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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
Joe Louis Walker
Joe Louis Walker’s latest covers a lot of ground and proves once again that he can’t be pigeonholed like some of the straight blues players of his generation. The title cut kicks things…
Skip James, Bukka White, R.L. Burnside, and Others
Worried Blues
The famed Fat Possum label strikes again! This series of separate CDs/LPs reissues 10 out-of-print albums and long-forgotten sessions of classic blues from 1963 through ’72, each offered under the title Worried Blues.…
The Replacements – Tim, Pleased To Meet Me, Don’t Tell A Soul, All Shook Down
The final four Replacements LPs are back in deluxe style, thanks to Rhino. Accompanying the label’s re-release of the band’s first four albums and EPs earlier this year, the band has finally been…
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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,
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…
Barry Waldrep & Friends
Celebrate Tony Rice
Tony Rice’s death on Christmas 2020, following years of ill health, was certain to inspire tribute efforts. Guitarist-banjoist Barry Waldrep, producer of nearly two dozen bluegrass homages to artists ranging from Phish to…
Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
Shout Factory
Jon Spencer formed his Blues Explosion ensemble in New York City in 1991. The band was instantly hated and beloved; purists saw them as treading on age-old blues traditions with no respect. Others…
Lloyd Jones – Trouble Monkey
The first lesson to learn from this CD is that looks can be deceiving. Jones' picture on the cover looks like the guy next door, with a Strat across his shoulder. But the…
Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters
On this latest album, Ronnie Earl and his band freely and unabashedly mourn and honor the late David Maxwell, the Broadcasters pianist who died in 2015 at age 71. While Earl and his…
Elvis Presley
Guitar Royalty
Should you ever forget why the King is the King, this ultimate boxed set of Elvis’ 57 albums and soundtracks, plus three CDs of rarities and outtakes, will set you straight all over…
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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
Derek Trucks Band – Already Free
Derek Trucks is one of the top guitarists of his generation. He has helped write a new chapter in the history of the Allman Brothers Band, was an integral part of Eric Clapton’s…
Mark Knopfler
When it comes to inspired songwriting and guitar playing, Mark Knopfler’s not in dire straights. On his new solo album, he had so much material, he chose not to leave good songs on…
Chris Robinson Brotherhood
If you’ve lost touch with Chris Robinson since the Black Crowes’ slow down, his latest effort with the CRB is an opportune time to catch up on what’s become a most satisfying second…
Julian Lage
EmArcy
After appearing on record with David Grisman and Martin Taylor and having a documentary short about yourself nominated for an Oscar, all before turning 13, what do you do for a second act?…
Rick Holmstrom – Hydraulic Groove
I really like it when artists take left turns. You know, shake things up a little bit. Well, Rick Holmstrom takes a sharp left here. You might know him as a groove-oriented, traditional…
Kenny Neal – Let Life Flow
Kenny Neal’s new release is full of blues and soul music of the highest standard. In fact, “Fly Away” alone is worth the price of admission, with its soaring soul tune with beautiful…
Sugarcane Jane
There are enough examples of married-couple acts imploding or having one spouse drag the other down that there probably ought to be a warning sign, if not a law. But the debut duo…
B.B. King: From Indianola to Icon
Charles Sawyer
Author/photographer Charles Sawyer’s association with B.B. King began in 1968 and led to his authorized 1980 biography The Arrival of B.B. King. This coffee-table production is no sequel, but a lavishly illustrated memoir…
Jay McShann – Goin’ to Kansas City
The story of Jay “Hootie” McShann is legend. Born in 1916, he got his start as a youth tickling the ivories in the infamous wide-open Kansas City barrooms and ballrooms. His Jay McShann…
Billy Gibbons and the BFG’s
No ZZ, Still Tops
A “solo debut” by Rev. Billy F. Gibbons, at age 65, is a bit like Satchel Paige being a 42-year-old “rookie” in major league baseball after two decades as the Negro Leagues’ greatest…
Nick Lowe – Dig My Mood
It’s extremely tempting to start this review with something like…”I knew Nick Lowe when he used to rock and roll…,” but I won’t because it might make you think I don’t like this…
Bleeding Hearts
Riches To Rags
In the pantheon of ’80s indie-rock guitar heroes, Bob Stinson has been largely forgotten, except among fans of The Replacements, the band he cofounded in 1978. It hasn’t helped that Stinson was booted…
Pink Floyd
Animals 2018 Remix
Johnny Cash
Bear’s Sonic Journals: At the Carousel Ballroom, April 24, 1968
Paul Curreri – Are You Going to Paul Curreri
Those familiar with Curreri might be surprised to hear this live trio effort, where he plays his Fender Tele through the entire set! That’s certainly not a bad thing, as his style translates…
Lawson Rollins – Infinita
Fusions of classical and flamenco guitar with rock and jazz have yielded interesting permutations for years – from Strunz & Farah to Ottmar Liebert to Rodrigo y Gabriela. Lawson Rollins’ first solo effort,…
Electric Willie
Yellowbird
Avant-garde guitarists Elliott Sharp, Henry Kaiser, and Glenn Phillips share a love for the blues, so when a threeway collaboration was suggested, it morphed into a tribute to Willie Dixon. To differentiate it…
Side Hustle
Thom Rotella
Rotella’s long-established fretboard brilliance has put him in some heady music, film, and TV sessions over the decades (including frequent contributions to “Family Guy”). A protégé of revered L.A. “Wrecking Crew” guitar giant…
Sauce Boss – Sky Blues
Sky Blues
Bill Wharton, for those of you not familiar, is the Sauce Boss. He is the Sauce Boss because he cooks for his audience. Not just on guitar… he literally cooks. He prepares food…
Canned Heat – Live at Montreux
The story of Canned Heat has more twists and turns than Spinal Tap’s evolution from the Thamesmen to Spinal Tap, Mark II. Which is why some of the dramatic, lofty claims in the…
Paul Brown
A lot of people paint the smooth jazz world with a broad brush that sometimes ignores the players who play with soul, intensity, and smartness. Paul Brown would be one such player. While…
Mathew Ryan – Concussion
I’m a big fan of un-slick, direct acoustic music. Mathew Ryan’s Concussion is just that – country music in the mold of Steve Earle, not Garth Brooks. Ryan’s music has the grit of…
Brian Setzer – ’68 Comeback Special – Ignition
Okay, I confess. Somehow this one slid in under the radar. Released in late summer, it features Setzer back in a trio setting, basically just cutting loose, guitar-wise and vocally. And let’s face…
