• 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

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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…

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…

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…

Vintage Guitar magazine presents greg Martin's Head shop Pet sounds Home Feature image

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 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.…

  • Yes

    Yes

    Close to the Edge: Super Deluxe Edition

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…