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Music
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
Sam Bush and David Grisman – King of My World
If you see Sam Bush perform live, the first thing you’ll notice is what a wonderful time he has on stage. Few performers enjoy playing music as much as Sam, and it shows.…
Jethro Tull
Released in the summer of 1969, Stand Up was Tull’s first album with guitarist Martin Barre and showed them honing their blend of proto-hard rock and heavy blues, psychedelic, and folk-rock ideas, the…
Coco Montoya – I Want It All Back
Ruf Records
Fans familiar with Coco Montoya’s blistering guitar work and gruff vocals are in for a surprise when they hear I Want It All Back, on which Montoya serves up music tilted to traditional…
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Paul Johnson
The Hepcats Live at the Ajax Novelty Company
This isn’t live, there may not be an Ajax Novelty Company, and the three felines known as the Hepcats are actually the brainchild of Paul Johnson, whose Belairs were early-’60s pioneers of surf music. Suspend reality and dig how the “trio” expertly articulates layers of acoustic guitar. Across decades, Johnson has embraced folk-rock, psychedelia, and
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Yes
Close to the Edge: Super Deluxe Edition
Are you a high-fidelity audio geek? If the answer is, well, yes, this Rhino release brings together an HD experience of Close to the Edge in no fewer than four versions, plus rarities and a ’72 concert. For starters, the 2025 remaster sounds as close to the analog 1972 mix as you’re going to get
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Pink Floyd
Have You Got It Yet? – The Story of Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd
It’s understandable that fans warily approach the flood of pseudo-documentaries and biopics. Add the fact that the late Syd Barrett, Floyd’s original guitarist/leader, suffered from mental illness, and exploitation alarms are sure to go off. But this documentary handles the subject with dignity instead of sensationalism. Interviews by longtime Floyd cover artist Storm Thorgerson with
The Mystick Krewe of Clearlight – Self Titled
Black Sabbath’s jamming with Deep Purple, but Ian Gillian and Ozzy are nowhere in sight (probably getting smashed at the bar), it’s 1972 New Orleans and swampy voodoo’s going down. Captain America and…
Toots and the Maytals – Light Your Light
News flash: Toots is sporting dreads! Since the dawn of his career in the mid 1960s, Frederick “Toots” Hibbert has sworn by a close-shaven head. And his music has remained close to its…
Ricky Skaggs with Kentucky Thunder – History of the Future
History of the Future
From the opening accapella vocal lines of “Shady Grove,” Ricky Skaggs’ History of the Future roars out of your speakers with full-throttle devil-be-damned, fire-breathing bluegrass. Clay Hess’ first guitar solo is so jaw-droppingly…
Michael Nesmith
Infinite Tuesday: Autobiographical Riffs
Aside from being in the Monkees, Mike Nesmith was a talented songwriter and key contributor to the birth of country-rock. His new autobiography, Infinite Tuesday, is accompanied by a 14-track CD retrospective and…
Robin Trower
No More Worlds to Conquer
You can depend on the prolific Robin Trower dropping a new album every year or two. Here, his blues-drenched vibrato and Strat-through-Marshall tone are front and center, peppered with an array of Fulltone…
Ernie Hawkins – Mean Little Poodle
Mean Little Poodle
Man, I love Ernie Hawkins. This is the third disc I’ve heard by him, and each one impresses more and more. There are very few individuals who play this stuff and make it…
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The Wildhearts
In the raging ’90s, The Wildhearts blasted out of Newcastle upon Tyne like some unholy melding of Guns ’N Roses, Cheap Trick, and The Replacements. Hard rock, power pop, and punk still make up their secret sauce, heard on this latest effort with original singer/guitarist Ginger Wildheart. Ben Marsden plays lead, while Kavus Torabi adds
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Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band
Honeysuckle
Resonator-slide specialist Reverend Peyton returns to his primary influences – early 20th-century African-American music – compelling him to shout from the hollers and the hills. Rootsy, acoustic, inter-war blues is the specific genre, and Peyton doesn’t hold back. With top-tier tutelage from the likes of David “Honeyboy” Edwards, T-Model Ford, and Robert Belfour, he masterfully
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Mike Campbell with Ari Surdoval
Heartbreaker: A Memoir
In his autobiography, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers guitarist Campbell admits he’s quiet and shy. Self-doubt plagued him his entire life, and when problems arose in the Heartbreakers, a lack of confidence had him blaming himself first, even when he wasn’t responsible. Perhaps his attitude was psychologically rooted in his impoverished childhood and coming from
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Alan Gogoll
Lioness Lullabies
Venture online and watch a few videos by Tasmanian guitarist Alan Gogoll and you’ll see he’s nothing short of a phenomenon. On acoustic, he conjures artificial harmonics in a manner that almost defies gravity. Better still, he never shows off these chops – everything on Lioness Lullabies is in the service of the song and
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Jimmy Vivino
Gonna Be 2 of Those Days
A veteran vocalist/guitarist/keyboardist and purveyor of blues, R&B, and rock’, Jimmy Vivino has an incredible résumé. A longtime fixture in Conan O’Brien’s house band, he has played on movie, radio, and Broadway projects and worked with Levon Helm, Hubert Sumlin, Al Kooper, Jimmie Vaughan, Donald Fagen, Warren Haynes, Laura Nyro, along with innumerable others. He’s
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Thin Lizzy
The Acoustic Sessions
Thin Lizzy’s first studio release in decades, this album reimagines tracks recorded 50+ years ago by the trio of vocalist/bassist Phil Lynott, guitarist Eric Bell, and drummer Brian Downey. The songs are from Lizzy’s first three albums – 1971’s Thin Lizzy, ’72’s Shades of a Blue Orphanage, and ’73’s Vagabonds of the Western World. Recently,
Rick Holmstrom – Hydraulic Groove
I really like it when artists take left turns. You know, shake things up a little bit. Well, Rick Holmstrom takes a sharp left here. You might know him as a groove-oriented, traditional…
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…
Tom Jones
Sir Tom Jones’ career was far from hurting , but 2010’s Praise & Blame earned him a new audience in unexpected circles. Those who begrudgingly allowed that he had a great voice “for…
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…
Albert King with Stevie Ray Vaughan
Stax Records
Every blues fan – and especially every Stevie Ray Vaughan fan – knows of this famous studio summit, which has long been available in various audio formats. Now, with a DVD, the package…
Biréli Lagr
Biréli Lagr
Chuck Berry
Hip-O-Select
1964 was a good year for Chuck Berry. He hit number 10 on the pop charts with “No Particular Place To Go,” number 14 with “You Never Can Tell” and did pretty well…
J&B Brothers
Different Mothers
Jeff Hasselberger and Bill Kaman are guitar-industry vets, but also genuine singer/songwriters and players. Like the best Texas music, it’s not easy to categorize their style in one tidy slot – it’s rock,…
Paul Asbell
On Chicago’s south side, Paul Asbell recorded and played with Howlin’ Wolf, Lightning Hopkins, John Lee Hooker, and other legendary greats, including holding down the rhythm guitar chair for the studio side of…
Dave Biller – LeRoy’s Swing
LeRoy’s Swing is a stylish collection of Djangocentric music played with a Texas twist. Biller’s backing band is modeled after Django’s wartime Nouveau Quintette, with clarinet (played here by Ben Saffer) replacing the…
Dumpstaphunk
The New Orleans funk ensemble known as Dumpstaphunk has been at it for a decade now. Led by Ivan Neville on keys, the band consists of Nikki Glaspie on drums and vocals, guitarist…
The Stone Age: Sixty Years of the Rolling Stones
Lesley-Ann Jones
Six decades is a long time to cover, especially for a band with a history as volatile as the Rolling Stones, but British author Jones brings a befitting wit, sarcasm, and snark. While…
Eliza Gilkyson – Lost and Found
Lost and Found
Buddy Emmons: Steel Guitar Icon
Steve Fishell
Jerrod Niemann
Jerrod Niemann is a successful songwriter whose tunes have been recorded by Garth Brooks, Jamey Johnson, and Blake Shelton. His 2010 Arista debut Judge Jerrod and the Hung Jury yielded a #1 single…
Sonic Youth – Goo (Deluxe Edition)
As we get older, reminders of the fact come fast and furious. The reissue of classic albums from our youth perhaps hits the hardest, as with this newly remastered deluxe edition of Sonic…
The Steepwater Band
Diamond Day Records
If you like your rock and roll loud and with no-frills, you’ll love The Steepwater Band. A trio with plenty of great influences, the 14 cuts on this live disc touch on blues,…
Gil Parris – Live at the Next Door Café
A live setting is the perfect place for Parris to show his stuff. A versatile and unique guitarist, he has been around and done some major-label work in the past. Now releasing his…
Raisin’ Cain: The Wild and Raucous Story of Johnny Winter
Backbeat Books
The biographer has a duty to get close to the subject in order to relay all the facts and get first-hand accounts of events while at the same time not getting so close…
Jubu Smith
Jubu
John “Jubu” Smith (Whitney Houston, Tony! Toni! Tone’!, Raphael Saadiq) has joined with seven-string renegade Charlie Hunter for an instrumental album doing what he does best – playing ultra-clean, hip, defiantly soulful modern…
Michael Franks – Watching the Snow
It’s the time of year when you may be looking to make a “Eclectic” addition to your collection of Christmas records. Michael Franks is the perfect complement for Christmas. Light pop-jazz with subtle…
Jack White
These 26 recordings delve into the heart of the prolific song-smithing of Jack White, providing an eye-opening retrospective of B-sides and re-imaginings, and insight into White’s muse. It also features the previously unreleased…
Laurence Jones
Ostensibly a blues artist, on his latest disc Laurence Jones sounds more like hybrid blues-rock acts such as Foghat and, notably, the Jon Butcher Axis. Jones follows Rory Gallagher, Jack Bruce, and Peter…
