• 2025 December Issue on Spotify

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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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Jimmy Page and Robert Plant – No Quarter: Unledded

No Quarter: Unledded

The 1980s were not kind to Jimmy Page’s reputation. The death of John Bonham, the dissolution of Led Zeppelin; Page’s efforts with the Firm; and his poor showings with the survivors of Zeppelin…

North Mississippi Allstars

Blues Dance Music

Luther and Cody Dickinson’s latest pushes the boundaries of northern Mississippi blues music by integrating programmed loops and electronic dance beats. The four-song EP injects tinges of soul, gospel, blues, and The Blind…

Jim Croce

You Don’t Mess Around with Jim 50th Anniversary

Jim Croce was a pop artist with laser-guided instincts for writing hits. In an impossibly short run of fame – barely two years – he wrote singles that remain staples of ’70s AM…

Check This Action: Discovering Son House, Again

In 1964, blues enthusiasts Nick Perls and Phil Spiro, along with freelance photographer/writer Dick Waterman, made a pilgrimage to track down Eddie “Son” House. Decades earlier, the blues singer and bottleneck guitarist had…

Tony Bennet – Cloud 7

Because of its warmth and range, jazz guitar (in the right hands) is perfectly suited to accompanying vocalists singing standards in intimate settings – sometimes requiring no other instruments at all. The best-known…

Alejandro Escovedo

Fantasy Records

If straight-ahead rock with hints of punk, new wave, and ’50s rock and roll is your deal, Escovedo offers it in spades. Street Songs of Love has plenty of chugging riff-driven rock and…

Stephane Wrembel

Django New Orleans

The concept is simple enough: a mashup of Django Reinhardt’s gypsy swing with the buoyant sounds of Louis Armstrong and New Orleans jazz. Could easily become marketing hokum, but in the trustworthy hands…

Darren Jay and the Delta Souls

Darren Jay may not be in Gregg Allman’s class as a singer, but he’s still effective. As a guitar player and arranger, though, he can stand with many, and he leads this big…

Bearfoot Bluegrass – Follow Me

Bluegrass bands are often male-only affairs. But the women in Bearfoot Bluegrass are in a majority position. Annalisa Tornfelt plays fiddle, sings lead, and is responsible for seven of the songs. Kate Hamre…

Lukas Nelson and Promise of the Real

Lukas Nelson and Promise of the Real

Lukas Nelson and his band have been around for several years, but they have really hit their stride with their latest release. Nelson is Willie’s son and played with dad plenty, but here…

Grateful Dead

The triple-LP Europe ’72 is a highlight in the Dead’s extensive live catalog, and 40 years later Rhino is presenting a companion set of unreleased material for those who just can’t get enough.…

Shawn Pittman – Full Circle

I enjoyed Shawn’s last record, with its killer mix of rock and roll and blues. This new release takes things a step further, and really satisfies. Shawn spent time playing with Buddy Guy…

George Van Eps and Marty Grosz Meets the Fat Babies

Great Acoustic Jazz

Marty Grosz is surely one of the last of a breed – a jazz guitarist who plays strictly rhythm and chord-style solos and strictly acoustic. He’s also a fine singer and scholar of…

Rick Holmstrom, John “Juke” Logan, Stephen Hodges

Mocombo

Three of L.A.’s most versatile, in-demand blues players, guitarist Holmstrom, drummer Hodges, and harpist Logan cut this live in one room with no outside players. There’s no bass, and Logan (an excellent keyboardist)…

Tom Principato – Not One Word

Not One Word

Tom’s put out some stuff on record before, and it’s been pretty good. This one’s a little bit different. As the title says, there’s not one word. It’s all instrumental, and Tom does…

Larkin Poe

Blood Harmony

The latest from the Nashville-based multi-instrumentalist Lovell sisters continues to fashion elements of Southern rock, blues, and wicked slide guitar into a creative juggernaut. Megan wields enviable feel and sensuous perfect pitch and…

Urge Overkill

Oui

Though Urge Overkill’s Saturation was one of the great major-label debuts of the ’90s, just as much ink was spilled on the group’s rock and roll lifestyle, matching velour jackets, and cover of…

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…

Trio Garcia

Translated, the title of this album reads “Swing From The Heart Of Paris.” But that only begins to sum up Rocky and Mundine Garcia and their musical home. The Garcias are stalwarts of…

Thin Lizzy

Vagabonds of the Western World 50th Anniversary

Long before “The Boys Are Back in Town,” Thin Lizzy was a pugnacious Dublin trio with bassist Phil Lynott and guitarist Eric Bell. Vagabonds was their third album and there’s nothing else like…

We’re an American Band: A Journey Through The USA Hard Rock Scene, 1967-1973

Various artists

Early hard-rock bands were often British (Led Zep, Sabbath, Purple), but this box set looks at the American acts morphing from psychedelia into something crunchier. The wildly influential Vanilla Fudge delivers “Ticket to…

Lonesome River Band

The Lonesome River Band has been around for 30 years. And while he wasn’t a founding member, banjo player Sammy Shelor is the de facto leader of the band by virtue of tenure.…

Low Rats

Year Of The Rat MMXX

From the Trashmen to the Replacements, Minneapolis has an improbable legacy of untethered garage-rock and punk. Add Low Rats to that lineage. On their debut LP, the quartet distills seedy psychobilly, Heartbreakers hooks,…

Elmore James – The Complete Fire and Enjoy, and Tribute

Elmore James made a career from one slide lick – but oh, what a lick! In his ruthless, overdriven slide work, James’ electrified blues evoke the spirit of Robert Johnson and send a…

Phil Keaggy – Zion

Phil Keaggy doesn’t always get his due. Those of you familiar with his work know what I mean. He’s a marvelous singer and guitarist who’s been around awhile, but because he records mostly…

Muddy Waters & Big Bill Morganfield – Rollin’ Stone: The Golden Anniversary Collection &

These two CDs mark two generations of bluesmen covering the roots and the future of the blues. McKinley Morganfield, better known by his grandmother’s nickname for him as Muddy Waters, is the father…

Michael Bloomfield – If You Love These Blues, Play ‘Em As You Please

I’ve had more than one conversation with a colleague when The Paul Butterfield Blues Band album came up, and we said in unison, “That album changed my life.” A big reason for the…

The Doors

L.A. Woman: 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition

After their 1967 self-titled debut, 1971’s L.A. Woman was the Doors’ finest, honored here on a three-CD/one-LP set. Despite the troubles affecting the band, this album magically came together. Longtime producer Paul A.…

Eric Bibb – Diamond Days

Bibb is a fine guitarist and singer, and here proves a very capable songwriter. It’s hard to pin him down – you could call him a folk singer, but his blues and pop…

The Brian Setzer Orchestra

      Brian Setzer has, more than once, found a musical niche that allows him to play great guitar, use his vocal talents to their fullest, and lets him make a good…