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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
Caroline Gnagy
Stars Behind Bars
Sometimes the most interesting books are ones that delve into a subject readers didn’t know about and never considered. And except for now-elderly people who were around the right place at the right…
Mark Knopfler
The Mellow Master
You have to hand it Mark Knopfler. Not only has he launched a successful solo career, but it’s one that’s wholly apart from his Dire Straits superstardom. As opposed to that band’s snappy…
Keith Whitley – Sad Songs and Waltzes
The late Keith Whitley, who died at age 33 of acute alcohol poi-soning, was an example of why it isn’t always a good idea to try to live your lyrics if you’re country…
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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,
A Tribute to Eric Clapton
Various artists
Music’s most-popular purveyor of American blues continues to fail upward with this homage from peers, fans, and virtuosos. Released by Cleopatra Records, A Tribute to Eric Clapton stands above other such recordings, benefiting…
Joe Pass
As Concord Music continues its Original Jazz Classics Remasters, we get three records recorded for Pablo Records from the ’70s that feature Joe Pass on guitar. He’s normally remembered for the solo work…
Steve Earle – Townes
Of his mentor, Townes Van Zandt, Steve Earle has said he was “a real good teacher and a real bad role model.” Seems Earle got a good dose of both. With his new…
Motorhead – Stone Deaf Forever (Box Set)
If bands got paychecks for being influential, Motorhead would buy your town. And then, of course, all the lawns would up and die. Founded in the mid 1970s by steel-wool throated bassist Lemmy…
Rockabilly Rarities – Volume Two
Rockabilly Rarities Volume Two picks up where Volume One (“Spotlight,” June ’99) left off and features 30 tracks of rockin’, shakin’, foot-stompin’ music. Great/obscure labels like Bakers-field, Sure, Rebel, Cherry, Jan, Fox, Testa,…
Check This Action: The Salad Days of British Blues
What springs to mind when you hear the term “British blues movement”? Is it covers of Slim Harpo, Muddy Waters, and John Lee Hooker songs by the early Rolling Stones, Manfred Mann, Yardbirds,…
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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
Dwight Yoakam
Brighter Days
Nearly 40 years ago, as audiences wearied of frothy ’80s country-pop, Dwight Yoakam was in the vanguard of country’s New Traditional movement. His stripped-down spin on the twang-driven Bakersfield sound of the ’60s…
Al Stewart
Year of the Cat 45th Anniversary
You couldn’t have planned a ’70s smash any better. For superior sonics, Stewart collaborated with producer Alan Parsons, famed for his work with the Beatles and Pink Floyd. The music also tapped into…
Dale Watson
Dale Watson is a country-music traditionalist, and while he mines familiar veins on Carryin’ On, he also throws in a dash of the pop/country style that dominated both charts in the late ’60s…
Pretty Things, Procol Harum, David Bowie, and Various Artists
For all the British psych bands you do know – such as the Move and Small Faces – you’ve probably never heard of dozens more. This three-CD set brings together more than 75…
Pat Martino – Remember: A Tribute to Wes Montgomery
Pat Martino – Remember: A Tribute to Wes Montgomery This is not the first time legendary guitarist Martino has paid tribute to the man credited with driving jazz guitar to its current heights.…
Pan-Americans
Flat Fish
If you’re a member of Pan-Americans, “among others” is part of your resume – in terms of bands you belong to as well as instruments (and roles) played in them. The band’s ad…
Shelby Lynne
Everso Records
Revelation Road comes from an artist who knows exactly what she wants and how to get it, and can come up with an end product that displays brilliantly the worth of the work…
Sharon Isbin & Friends
Sony Classical
Isbin, one of America’s most prolific classical guitarists, has incorporated folk and jazz on crossover collaborations such as Journey To The Amazon (with saxophonist Paul Winter and percussionist Thiago de Mello), 3 Guitars…
Bob Dylan
Triplicate
This new collection extends Dylan’s venture into the Great American Songbook, a journey he began with 2015’s Shadows In The Night, this time offering three discs of material beyond the Frank Sinatra catalog.…
The Alligator Christmas Collection
Various artists
First released in 1992, this cornucopia of blues is now on red vinyl, celebrating the spirit of the season. The opener sets the tone, the late Koko Taylor singing “Merry, Merry Christmas” with…
Albert King
Soul Men (and Women)
“Play it, Steve!” Just a bend, four notes, and it’s instantly recognizable that Sam Moore is summoning Steve Cropper in the Sam & Dave hit, “Soul Man.” And it’s equally recognizable that this…
The Band
The Band’s double-LP Rock of Ages was released in August 1972, their first live collection – as well as their last before they disbanded with 1978’s The Last Waltz. As phenomenal as their…
Rick Holmstrom
See That Light
After 13 years as soul/gospel/civil rights legend Mavis Staples’ guitarist and bandleader, Rick Holmstrom has earned the nickname from Staples’ herself as “Pops Jr.” He’s also played alongside Rod Piazza, William Clarke, and…
Gov’t Mule
Peace… Like a Rive
It’s fortunate the world still has artists like Gov’t Mule to influence aspiring musicians and prove that it’s possible to have a long, fruitful career playing this kind of music. The creation of…
Black Country Communion
Afterglow is the third album by Black Country Communion, which features bassist Glenn Hughes, drummer Jason Bonham, keyboard player Derek Sherinian, and Joe Bonamassa on guitar. Their sound continues to fill the void…
St. Vitus
Drug addiction has a new soundtrack, thanks to this brutal and excellent reunion album by Doom rock pioneers St. Vitus. Lillie: F-65 (named after a barbiturate the band once struggled with) is a…
Albert King
Stax/Concord
Two CDs of Albert King – 34 songs, approaching two hours of material from his Stax period – has to be good news. It’s when companies label things as “best” or “essential” or…
Bob Dylan
Shadows In The Night, Dylan’s 2015 nod to Frank Sinatra, surprised those unaware of his love for the Great American Songbook. Using Sinatra’s original arrangements as a guide, he drew heavily from the…
The Sadies – New Season
If you’re at all into guitar tones and cool songs, it’s hard not to love The Sadies, with brothers Dallas and Travis Good, whose feet are firmly in the country and country-rock of…
Scorpions
Rock Believer
The 19th studio album by Germany’s metal titans reveals a re-energized band recording live in one room, like they did in the ’80s, and with no outside songwriters. Guitarists Rudolf Schenker and Matthias…
Jim Campilongo Electric Trio – American Hips
To say Jim Campilongo is a unique guitar player is like saying James Brown is funky. His playing is totally original and keeps growing. And the beautiful part is that he just seems…
