• Smith/Kotzen

    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

    Read more >>

Val Bonetti

Baraban Records

A first listen to guitarist Val Bonetti’s Wait makes one respect his playing. Subsequent listens make you appreciate his music, too. This is simply Bonetti and his acoustic, focusing on jazz but employing…

Larry Carlton – Live in Tokyo

Larry Carlton and Robben Ford share a special relationship. Carlton helped the young blues-slinger learn some of his licks and techniques when he got the gig backing Joni Mitchell. As he writes in…

Donald Fagen – Morph the Cat

Donald Fagen – Morph the Cat Of all the records associated with Steely Dan, Walter Becker, and Donald Fagen, this may be the best since “the comeback.” And that’s something coming from someone…

Gil Parris – Blue Thumb

Blue Thumb

I first ran across Gil Parris on his 1998 self-titled release. It was a doozy that showed off his considerable guitar skills covering the gamut of jazz, blues, and country. This release does…

Kenny “Blue” Ray – Git It!

I’ve lost count! I believe this is Kenny’s sixth self-produced CD. And, as have its predecessors, Git It, his most recent effort, again illustrates Blue Ray’s dedication to the blues craft. Rumor has…

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…

The Terry Hanck Band

Many know saxophonist Terry Hanck from his years with Elvin Bishop. But those fortunate to live in the San Francisco area in the ’70s and ’80s also know Hanck as a great singer…

BR549 – This Is BR549

On their sixth disc, the boys in BR549 have a bit of a change cooked up for you. One, their name has dropped the dash. Two, they’ve switched labels to Sony’s new Lucky…

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…

Peter Tuffrey

British Guitarists 1952-1972: Electric Pioneers

Peter Tuffrey is an author of general-interest books (several about English trains) who is adroit at compiling information. This one keys on 40 British guitarists – from the obvious (Clapton, Beck, Page) to…

Andreas Oberg – My Favorite Guitars

If you were to judge this disc by its cover, you might think something was fishy; a handsome Swedish guy with a leather jacket and t-shirt, guitar thrown over his shoulder… Yeah, right!…

Various Artists

It’s not unusual to see compilations defined by region or style; this one focuses on players who share the same brand of guitar: Hallmark. The Hallmark company was launched in 1966 by Joe…

Pokey LaFarge

In The Blossom of Their Shade

The 2020 pandemic left an impact on Pokey LaFarge, who was about to tour behind his newly released Rock Bottom Rhapsody. During the ample downtime, he wrote an album’s worth of new tunes,…

Vance Gilbert – Up On Rockfield

Vance Gilbert is a true student of the art of songwriting, and his latest CD demonstrates his fervor for composing is as powerful as a Colorado thunderstorm. Although Up On Rockfield isn’t a…

Looking for the Magic: American Power Pop in the Seventies

Various artists

Power pop is a concoction of teen-themed vocals, a relentless beat, and wild, joyous guitars. With 74 tracks, this box has material from institutions like the Raspberries, Badfinger, the Knack, and the Cars…

Larry Carlton – Live in Tokyo

Larry Carlton and Robben Ford share a special relationship. Carlton helped the young blues-slinger learn some of his licks and techniques when he got the gig backing Joni Mitchell. As he writes in…

Dave Van Ronk and Oscar Isaac, Bob Dylan, Punch Brothers, and others

The 2013 Coen Brothers film, Inside Llewyn Davis, chronicled a week in the life of a Greenwich Village folksinger during 1961, a character loosely based on the late Dave Van Ronk. T-Bone Burnett…

Oz Noy – Fuzzy

Oz Noy’s brand of fusion rests in unique bends, sounds, and flurries. His leanings are definitely jazz, but there are plenty of rock influences in the Israeli-born guitarist’s music. Noy’s quirkiness shows up…

Bill Dixon – Guitar Collecting: How I Built a $65,000 Collection

Morris Publishing 2003

Bill Dixon has done what many of us have done. He bought, traded, and sold guitars. And he has done well. He made a profit that he plowed back into his collection. He…

Various Artists

Homegrown Heroes

Subtitled “1950s & 1960s Oddball Labels,” these three boxed sets collect nuggets from dozens of independent record labels that popped up across post-Elvis America then faded away as the British Invasion and the…

Dr. Harmonica and Rocket 88 – Swingin’ Easy Live

Yow! Dr. Harmonica (Mark Kenneally) and the boys swing, jump, shuffle, and do everything in between on this wonderful live effort. You’ll know some of the tunes – there are nice remakes of…

Kid Bangham and Amyl Justin – Pressure Cooker

Here’s a very cool guitar-based blues record that gets ya jumpin’ from the first cut, the straight-ahead blues/rock of “Close to the Danger Zone.” Bangham is a versatile and interesting guitarist who has…

Trigger Hippy

While the debut of Trigger Hippy features some musicians with familiar names, it’s not a “super group” in any sense of the word. That’s meant as a compliment, because the 11 songs here…

Hound Dog Taylor, Son Seals, and Others

“I’m A Woman” sings Koko Taylor in her face-smacking distaff take on Bo Diddley’s “I’m A Man” to open this collection of Alligator’s best, past and present. Telecaster god Albert Collins follows with…

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…

Claudia Thompson with Barney Kessel

Goodbye To Love

In 1956, Julie London’s “Cry Me A River” was the unlikeliest of hits, yet her breathy reading of a minor-key ballad, written by a schoolmate, reached the Top 10. With austere backing of…

Black Sabbath

Vol. 4 Super Deluxe

Sabbaholic Must-Have In May of 1972, Black Sabbath retreated to Los Angeles to record its fourth album, along with a mountain of cocaine. The result was Vol. 4, perhaps the first stoner-metal album…

  • Yes

    Yes

    Close to the Edge: Super Deluxe Edition

Alex Hall

Six Strings

A Georgia native, Hall is an emerging Nashville singer/hot lick specialist in the vein of Brad Paisley, Vince Gill, and Keith Urban. He picks a Tele and his loose, supple tenor voice is…

Blackie and the Rodeo Kings

Eighteen years of embroidered cowboy suits, stellar alt-country songcraft, and stylish guitar work has made legends of Blackie and the Rodeo Kings. Now they’re back with their eighth album, the rich and rewarding…

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

Reprise

Even though it culled three decades’ worth of performances, maybe assembling last year’s four-disc Live Anthology reignited the mojo for Petty and company – with covers of Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, and Booker…