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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
Nils Lofgren
Wags might be forgiven for calling Nils Lofgren the Forrest Gump of rock. The dude’s not only played with everyone, it seems, but he’s been a key guitar (and accordion) foil for some…
Various artists
Abstract Logix
This double-disc contains some of the most challenging guitar music recorded in the past year. While the four featured guitarists – Alex Machacek, Wayne Krantz, Jimmy Herring, and John McLaughlin – all shine,…
Kansas – Two for the Show: 30th Anniversary Edition
Sony/Legacy
One iconic artifact of the late-’70s rock scene was the ubiquitous “double live album,” a marketing ploy usually timed for the Christmas rush, but one that also yielded much good music. Following the…
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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,
Bob Dylan
Shadows In The Night, Dylan’s 2015 nod to Frank Sinatra, surprised those unaware of his love for the Great American Songbook. Using Sinatra’s original arrangements as a guide, he drew heavily from the…
Steve Cropper & The Midnight Hour
Friendlytown
From his earliest days in Memphis, Steve Cropper’s virtuosity stemmed from his powerful mastery of rhythm and flawless sense of economy. Those assets stood him in good stead through the glory days as…
Tony Holiday
Motel Mississippi
Following his two volumes of Porch Sessions collaborations with artists Lurrie Bell, Bobby Rush, Charlie Musselwhite, and the two Kids – Ramos and Andersen – the Memphis-based Holiday presents a fully realized, intriguing…
Grateful Dead – Live at Cow Palace
The Grateful Dead was an electric jug band with more in common musically with Jim Kweskin than Jimi Hendrix. On this new three-CD set, you can hear this ultimate jam band at its…
John Fogerty – Revival
John Fogerty is the rare case of a songsmith who can use the same elements and devices repeatedly, even recycling and permutating earlier licks and melodies, without it ever wearing thin. Sure, it’s…
Eric Johnson
EJ
Renaissance Guitarman Eric Johnson digs deep. Not in the way that guitarists will explode an artery to nail the ultimate epic guitar solo or clone the microscopic nuances of Stevie Ray Vaughan. EJ…
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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
Vandenberg’s Moonkings
He’s had a decade away from the spotlight, but former Whitesnake guitarist Adrian Vandenberg has returned with Vandenberg’s MoonKings. After a false start with the ill-fated Manic Eden starring Rudy Sarzo and Tommy…
The Yardbirds – Birdland
Birdland
It’s hard not to be skeptical over every “reunion” that comes along when you’ve got Toad The Wet Sprocket reuniting after all these years – five to be exact. If that’s a reunion,…
Cheap Trick
In Another World
Ever since the Rock Hall of Famers’ debut in 1977, the quartet has been non-stop road warriors supporting albums that varied in quality. Beginning with 2006’s Rockford, their studio mojo has stayed. CT’s…
Nick Lowe – Quiet Please
At Any Age
Like his longtime associate (as both producer and producee) Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe may have come onto the scene via punk rock, but soon proved he was much more. In hindsight, Costello’s…
Gene Clark – Silverado ’75
In a band that at various times included Roger McGuinn, Clarence White, Gram Parsons, Chris Hillman and David Crosby, Gene Clark wasn’t overshadowed. He wrote some of the group’s most recognized songs, including…
The Carper Family
Old-fashioned gals they may well be, but the Carper Family trio injects their traditional country and bluegrass music with some tasty modern vibes on their third disc. The Austin, Texas-based band comprises bassist…
Paul Burch
Blue Yodelin'
Meridian, Mississippi, was Jimmie Rodgers’ birthplace and the starting point for Paul Burch’s “imagined musical autobiography” of the Father of Country Music. In these 20 songs and musical interludes, he draws a rich,…
Danny Schmidt – Little Grey Sheep
Cover art matters. Take the image on Little Grey Sheep, displaying an artfully moody image of a black sheep and a white sheep “doing it.” If that doesn’t make you stop and think,…
Spirit
It Shall Be, 1968-’72
Rock history is littered with truly gifted bands that inexplicably never broke big, from The Move to The Replacements. Spirit is another, an L.A. group dripping with talent and the ability to mix…
Heybale – The Last Country Album
The incomparable Redd Volkaert and “Mr. Honky-Tonk Piano” Earl Pole Ball (whose collective resume is a Who’s Who of musical greats that includes Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard and Buck Owens) join drummer Tom…
Humble Pie
The A&M CD Box Set (1970-1975)
Arena-rock pioneers Humble Pie launched some of the grittiest heavy rock of the ’70s, courtesy of vocalist/guitarist Steve Marriott, bassist Greg Ridley, and successive lead men Peter Frampton and David “Clem” Clempson. This…
Bloom
Larkin Poe
Grammy-winning sisters Rebecca and Megan Lovell deliver an album that continues their trajectory into rural soundcapes and bluesy, heartfelt authenticity. Produced and composed by the duo with guitarist/songwriter Tyler Bryant, Bloom is saturated…
Kim Simmonds – Blues Like Midnight
Blues Like Midnight
While the press release promotes this CD as a departure for Kim Simmonds, to this writer it would seem one more facet of this veteran guitarist’s musical personality. On Blues Like Midnight, Simmonds…
Johnny A. – Sometime Tuesday Morning
I say it three or four times a year. Every so often, a CD arrives from an artist I’ve never heard of, and it blows me away. Here’s one of those. This is…
Ernie Hawkins – Mean Little Poodle
Mean Little Poodle
Man, I love Ernie Hawkins. This is the third disc I’ve heard by him, and each one impresses more and more. There are very few individuals who play this stuff and make it…
Vinny Roth
Red Wine Sunshine and Loud Guitars
Vinny Roth proves adept at mixing funk, rock, and fusion to make a record that sounds fresh and new – and yet still seems to fit like an old shoe. There are numerous…
Sergio Diab
Brazil and the guitar have a long, prolific relationship with each other, from the classical compositions of Villa-Lobos to Laurindo Almeida’s mix of classical and jazz to the bossa nova of Antonio Carlos…
Billy Strings
Me/and/Dad
Grammy-winning flatpicking wizard Billy Strings was everywhere in 2022. Rightly seen as part of the vanguard of a new generation of Appalachian-inspired players rooted in the sounds of Doc Watson, Tony Rice, Clarence…
Charlie Hunter
Self-distributed
The title of Charlie Hunter’s latest lends a hint that all 11 songs on it are culled from some old songbook. And indeed, all were chosen by Hunter’s 99-year-old grandfather! While on the…
M. Taylor, M. Simpson, M. Carthy, J. Martin – The Valley & Martins 4
M. Taylor, M. Simpson, M. Carthy, J. Martin – The Valley & Martins 4 The London Times called Martin Taylor “the finest British guitarist of his generation” – which is, if anything, an…
Adrian Legg- Live
In a 2005 VG interview, Legg said of his aversion to live recordings, “It’s a moment in time. You’re capturing a social event, and you’re repeating it over and over again. If you…
Peter Bardens
Long Ago, Far Away: The Recordings (1968-1971)
Tim Fitzgerald’s Full House
The Wes Montgomery Project
