• 2025 December Issue on Spotify

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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

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Strolling Scones – Instrospective

The Strolling Scones recreate a ’60s vibe while writing songs that are fresh and new. For instance, if the 12-string on “Any Time She Passes By” doesn’t bring to mind the Byrds, you’ve…

Eric Ambel

Eric “Roscoe” Ambel is accomplished guitarist (Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Steve Earle) and go-to “roots rock” producer (Bottle Rockets, Nils Lofgren, Ryan Adams, and many more). In 2012, he added “erstwhile tavern…

Blues Icon John Mayall

Check This Action

Few living blues artists could merit a package of 35 CDs. But what makes John Mayall: The First Generation most remarkable is that it only documents the British blues legend’s career up to…

Lee Ritenour

Ritenour’s previous album, 6 String Theory, featured collaborations with guitar peers John Scofield, B.B. King, Slash, and George Benson, among others. Here, he’s working with virtuoso rhythm section players – and a few…

Steve Trovato – About Time

Yikes! Talk about your chops, Steve Trovato’s got ’em. Known best on the West Coast as an instructor (Studio Jazz Guitar at USC) and for his work on movie and TV themes, Trovato…

SVT

Always Comes Back

Whether named for supraventricular tachycardia (meaning rapid heart rhythm) or the Ampeg bass amplifier, SVT was one of the more-interesting bands to emerge from San Francisco’s new wave scene of the late ’70s.…

Eric Lindell – Low On Cash, Rich In Love

Eric Lindell’s second album is full of great songs and inspired playing while his hipster feel and look match his guitar grooves. You get an idea with the opener, “Lay Back Down” –…

Ram On (Paul McCartney tribute)

Various artists

It’s been 50 years since Paul’s 1971 album arrived, credited to the ex-Beatle and late wife, Linda. Ram itself was recently reissued, but this uncanny tribute is actually more interesting. Led by original…

Jake Shimabukuro – Live

In his introduction to “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” Shimabukuro explains how a video of him playing the George Harrison classic in Central Park, for New York’s Midnight Ukulele Disco, “changed my life.”…

Terry Dolan

44 Years Later

The market is flooded with previously unreleased albums and reissue CDs containing alternate takes. It must be simple to get something like that released, right? Guess again. It’s hard to imagine, but a…

Peter Case – Who’s Gonna Go Your Crooked Mile? Selected Tracks

Peter Case is one of those “folky” types who deserve more than a trite description. Yes, he plays acoustic guitar, occasional harmonica, and writes great songs. But he shows a background that encompasses…

Sonny Landreth – From the Reach

Sonny Landreth records are typically gems, and this one is no exception. This time out, he has written songs for folks he admires, then invited them to play them with him; Eric Clapton,…

Shawn Mullins – Honeydew

Shawn Mullins hit the big time in the ’90s with the sleepy folk tune “Lullaby.” Since then he has jumped around a bit and now finds himself recording for Vanguard, which has a…

Mike Watt

In 1995, Minutemen and Firehose co-founder/bassist Mike Watt unfurled his solo debut, Ball-Hog or Tugboat? Testament to Watt’s influence (and legendary affability), the credits were an honor roll of indie/alt whizzes; Nels Cline,…

Holden

Think of Holden as the Velvet Underground with a French accent. This noise-pop duo differs, however, in chronicling not the wild side of the ’60s, but the existential estrangement of modern-day life –…

Joseph Spence

Encore

Imagine you’re a zoologist who discovers a new animal species never known to exist. There have been rare musical discoveries that rivaled that. John Hurt played nothing like a Delta bluesman, even though…

Simon And Garfunkel – Live from New York City, 1967

“Sherman, set the Way Back machine for New York City, 1967. I want to go to a concert.” This new release from Columbia Legacy beats Mr. Peabody’s infernal device by a mile. Recorded…

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…

Jason & the Scorchers – Halcyon Times

Playground Music

It’s an unlikely story that cow-punk pioneers Jason and the Scorchers would be releasing an album in 2010. It’s even more unlikely, so early in the year, to say it may end up…

This Band Has No Past: How Cheap Trick Became Cheap Trick

Brian J. Kramp

Bearing an incredibly accurate subtitle, the story told here is presented mostly as an oral history, loaded with minutiae about the adventures of Rick Nielsen, Robin Zander, Tom Petersson, and Bun E. Carlos…

Eric Bibb, Rory Block, & Maria Muldaur – Sisters and Brothers

I like this one for a couple of reasons. The first is it’s a perfect example of some vets getting together and just making good music. No ego involved, just three people who…

The Peacemakers

The Peacemakers

Mike Keller has played lead with, among others, the post-SRV Double Trouble, Doyle Bramhall, Sr., Marcia Ball, and the Fabulous Thunderbirds – in other words, the elite of the Austin blues scene. He…

Brian Setzer

The Devil Always Collects

We can always rely on Brian Setzer records to bring the swagger, no matter the project – solo, Brian Setzer Orchestra, or Stray Cats. This new solo release brings his trademark steamroller blend…

Birthright: A Black Roots Music Compendium

Various artists

This double-CD’s 40 tracks represent a wide swath of black roots music, from zydeco to gospel, from a Mississippi fife-and-drum crew to one-man band Jesse Fuller. If some of the cuts are familiar,…

Van Morrison

Wild Nights

In the history of live recordings, there are a handful widely considered to be all-time classics: B.B. King’s Live at the Regal is one, James Brown’s Live at the Apollo 1962 is another.…

Lonesome River Band

The Lonesome River Band has been around for 30 years. And while he wasn’t a founding member, banjo player Sammy Shelor is the de facto leader of the band by virtue of tenure.…

Brian Setzer

Sparking Another Rockabilly Riot

Three decades, umpteen records, and several stellar bands into his career, and Brian Setzer still makes rockabilly sound fresh and exciting. This album has much of the verve of his debut, 1981’s Stray…

Gary Clark Jr.

Live North America 2016

Gary Clark Jr. has brought back the soaring psychedelic blues-rock guitar solo. After a backlash of post-Hendrix overkill, replaced with severely articulate blues Nazi-approved Chicago and West Coast swing vocabulary, the pendulum is…

Pat Metheny Group – Speaking of Now

Speaking of Now

Pat Metheny has played in a lot of contexts in recent years. Lots of duos, lots of work with jazzers of different ilks, and, of course, his own group. I like his playing…

Close Enough for Jazz, II

October’s “CTA,” titled “Close Enough For Jazz,” surveyed a half-dozen indie jazz releases featuring guitar in different capacities and styles. Fortunately for jazz guitar fans, there’s never a shortage of such releases –…