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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
Tommy Emmanuel
As the title suggests, this is a collection of performances pulled from several Public Television concerts Tommy Emmanuel has done, including some never seen before. It will come as no surprise to fans…
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.…
The Mike Eldred Trio
The Mike Eldred Trio’s latest was recorded at Memphis’ hallowed Sun Studios, but the deep blues are straight outta the Delta. Eldred needs little introduction here. The former Fender Custom Shop manager, he’s…
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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,
Amy Black
Reuben Records
There’s a solid old-school thump to Amy Black’s modern, acoustic-guitarbased blues. Sometimes (as on “Stay”), she leavens her music with a rockabilly flavor with the help of fiddler Dan Kellar, who gets some…
Mitch Seidman, Jamie MacDonald, Claire Arenius
Kyran Music
The set, recorded live at the Open Music Collective, in Vermont, perfectly captures the workings of this trio and the inherent quirkiness in the playing of Mitch Seidman, who surprises on pretty much…
Darrell Scott
Appleseed Recordings
Darrell Scott’s latest CD highlights his performing prowess rather than his songwriting chops – all 12 cuts are covers. This isn’t the first album on which Scott has displayed his interpretive abilities, but…
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…
NRBQ
How many times and in how many ways can you call a band charming? Doesn’t matter who the players are, that word describes the ’Q to a T. This is the second record…
David Gilmour – On An Island
This is an expanded edition of Gilmour’s 2006 DVD of material from a live AOL session. The DVD is a bit sterile, done in a studio with no audience, but the playing is…
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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
Newport Folk Festival
Bluegrass/Blues Elementals Before Farm Aid, Telluride, or even Woodstock, there was the Newport Folk Festival. Begun in the late ’50s, this yearly gathering molded and defined a generation’s tastes in music. It was…
Journey
Freedom
Journey’s first album in 11 years did not come easily. Guitarist Neal Schon, keyboardist Jonathan Cain, and vocalist Arnel Pineda welcomed a new rhythm section including bassist Randy Jackson (the “American Idol” judge),…
Red Allen, Frank Wakefield, and the Kentuckians
Washington, D.C. and vicinity, known for forward-thinking bluegrass bands like the Country Gentlemen and the Seldom Scene, also had staunch traditionalists, among them the team of mandolin virtuoso Frank Wakefield (a one-time Stanley…
The Beach Boys
Great Vibrations
It’s ironic – and tragic – that Brian Wilson leads off his long-awaited memoir explaining the voices he hears in his head. He’s referring to the mental illness that has troubled his life…
Greg “Freddy” Camalier
To the rest of the world, the Swampers are best known from the cryptic verse in Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama.” And while they might have picked up Mr. Van Zant when he…
Rory Block – I’m Every Woman
I’ve always thought of Rory Block as a modern country-blues, acoustic-slide playing, soulful singer. Here, she changes the program a bit. The emphasis here is on soul music. Not the stuff of Robert…
Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, Zuzu Bollin – Boogie Uproar: Texas Blues and R&B 1947-1954
The history of early Texas jump blues is often summed up in one name – T-Bone Walker. While Walker’s pioneering guitarwork, great original songs, and landmark recordings are justly famous, his star quality…
Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet & Mike Neer
Savvy Show Stoppers Dim The Lights, Chill The Ham Sport Fishin’: The Lure Of The Bait, The Luck Of The Hook Steelonious
When the Kids In The Hall, an irreverent sketch comedy troupe from Toronto, got their own TV show in ’89, they chose “Having An Average Day,” an instrumental by a local trio, Shadowy…
Check This Action: A Year In Their Life
Recently, I stumbled onto one of those “reaction” videos by a New Zealander named Courtney, who wasn’t sure if she’d ever seen footage of the Beatles or even heard their songs. This shouldn’t…
Dale Watson
What is there not to love about Dale Watson? He flies the flag for real country music in a day and age when real country isn’t accepted by country radio. His latest is…
Ana Popovic
Three Faces of Ana
Belgrade’s Ana Popovic has been barnstorming the globe for years, entertaining audiences with her own brand of blues-rock, while gathering a loyal fan base. She knows where her bread is buttered, and it’s…
Rusty Truck
Jakob Dylan, Gillian Welch, Lenny Kravitz, T-Bone Burnett, Willie Nelson, and even Matchbox 20’s Rob Thomas all have a hand in producing, singing, and playing on this expanded edition of Rusty Truck’s debut.…
Doc Watson – Best of Sugar Hill Years
Sugar Hill Records
Henry Robinett
Jazz Standards Vol. 2 Then Again
Robert Cray Band
On the heels of the live release from a 1987 concert, this is a fascinating study that shows how Robert Cray has grown as an artist, working up soul/pop tunes the likes of…
Crowsong – Shelter
Crowsong offers a couple of atmospheric new records that feature founder Randy Clark’s guitar playing and interaction with bandmates Joshua Zucker (bass) and Vince Littleton (drums). Here, they use one disc to highlight…
Steve Smith – Hard Road
Not all great pickers and songwriters live in Nashville, L.A., or New York. Some reside in far off places such as Las Cruses, New Mexico. Steven Smith is a case in point. His…
Jon Herington
Jon Herington, best known for his current work as Steely Dan’s lead guitarist, put out one of the decades’ great records with his last effort, Time On My Hands, back in 2012. This…
Kiss
Off the Soundboard: Poughkeepsie, NY
This 1984 concert is the only known soundboard recording with guitarist Mark St. John, whose tenure is one of the briefest chapters in Kisstory. St. John played on Animalize then developed a sudden…
UFO
Lights Out 2024 Remaster
UFO was a ferocious live band, but had trouble translating that hard-rock excitement to the studio. They got close on 1977’s Lights Out, and this remaster is proof, delivering chunky, restored bass tracks…
Jimmy Gaudreau – 2:10 Train
Jimmy Gaudreau and Moondi Klein have been playing together for more than 10 years. They first met when T. Michael Coleman, Mike Auldridge, and Klein asked Gaudreau to join them in Chesapeake. When…
Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks – The Most of…
For most of my generation, Dan Hicks was our first exposure to swing music that was anywhere near cool enough to be palatable. That he could slip into progressive rock radio playlists surrounded…
Cherryholmes
Skaggs Family Records
On their sixth album (despite its designation) Cherryholmes knocks it out of the park once again. As usual, banjo-playing sister Cia has the lion’s share of vocals, and she stands out even though…
