-
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
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…
-
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,
-
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
-
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,
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…
-
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,
-
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
-
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,
-
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
-
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,
-
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
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…
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…
