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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
Jim Campilongo
Hillbilly Twang
Jim Campilongo plays the kind of grownup guitar that makes the rest of us want to put aside our childish noodlings and play something with substance. Drawing from the good stuff, Campilongo is…
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall Hendrix is undoubtedly the greatest rock guitarist who ever lived, and Experience Hendrix LLC is now releasing a vinyl version of this original 2000 collection. The original release consisted of studio…
John Gorka – The Company You Keep
John Gorka is the energizer bunny of singer/songwriters. He just keeps going and going. Each new release not only equals the quality of his last, but exceeds it. The Company You Keep is…
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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,
Caleb Quaye and the Faculty – Out of the Blue
Self-distributed
Caleb Quaye was a respected session player known for his work with Elton John and Hall & Oates. Then the rock and roll lifestyle caught up with him and “a conversation with God…
Mississippi John Hurt – Memorial Anthology
John Hurt played a different breed of blues from Delta stalwarts like Son House and Robert Johnson. Hurt was an all-around songster, and his simple guitar and downhome voice were infectious. This two-CD…
Julius Pittman & the Revival
JPR
Southern soul singer Julius Pittman, whose smooth vocal style brings to mind Al Green or Teddy Pendergrass, is a key performer, songwriter, and vocalist for the band that features Randy Moss on guitar.…
Bucky Pizzarelli & Scott Hamilton – The Red Door & Bucky Pizzarelli Nirvana
The Red Door, Bucky Pizzarelli and Scott Hamilton’s tribute to sax god Zoot Sims, is an amazingly sublime album. Sims was a true sultan of swing, a classic golden-age jazzer of the ’30s…
David Michael Miller
This makes it two in a row for David Michael Miller. His Poisons Sipped was one of last year’s surprise albums, introducing us to a songwriter, guitarist, and singer who is the whole…
Kenny Wayne Shepherd
Dirt on My Diamonds, Vol. 1
It’s easy to summarize Kenny Wayne Shepherd’s raw-yet-modern blues approach. Joined by co-vocalist Noah Hunt, Shepherd delivers a lyric straight up. His remarkable guitar chops allow him to create riveting instrumental interludes that…
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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
Gurf Morlix – Cut ‘N Shoot
Is Gurf his real name? I don’t know. What I do know is he’s produced excellent records in the past few years for other artists, and in the past couple has started putting…
Ted Drozdowski’s Scissormen
Parts of Ted Drozdowski’s coal-mining family background are almost as hardscrabble and tragic as that of the people who created the blues music he champions so fiercely. That background is a factor in…
Moreland & Arbuckle
Aaron Moreland on guitars and Dustin Arbuckle on vocals and harmonica have been doing their thing for almost a decade now and every album has been a winner. This latest is no exception:…
Erin Harpe and the Delta Swingers
Some retro acts are more concerned with image and outfits than music. This record is a bit theatrical but with enough substance to give it staying power. A charming, versatile singer, Erin Harpe’s…
Alan Paul
With the news that the Allman Brothers are losing guitarmen Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks at year’s end, and the subsequent announcement by Gregg Allman that the band will call it quits, one…
Deborah Coleman – Livin’ On Love
Groovy is the word for Deborah Coleman. She’s got the hip sensibility of Joan Armatrading blended with the blues groove of B.B. King. The result is music that moves you. When Coleman released…
The Surf Box – Cowabunga!
Here it is, the history of surf music on four hot CDs that no self-respecting rocker could live without. Starting with 1960s sides by The Fireballs, The Gamblers, and, of course, Dick Dale…
Long Train Runnin’: Our Story of the Doobie Brothers
Tom Johnston, Pat Simmons, Chris Epting
For 50 years, the Doobie Brothers’ feel-good hits have been radio staples. In these pages, vocalists/guitarists Tom Johnston and Pat Simmons share memories and insights such as how the much-hyped psychedelic band Moby…
Shel Silverstein
Sugar Hill Records
Musical comedian Shel Silverstein wrote many songs; some were the melodic and lyrical equivalents of one-liners, but others were gems, as on Twistable Turnable Man. Produced by friend and collaborator Bobby Bare, Sr.,…
Michael Angelo Batio
MAB ignores the critics and pushes his art forward with prodigious talent and inspired business savvy. He borrows here from the model used on Santana’s hit album Supernatural to bring together some of…
Montrose
I Got the Fire: Complete Recordings 1973-1976
This six-CD box set compiles the groundbreaking recordings – four studio albums, demos, live radio sessions, and more – by visionary guitarist Ronnie Montrose’s band, which influenced everyone from Van Halen to Iron…
Johnny Cash – Ride This Train
In 1986, after 28 years and (literally) hundreds of albums worth of material with the label, Columbia Records dropped Johnny Cash. Seems American institutions weren’t selling that year. Not surprisingly, the artistic side…
Little Charlie and the Nightcats – Nine Lives
Little Charlie and the Nightcats – Nine Lives What can you say about Charlie Baty and the boys? This is their ninth record for Alligator since the late ’80s, and the mix of…
The Replacements – Tim, All Shook Down, Pleased to Meet Me
Rhino Records
The final four Replacements LPs are back in deluxe style, thanks to Rhino. Accompanying the label’s re-release of the band’s first four albums and EPs earlier this year, the band has finally been…
Mike Zito
Resurrection
The very title of bluesman Mike Zito’s new album – and the fact it’s the follow-up to 2020’s Quarantine Blues – strongly suggests the arrival of songs celebrating post-pandemic life. There’s indeed a…
Steve Hunter
Picking a highlight of Steve Hunter’s latest is a tough chore, as there’s many tracks to recommend. Top of the list may be his lovely interpretation of the Marvin Gaye classic “What’s Goin’…
Richie Kotzen
Soul Survivor
Richie Kotzen may not be a household name, but with nearly 20 albums and countless group projects on his resumé, he’s on the verge. Coming to prominence in ’89 after being signed to…
John Prine
Oh Boy
John Prine almost single-handedly defined the term “Americana,” but he’s really a country-music artist – a bastard son of Merle Haggard in a genre so often wrongfully and automatically dismissed as simplistic that…
Shawn Camp – Live at the Station Inn
Perhaps you’ve never heard of Shawn Camp, but chances are you’ve heard his songs. He penned number one hits for Garth Brooks and Brooks and Dunn, and wrote songs for George Strait, Kenny…
La Guitara – Gender Bending Strings Anthology of Women Guitaris
When I was young and someone said “You play like a chick guitar player,” they’d be either smiling or ducking. After hearing this anthology, it could only be construed as a compliment. Produced…
Jackie Greene
429 Records
Jackie Greene’s music is hypnotic in the way of all good pop-rock. Its strongpoint is finely crafted interplay between guitars and keyboards. His new album is replete with gorgeous layered vocals, and while…
Ram On (Paul McCartney tribute)
Various artists
Sex Pistols
The Original Recordings