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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
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…
Kansas – Two for the Show: 30th Anniversary Edition
Sony/Legacy
One iconic artifact of the late-’70s rock scene was the ubiquitous “double live album,” a marketing ploy usually timed for the Christmas rush, but one that also yielded much good music. Following the…
Kenny Burrell
HighNote
Jazzman Kenny Burrell boasts some 40 records to his name as a leader and dozens more as the consummate sideman. Amazingly, he still has much more to say and, on this new solo…
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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,
Dale Watson
What is there not to love about Dale Watson? He flies the flag for real country music in a day and age when real country isn’t accepted by country radio. His latest is…
Grayson Capps – Wail and Ride
Down South, it seems, songwriters like Grayson Capps just fall from the trees. Born in Alabama, he spent the last 20 years in New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina kicked him out, and with…
Crazy – The Demo Sessions
There once was a time when Willie Nelson was just another starving songwriter trying to make it in music city. Stories abound of songs he tried to sell for $50. During the early…
Lefty Williams – Snake Oil
31-year-old Jason Williams was born with a right arm that stopped a little below his elbow. Not many in that condition would pick guitar. But pick it up he did, and pick he…
The Ian Siegal Band – Meat and Potatoes
The Ian Siegal Band – Meat and Potatoes Ian is a big deal with blues fans in Europe, including Jeff Beck and Ronnie Wood. One listen to Meat and Potatoes makes it easy…
Dio and Ronnie James Dio
He produced wicked imagery, epic theatricality, and wielded an uncanny personal connection to his audience. And then there was the voice. The late Ronnie James Dio was the greatest metal vocalist of his…
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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
Spirit
Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus
He was a teenaged guitar hero, played the first legato-shred solo James – a.k.a. young Jimi Hendrix. Yet today, few remember the late Randy California or his vastly underrated band, Spirit. Let’s change…
Stan Martin: Long Nights
You’d think guitar man Kenny Vaughan had been playing with this combo for years. He has musical history with the rhythm section of drummer Dave Roe and bassist Jerry Roe. But it’s a…
Andy Cohen
Earwig
In his liner notes, William Lee Ellis (a formidable folk-blues performer in his own right) calls Cohen “the bestkept secret in folk music.” Indeed, two or three songs into this collection should be…
Country Joe and the Fish
Country Joe and The Fish were one of the most original, eclectic, and just plain good San Francisco bands of the mid to late ’60s. Joe McDonald, in particular, wrote songs that were…
Dennis Jones
Soft Hard & Loud
On Soft Hard & Loud, Dennis Jones continues to push the boundaries of blues-rock guitar. With lyrics saturated by the cold, hard slap of reality and a love of black musical repertoire, Jones…
Check This Action: Bluegrass, Newgrass, Whograss
One night in 1976, I drove into San Francisco with no agenda other than to hear music. I passed by the always reliable Great American Music Hall, which was primarily a jazz club.…
Merle Haggard – Roots, Vol. 1
Norm Stephens isn’t a household name, even to country music fans who have no doubt heard his guitar playing. But to Merle Haggard, Stephens – the original guitarist behind Hag’s biggest influence, Lefty…
Tedeschi Trucks Band feat. Trey Anastasio
Layla Revisited
A live recording of Derek & the Dominos’ masterpiece? Featuring Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi – plus Doyle Bramhall, II and Trey Anastasio on guitars? Did Christmas come early? The answer is, resoundingly,…
J.W. Jones – Bluelisted
On his latest album, Jones proves a master of several styles of American music, and is joined by other impressive guitarists to purvey it. Jones goes toe-to-toe with Little Charlie Baty and Junior…
Tim Fitzgerald’s Full House
The Wes Montgomery Project
Guitarist Fitzgerald’s first major Montgomery effort was the book 625 Alive: The Wes Montgomery BBC-TV Performance Transcribed, which offered an annotated, curated exploration of the jazz icon’s legendary 1965 British TV performance. Full…
Brian Wright
Sugar Hill
Brian Wright draws on the stylistic legacies of an eclectic bunch of influences, some quite obvious. There’s no mistaking his debt to classic Velvet Underground in “Striking Matches,” but less obvious is the…
2Frontiers
New Old West
Categories can be bandied about – catchalls like Americana or alt this or that – but this is basically old-timey Appalachian music, and done very well. The set of originals features Gregory Mulkern,…
Kilborn Alley – Tear Chicago Down
Blues Bella Records
The Libertines
Up The Bracket 20th Anniversary Edition
Elvis Presley
Guitar Royalty
Should you ever forget why the King is the King, this ultimate boxed set of Elvis’ 57 albums and soundtracks, plus three CDs of rarities and outtakes, will set you straight all over…
Marillion
Misplaced Childhood
Progressive rock suffered an ignominious death in the ’80s, perhaps deservedly. That didn’t stop a few British bands from pushing onward, notably Marillion, which found a sweet spot on its third album, 1985’s…
Tim Mahoney
Self-distributed
Tim Mahoney’s latest work combines elements of heavy-metal power pop with ethereal folk ballads, and his mix of guitar raunch and lyricism makes for an addictive musical cocktail. Musically, Mahoney is something of…
Dorado Schmitt – Family
Dreyfus Jazz
French Gypsy jazz guitarist Dorado Schmitt reigns as one of the elder statesmen of the genre. He’s a regular on the Paris jazz scene, as well as touring far and wide – including…
Reverend Horton Heat – Revival
Revival
Sometimes its hard to tell whether the good Reverend Horton Heat is a musician, comedian, or conceptual artist. Revival attempts to define him in musical and cultural terms. His three-piece band burns through…
Check This Action: One Sax, Three Guitars
It starts with a tenor saxophone floating above spare electric guitar arpeggios. After a dipsy-doodle cadenza, the sax states a slow, deliberate melody and the guitar asserts itself more, while upright bass makes…
Pretenders – Pirate Radio (1979-2005)
Pretenders – Pirate Radio (1979-2005) Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders made an astonishingly large number of good records, and it’s sometimes easy to forget how good they were. That’s why boxed sets like…
Downchild – I Need A Hat
Linus Entertainment
Downchild is a Canadian blues band driven by blues maestro Donnie Walsh. Their new release is made up of originals written by Walsh that are tough and gritty in the best blues tradition,…
John Lennon – Rock ‘N’ Roll
In 1975, ex-Beatle Lennon paid homage to his rock and roll roots – something Paul McCartney wouldn’t get around to until 1999’s Run Devil Run. Lennon’s early-rock credentials were beyond repute, as anyone…
Pat Metheny – Imaginary Day Live
Eagle Eye Media
B.B. King: From Indianola to Icon
Charles Sawyer