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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
Tab Benoit – The Sea Saint Sessions
The Sea Saint Sessions
Tab Benoit is one of those guys whose recordings get into my head, and I can’t get them out. It started in the early ’90s with a wonderful song called “Nice and Warm.”…
The Brothers Comatose Cover “Stickshifts and Safetybelts”
“Hardly Strictly Bluegrass” From San Francisco Here’s a dose of bluegrass flavor courtesy of The Brothers Comatose, playing a cover of Cake’s “Stickshifts & Safetybelts” from their “Ear Snacks” album. Guitarist Ben Morrison…
Steve Khan
Backlog
Steve Khan has spent the last few albums mixing Latin music and jazz. The project has worked beautifully, culminating in this effort that takes tunes from Thelonious Monk, Bobby Hutcherson, Ornette Coleman, Steve’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,
Bill Hullett – Two-Lane Blacktop
Okay, by now you’re all saying, “Does this guy listen to anything besides jazz?” Well, here’s a killer instrumental album featuring a veteran Nashville studio picker. Not only does Hullett put on a…
Frank Moriarty – Seventies Rock: A Decade of Creative Chaos
Seventies Rock: A Decade of Creative Chaos
It’s the music many of us grew up on. But it was different from the ’60s. The Beatles were over, Jimi and Janis were dead, and the feel-good ethos of Woodstock had given…
Paul Curreri – Are You Going to Paul Curreri
Those familiar with Curreri might be surprised to hear this live trio effort, where he plays his Fender Tele through the entire set! That’s certainly not a bad thing, as his style translates…
Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs
Vagabonds, Virgins & Misfits
It’s no shock the late Tom Petty’s right-hand man and MVP on Don Henley hits like “The Boys of Summer” and “The Heart of the Matter” would continue his superlative work. His latest…
Lee Rocker – Racin’ the Devil
Lee Rocker is best known as the bassist in the Stray Cats. He’s signed with Alligator, which appears to be expanding its scope with acts outside of blues, and here they’ve made a…
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
Live at the Fillmore (1997)
Expanded from its origins as a radio broadcast, Live at the Fillmore captures Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers in transition, retreating from large arenas, music videos, and record-making in favor of a 20-show…
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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
Steve Howe
It’s been 45 years since Steve Howe joined Yes, but in 1975, he launched a parallel solo career that’s still going strong. For this collection, Howe has picked 33 of his favorite solo…
Albert King, Little Milton, and more
This 10-disc set covers the final three years of Stax singles, a period when the iconic Memphis-based label was under new management and trying to broaden and expand too many directions at once,…
David Reinhardt, Levis Adel-Reinhardt & various artists
Label Ouest
In honor of the centenary of Django Reinhardt’s 1910 birth, the tribute albums are being released as quickly as Django ever played a two-fingered arpeggio. This one from France may be the most…
Ray Mason Band – Three Dollar Man
Three Dollar Man
This is very fun stuff. It’s only 10 short songs, but they’re all interesting and different. The slant for the most part is guitar-driven pop/rock of the best kind. Twangy guitars mix with…
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!…
Medeski, Scofield, Martin, & Wood
John Scofield long ago proved he can handle pretty much any musical situation he’s put in. The times he’s been thrown together with this funky trio have shown to be wonderful sessions brimming…
Flatt & Scruggs – Best of The Flatt and Scruggs TV Show
Before “Hullabaloo” or “Hootenany” there was the Grand Ole Opry, America’s first national country music show broadcast on the radio. Of course the Opry garnered a slew of imitators, and when television came…
Jim Suhler
Dallas native Jim Suhler has been splitting his time between leading his own group, Monkey Beat, and, since 1999, playing lead and rhythm guitar with George Thorogood and the Destroyers. His latest release,…
Otis Taylor
Otis Taylor has no concern for your discomfort with racial issues. It’s an artist’s duty to reflect the times, and there’s plenty to reflect upon. He skips the antiquated blues coding about devils…
Charlie Apicella
Organ-ized
The organ trio – or in the case of the Charlie Apicella album, the organ quartet – is alive and well. Each of these new releases features organ and guitar, and to anyone…
Drive By Truckers – The Dirty South
The Dirty South
I confess, these good ol’ boys have become one of my favorite rock and roll bands. There double-disc opus, Southern Rock Opera, was one of my favorite records from the past couple of…
Andy Babiuk and Greg Prevost
The rest of the world may be titillated by what the Stones smoked, shot, snorted, or ingested. But some of us have our priorities straight; we’re more concerned with what the band strummed…
Phil Upchurch – Tell the Truth
Tell the Truth
Greg Koch – Radio Free Gristle
Radio Free Gristle
Cream – BBC Sessions
BBC Sessions
Ian and Silvia – The Complete Vanguard Studio Recordings
The Complete Vanguard Studio Recordings
Paul McCartney & Wings
As clearly as the “whole is greater than the sum of its parts” adage has been demonstrated by numerous great bands, it will never keep critics from harping on how each of the…
Edgar Winter
Brother Johnny – Allstar Tribute to Johnny Winter
Brother Johnny is a tribute to legendary Texas guitarist Johnny Winter. Masterminded by famed sibling Edgar Winter, the album is an entertaining odyssey into Johnny’s musical life, with help from talented guests; Kenny…
Stephen Stills – Man Alive!
Stephen Stills – Man Alive! Stephen Stills hasn’t released a solo record since the early ’90s. He says it took so long for this one because he kept giving songs to Graham Nash…
Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators
Slash and his rock and roll posse have released their third solo album with Alter Bridge vocalist Myles Kennedy. This is a mean, heart-resuscitating rock machine with driving tempos, crunchy chord work, and…
Steve Khan – Borrowed Time
Steve Khan once again proves he’s among the top guitarists of his generation. Khan has always been a fine composer and writer, but here he penned just two cuts – the other seven…
Foley, Coleman, Potvin – Time Bomb
From the first notes of the title-track opener, this trio of guitarists leaves no doubt that this album is going to rock and roll. Sue Foley and Deborah Coleman need no introduction to…
Dick Dale – King of the Surf
The Rosetta Stone of Dick Dale’s brand of surf guitar is 1962’s Surfer’s Choice, which, even though it was his first album, was largely a collection of the singles he’d already released on…
Kenny Burrell
Consistency has always been one of Kenny Burrell’s hallmarks – as in consistently great. Ironically, he’s almost taken for granted because of it. He was Duke Ellington’s favorite guitarist, cut his first session…
Drive By Truckers – The Dirty South
The Dirty South
I confess, these good ol’ boys have become one of my favorite rock and roll bands. There double-disc opus, Southern Rock Opera, was one of my favorite records from the past couple of…
