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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
Albert King with Stevie Ray Vaughan
In Session (Deluxe Edition)
Talk about a summit – this session was a Luke Skywalker-meets-Yoda moment. The live album, originally released in 1999, is finally available in its entirety on LP, CD, and high-resolution digital formats. Backed…
Wes Montgomery
Concord Music Group
The re-release of this brilliant album shows the man many consider the finest guitarist to ever live guiding Mel Rhyne (on Hammond B-3) and Jimmy Cobb (drums) through a set of tunes that…
Hot Tuna
Live at Sweetwater / Live in Japan
Jorma Kaukonen, who started as an acoustic folk-blues guitarist, returned to that style in 1969 when he and bassist Jack Casady formed Hot Tuna. Recordings from their early gigs at Bay Area clubs…
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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,
Various Artists – A Tribute to Doug Sahm
Timely Tribute
When Doug Sahm died in November ’99, the music world (and especially Texas) didn’t just lose a great artist; it was as though it lost several. There was the country and Western swing…
Big Joe Williams
Southside Blues
Big Joe Williams’ headstone is undoubtedly the only one on the planet that reads “King Of The Nine-String Guitar.” Because it’s true – as is the rest of the epitaph: “Big Joe sustained…
Trikuti – Trikuti
Trikuti is a unique band that goes from jazz to metal and back, not in a song-to-song pattern, but in the space of a few bars. The opener here, “2012,” is a perfect…
Gov’t Mule
Heavy Load Blues
When a successful band of fine musicians is struck by the compulsion to revisit the muses of their youth by recording blues covers, it can go horribly wrong. Fortunately, Gov’t Mule’s first blues…
The Gourds – Noble Creatures
Austin’s Gourds are on a new label, but serving up the same quirky mix of country and folk. The band has always been oddly appealing as it uses guitars to drive its songs.…
Rod Piazza & The Mighty Flyers – Beyond The Source
There is no group more dedicated to the blues idiom then Rod Piazza and the Mighty Flyers. And they are a group. You can rest assured this it not some off-the-cuff aggregation. These…
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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
Steve Earle – Jerusalem
Here are a couple of records from one of America’s best songwriters. One is a batch of cuts made for movie soundtracks, or for some other reason didn’t fit on his albums. The…
Pet Sounds and the Birth of Psychedelic Sunshine
Vintage Guitar magazine Presents Greg Martin's Head Shop
This is the first in a regular series of exclusive Vintage Guitar online articles where The Kentucky Headhunters’ Greg Martin looks back on influential albums and other musical moments. Next to vintage guitars,…
Tracy G Group
Tramp
Ronnie James Dio unleashed a slew of championship guitarists, but one notable who flew under the radar was Tracy Grijalva. An underrated genius, he contributed to some of the darkest and most terrifying…
Otis Rush & Magic Sam – Classic Cobra 56-58 and Cobra and Chief 57-19
These two collections of early sides by the great guitarists Otis Rush and “Magic” Sam Maghett are pure fire-and-brimstone blues. They showcase the artists when they were young and had everything to prove.…
Robin Trower featuring Sari Schorr
Joyful Sky
Trower, a legendary guitarist who has occasionally sung lead on his own albums, has more-often worked with stellar vocalists to bring extra power to his combustible blues-rock. Collaborators have included the late, great…
Willie Nelson – Willie & The Wheel
Willie, The Wheel, and Wexler
Aside from Jerry Wexler’s standing as a titan of R&B, soul and rock, his musical range extended far beyond. A lifelong country fan, Wexler enjoyed Hank Williams and Bob Wills when they were…
Willie Nelson – The Complete Atlantic Sessions
It’s ironic that one of the terms coined to describe the music various singer/songwriters were making in Austin in the early 1970s was “progressive country” (others being “redneck rock” and the more marketable…
Leon Ware – Moon Ride
This album has an instant familiarity, and Leon Ware’s background makes it easy to see why – he has written and produced music for the likes of Quincy Jones, Maxwell, the Average White…
Deep Purple
=1
Fifty-seven years after its debut, Deep Purple keeps on rollin’. The hard-rock pioneers’ 23rd studio album, =1, is the first with new guitarist Simon McBride, who replaced Steve Morse. To hone their chops,…
Wes Montgomery
Play It Hot
The social climate transformed the music: being a jazz musician of color in the 1950s forced you to express music differently in those days. Life and music were tumultuously intertwined. A factory worker…
Lee Rocker – Black Cat Bone
On his second record for Alligator, former Stray Cats bassist Lee Rocker continues to show just how vital he was to that band’s sound, and that he can write and interpret songs as…
The Blasters – Testament: The Complete Slash Recordings
Testament: The Complete Slash Recordings
Man, this one brought back memories. I was a DJ when the first Blasters album was released in the early ’80s. At that time, I was allowed to pick “night” cuts – stuff…
Jay Jay French and Steve Farber
Twisted Business: Lessons from My Life in Rock ’N Roll
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…
The Allman Brothers Band
In the 40 years since Brothers and Sisters was released in 1973, we’ve lived roughly half our lives. And if you are a fan of classic rock, this album likely provided a soundtrack…
The Hold Steady
You’re hearing it here first: The Hold Steady returns with its sixth studio album, and while the focus is usually on frontman Craig Finn and his idiosyncratic lyrics, this is one of the…
Envy of None
Envy of None
Let’s start with the obvious: Alex Lifeson’s new project sounds little like Rush. Billed as “dark, cinematic alt rock,” Envy of None pulls from ’90s industrial and early-2000s synth rock with electro-drums, pulsating…
Dailey & Vincent
Dailey and Vincent’s powerful combination of effusive vocals and fiery instrumentals make this debut one of the most impressive bluegrass albums of ’07 – which was an exceptional year for the genre. Jamie…
Kirk Fletcher
Heartache by the Pound
Blues guitar master Kirk Fletcher returns with an album that mixes soul, R&B, blues, funk, and phenomenal guitar playing. Fletcher tricks the listener into thinking they’ll be hearing a pious ’60s soul record.…
Gov’t Mule
Heavy Load Blues
When a successful band of fine musicians is struck by the compulsion to revisit the muses of their youth by recording blues covers, it can go horribly wrong. Fortunately, Gov’t Mule’s first blues…
Robbie Robertson
429 Records
It’s been more than a decade since Robbie Robertson has issued a solo record, and closer to two since he offered a pop/rock disc. How to Become Clairvoyant is unique in the Robertson…
Steely Dan – Two Against Nature: Steeply Can’s Plush
Here’s a video that features a band recently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Steely Dan. Two Against Nature features the current touring band doing new and olk tunes in…
