-dirty blues, this is closer to what we think of as folk music. Of course, the blues is exactly that, but Theessink and Evans’ blues is more the…
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…
Matt Rae – Twang!
Twang!
I’ve never been a Tele guy. I just have never found one I loved to play. However, every now and then a record comes along by a guy who just scorches the earth…
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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
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Paul Johnson
The Hepcats Live at the Ajax Novelty Company
This isn’t live, there may not be an Ajax Novelty Company, and the three felines known as the Hepcats are actually the brainchild of Paul Johnson, whose Belairs were early-’60s pioneers of surf music. Suspend reality and dig how the “trio” expertly articulates layers of acoustic guitar. Across decades, Johnson has embraced folk-rock, psychedelia, and
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Yes
Close to the Edge: Super Deluxe Edition
Are you a high-fidelity audio geek? If the answer is, well, yes, this Rhino release brings together an HD experience of Close to the Edge in no fewer than four versions, plus rarities and a ’72 concert. For starters, the 2025 remaster sounds as close to the analog 1972 mix as you’re going to get
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Pink Floyd
Have You Got It Yet? – The Story of Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd
It’s understandable that fans warily approach the flood of pseudo-documentaries and biopics. Add the fact that the late Syd Barrett, Floyd’s original guitarist/leader, suffered from mental illness, and exploitation alarms are sure to go off. But this documentary handles the subject with dignity instead of sensationalism. Interviews by longtime Floyd cover artist Storm Thorgerson with
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The Wildhearts
In the raging ’90s, The Wildhearts blasted out of Newcastle upon Tyne like some unholy melding of Guns ’N Roses, Cheap Trick, and The Replacements. Hard rock, power pop, and punk still make up their secret sauce, heard on this latest effort with original singer/guitarist Ginger Wildheart. Ben Marsden plays lead, while Kavus Torabi adds
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…
Rodney Crowell, Richard Bennett, Wes Langlois, Chris Scruggs, and others
Seeing The Light
I Saw The Light, the recently released Hank Williams Sr. biopic, stars Tom Hiddleston as the iconic, troubled country singer and songwriter who left an indelible impact on American music before dying in…
Whiskey Shivers
Some Part Of Something
Whiskey Shivers’ instrumentation, the basic construction of their songs, and lightning fast picking mean you could call this a bluegrass band. But the ensemble takes things one step beyond. “Like A Stone” ruminates…
Coco Montoya
Hard Truth
It’s been awhile since Coco Montoya’s last studio effort, but he comes out firing here. From the Albert King-style blast that kicks off the opener, “Before The Bullets Fly,” to the loud, raucous…
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…
Johnny Nicholas
Fresh Air
Central Texas folks might think of Johnny Nicholas as restaurateur; others know him as one of the most experienced, authentic, and versatile blues performers. Growing up in Connecticut, he migrated to Ann Arbor…
A Song For Everyone: The Story of Creedence Clearwater Revival
John Lingan
Hailing this 368-page book on the front dust-jacket flap as the “definitive biography” of CCR – but lacking author interviews with John Fogerty – immediately raises an eyebrow. Still, relying on past published…
The Band – The Last Waltz DVD and CD Boxed Set
If there were ever a group of musicians for whom the term “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts” fit like a glove, it was The Band. Perhaps even more…
The Hellenbacks
Vampires In The Desert
The Hellenbacks are defined by gritty guitars, huge sing-along choruses, and rock-and-roll swagger. Based in Las Vegas, their latest percolates with good ol’ American ’70s rock with a contemporary twist. Bassist Sean Koos,…
Barney Kessel with Shelly Manne & Ray Brown
The Poll Winners
Kessel, bassist Brown, and drummer Manne – pillars of West Coast jazz – had already topped reader polls in Playboy and two jazz publications before teaming for this 1957 collaboration. Using the rarely-employed…
The Clash – The Singles
Rarely in the history of music has so much been packaged so beautifully for so many. The Clash The Singles box is a glorious collection of the band’s original 19 singles, reissued on…
Franck L. Goldwasser
Who Needs This Mess?
After moving from his native France to Oakland in ’83, Franck Goldwasser haunted blues clubs, quickly earning the nickname “Paris Slim.” The list of blues luminaries and lesser-knowns he played with is too…
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…
Little Milton – Greatest Hits
I love Little Milton. I have since I first heard “Feel So Bad.” Any song that starts with the lines “Feel so bad..like a ball game on a rainy day” is alright with…
The Roger McGuinn – 12-String Guitar of Roger McGuinn
Who better to teach the Roger McGuinn style than the original Byrd himself? Using his signature Rickenbacker 360-12, McGuinn details the characteristic opening of “Mr. Tambourine Man,” highlighting the way he achieves ringing…
Black Sabbath
Slabs Of Molten Sab
September 18, 1970 is infamous as the day Jimi Hendrix died, but it’s also the day Black Sabbath released its sophomore album, Paranoid. That LP proved itself a molten masterpiece and, in some…
Peter Blake and Commentary Derek Taylor – 24 Nights
Perhaps you were let down by the high prices for the Eric Clapton guitars at the recent Christies auction. But don’t despair! You can still get a limited edition book, music, and memorabilia…
Peter Ostroushko
Red House Records
Peter Ostroushko channels a mixture of Stephen Foster, Carter Stanley, and Doc Boggs to create unique music that sounds much older than it is. Here, he further expands his library of heartbreakingly beautiful…
Susanna Hoffs
The Deep End
The Bangles vocalist/rhythm guitarist’s fifth solo album is a folk-enriched blend of covers by classic and contemporary artists, enlivened by Hoffs’ angelic voice. The Deep End, like 2021’s Bright Lights, features legendary session…
Jim Walsh and Dennis Pernu
Of all the cool ’80s alternative rock bands, the loveable ramshackle jag-offs in the Replacements were the least likely to give a toss about, oh, anything much at all. That attitude permeated everything…
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…
