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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
Devi
True Nature Records
Devi is a rock trio led by singer/ guitarist Debra, and the band shows an affinity for good songs with strong, melodic hooks. The mix includes pop, rock, folk, psychedelica, and everything in-between.…
Eric Bibb – Diamond Days
Bibb is a fine guitarist and singer, and here proves a very capable songwriter. It’s hard to pin him down – you could call him a folk singer, but his blues and pop…
Viva
Guitarist and singer Viva DeConcini’s last record, Rock and Roll Lover, was a stunning collection of eclectic songs that fit together perfectly even though stylistically they ran the gamut from loud rock and…
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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,
The Gourds – Blood of the Ram
The Gourds may be the most dangerous band in America. They aren’t hazardous to your bodily health, but they can certainly cause pain and consternation to your cerebral cortex, especially if you have…
Father John Misty
Upping The Ante
In 2012, Josh Tillman, former drummer of the much-lauded Fleet Foxes, released his first album as Father John Misty. Presenting tales of Laurel Canyon excess, narcissism, and self-loathing, Fear Fun was itself a…
Brent Mason – Hot Wired
Some of you know Brent Mason because he’s one of the most-heard guitarists in the world. A mainstay on the Nashville scene, he has played on hundreds of recent country hits. That said,…
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…
Wes Montgomery: His Life and His Music
Oliver Dunskus
You don’t have to be a bebopper thumbing a Gibson L-5 to appreciate the music of Wes Montgomery – arguably the greatest jazz guitarist of all time. While his fan base includes Carlos…
Jerry Krahn – No Wires Attached
No Wires Attached
Chances are you haven’t heard of Jerry Krahn. He’s from Milwaukee, but has spent the past 12 years in Nashville. He’s worked with bands like the Titan Hot Seven, the Time Jumpers, and…
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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
Bob Dylan
Judas!
Breaking out of the box and kicking down barriers seems the first item on the daily to-do list for many Nobel laureates, but it’s probably fair to say only Bob Dylan was booed…
Shawn Lane – All For Today
All For Today
Being part of a successful band can be a mixed blessing. You work regularly and play your music for a large audience, but because it is a band, you can only stray so…
Son Volt
The 20-year nostalgia arc rewards alt-country fans with a glorious expanded (37 more tracks!) reissue of what remains one of the subgenre’s quintessential releases. In ’95, Jay Farrar formed Son Volt following the…
Jason Jordan – Genuine Vinyl
It seems new really good Tele players keep poppin’ up. Here’s another one. Jason doesn’t waste any time, getting going with the opener, “Picky, Picky, Picky.” It’s a medium-tempo country tune with cool…
Felix Martin
Sometimes six strings just ain’t enough. Venezuelan Berklee alum Felix Martin uses 14 and sometimes 16 strings to explore the contrapuntal galaxy of progressive melody and rhythm. Sounding like a Chapman Stick player,…
Check This Action: Remembering David Lindley
Much has been written about David Lindley since the 78-year-old passed away on March 3 of complications from long Covid. The ultimate sideman, proficient on seemingly any instrument with strings, he was best…
Andy Wood
Charisma
On Andy Wood’s fourth solo effort, the Nashville guitarist combines imaginative compositions with guitarmanship that merges technical ability, emotion, polish, and feel. Bear witness to the swift country chromatics, soul-tugging ballads, blues-rock, pastoral…
Jim Lauderdale
Hope
Inspired by the pandemic, veteran singer/songwriter Lauderdale stresses resiliency and renewal on these 13 originals, enhanced along the way by several of Nashville’s finest guitarists. Chris Scruggs stands out on several tracks; his…
Slim Harpo
Baby Scratch My Back
Good times are rarely so good as when James Moore – a.k.a. Slim Harpo – is leading the proceedings. And this vinyl reissue of his 1966 Excello LP comes timed perfectly to lift…
The Yawpers
Boy In A Well
The Yawpers’ latest finds the raucous Denver trio playing it a bit against the beery roots-rock type, instead presenting (of all things) a song cycle concerning a mother who has given up her…
Roky Erickson – Halloween
The story of the former singer of Texas’ 13th Floor Elevators was well known to rock fans, who’d given him up for lost prior to his miraculous comeback of the past few years.…
Yarn
UFO
On its third album, this Brooklynbased country/roots band pushes further into the darker side of Americana. Guitarist/lead vocalist Blake Christiana guides the band, with Trevor MacArthur on guitar and vocals, Andrew Hendryx on…
Tiny Moore & Jethro Burns – Back To Back
The original 1979 Kaleidoscope edition of this album is labeled “country” on allmusic.com. Which should come as no surprise; musicians have been stereotyped by their resumes (or in this case part of their…
Live at the Fillmore East 1969
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
A veritable holy grail, this recording from CSNY’s first tour captures their harmonies in amber. Better, the integrity of the audio has been strenuously maintained, as guitarists Neil Young and Stephen Stills helped…
Buck Page – Right Place To Start
There have been more than one group known as the Riders Of The Purple Sage (not counting country-rock’s New Riders Of The Purple Sage). In 1936, Buck Page was a founding member of…
Nora Jane Struthers
Blind Pig Music
Nora Jane Struthers knows how to twist a murder ballad. On the opening cut on her debut album she whisks us to the banks of the Ohio, where we experience the song from…
Chris Duarte – Blue Velocity
It’s great to hear a plain-old guitar record. They used to be all over the place, but these days not so much. And while I’ve always been a Duarte fan, here he seems…
Don Stiernberg with Rusty Holloway and Jeff Jenkins
Blue Night Records
Many musicians play swing, but few swing with the authenticity of Don Stiernberg, with whom the expression “Dig your well deep” comes to mind. On Swing 220, Stiernberg is joined by Jeff Jenkins…
Steve Khan
After a career of close to 40 years, Steve Khan now delivers Subtext, a mesmerizing Latin-jazz offering. But don’t assume that this is just another retro-Bossa album. The compositions, chord work, and improvisations…
Tinsley Ellis
Devil May Care
The pandemic largely torpedoed Tinsley Ellis’ tour dates in support of the excellent Ice Cream in Hell, so the veteran bluesman retreated to his Atlanta base and began tinkering with guitars, amplifiers, tones,…
For One Who Waits
Mitch Seidman is a jazz player of impeccable taste and tone. His last record, Triangulation, used the same trio as here: Jamie McDonald on acoustic bass and Claire Arenius on drums. The three…
