• Smith/Kotzen

    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

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Greg “Freddy” Camalier

To the rest of the world, the Swampers are best known from the cryptic verse in Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama.” And while they might have picked up Mr. Van Zant when he…

Alan Ravenscroft

This rockumentary delves into the career of the enigmatic Deep Purple guitar hero, from his early ’60s session work through Deep Purple, Rainbow, and recent work with Blackmore’s Night. Beer in hand, Ritchie…

Santana

This lineup reunites Carlos Santana with guitarist Neal Schon and other members of the 1970–1973 Santana band, reigniting their unique mix of Latin-rock, soul, jazz-rock fusion, and heavy Afro-Cuban beats. Listen to “Shake…

Homemade Jamz Blues Band – Pay Me No MInd

Two of pop music’s finest – Steve Winwood and Alex Chilton – hit the big time while still in their teens; Stevie Wonder even earlier, and Shuggie Otis and Kenny Wayne Shepherd were…

Stephen Stills – Man Alive!

Stephen Stills – Man Alive! Stephen Stills hasn’t released a solo record since the early ’90s. He says it took so long for this one because he kept giving songs to Graham Nash…

Guthrie Trapp

Life After Dark

Guthrie Trapp has spent the last couple decades in Nashville, supporting major acts in the studio and on the road. His second solo album shows he’s learned plenty of lessons, because while this…

Boss DD-200 Digital Delay

Test For Echo

Delay pedals are essential, but there are so many different types – tape, reverse, tap, cascade, shimmer, analog and more. What if you could get all of them in one box, without breaking…

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,…

Golden State-Lone Star Blues Revue

Welcome to a cross-country meeting of blues minds. The first release from this group of veteran California and Texas bluesmen features guitarists Little Charlie Baty, an Alabama-to-California transplant grounded originally in Chicago blues…

John Scofield

Uncle John’s Band

Cue up the title cut and admire John Scofield’s chord-melody approach to the Grateful Dead’s 1971 FM hit. While Sco’ has previously worked in the Dead universe (with bassist Phil Lesh), this is…

Eric Johnson: Collage

As the title suggests, Eric Johnson’s latest album is indeed a collage. There are covers ranging from B.B. King to the Chantays, and classic Johnson instrumentals à la Ah Via Musicom. It’s wide…

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…

Glen Campbell & Jimmy Webb

It’s no surprise, given Glen Campbell’s 2011 Alzheimer’s diagnosis and his lengthy Farewell Tour, that music and video from the past are emerging, like this 1983 Canadian TV show he did with songwriter…

Duke Robillard Band

They Called it Rhythm & Blues

Robillard, his guitar, and band preside over a celebration of classic R&B and blues made up of 18 familiar and obscure numbers aided by heavy-hitting guests. Instrumentally, he remains a model of brevity…

Vinnie Moore

Double Exposure

Neoclassical shredder Vinnie Moore’s latest features vocals for the first time. Double Exposure is a heavy-rock record saturated with funky overtones and a high degree of guitarmanship. Joined by vocalists Keith Slack, Ed…

Sonny Landreth – Levee Town

Let’s just say it. Sonny Landreth is one of the best slide guitarists in the history of rock and roll. The title cut, which opens the album, is proof of that. After a…

Michael Burks – Iron Man

Michael “Iron Man” Burks isn’t the first or last talented musician to have to work a straight gig for most of his adult life, delaying the doing of what he was obviously born…

Ian Hunter – Man Overboard

New West Records

Ian Hunter is on a roll. His 2007 disc, Shrunken Heads, was an amazing set of music that put the one-time Mott the Hoople head man back on the list of great songwriter/singers.…

The Band – The Last Waltz DVD and CD Boxed Set

If there were ever a group of musicians for whom the term “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts” fit like a glove, it was The Band. Perhaps even more…

Various Artists – Ruf Records 12 Year Anthology

Ruf Records’ mix of blues, soul, and rock can be a welcome addition to any record collection, and this CD/DVD expands its reach. The CD features 13 cuts from the likes of Aynsley…

Sean Wheeler

Sand In My Blood

During the lounge craze of the ’90s, one of the best groups was Virginia’s Useless Playboys. They became favorites at the Continental Club in Austin, where guitarist Billy Pitman eventually moved, leading to…

Jeff Beck

Portait of the Guitarist As A(n Older) Man

After years of on and off seclusion, Jeff Beck miraculously morphed into a road warrior this past decade. His tour with ZZ Top last year provided the raw material for this new live…

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…

Dr. Feelgood

Finally available in America, Julien Temple’s superb documentary follows the brief career of England’s late, great Dr. Feelgood, Temple employing his trademark technique of mashing up new interviews with archival and fictive footage,…

Jimmy “Duck” Holmes

Mississippi Blues Holdout

The unique and insular Bentonia style may be the deepest and darkest of all blues. Skip James personified the music: he sang haunted songs in an eerie, high-pitched voice that would send a…

Ry Cooder et. al. – Buena Vista Social Club

Ry Cooder has big ears. He hears music from far away, music that most of us never even sense. And he brings it to us. Spreading the gospel, as it were. Through his…

Speedy West and Jimmy Bryant – Swingin’ On The Strings, Volume 2

This is a followup to the fine Stratosphere Boogie collection from ’95, and like that one, it defies description. I can’t imagine listeners reactions to this stuff when they first heard it back…

  • Yes

    Yes

    Close to the Edge: Super Deluxe Edition

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion

Shout Factory

Jon Spencer formed his Blues Explosion ensemble in New York City in 1991. The band was instantly hated and beloved; purists saw them as treading on age-old blues traditions with no respect. Others…

The Yardbirds – Ultimate

The Yardbirds: Ultimate

Two fallacies that invariably arise in discussions of the Yardbirds: 1) declaring them the fathers of psychedelic music and/or heavy metal; 2) focusing on their colossal lead guitar lineage at the expense of…

THE ATOMIC BITCHWAX – II

Ed Mundell – my choice for Guitar God 2001. Although Mundell, lead guitarist for Monster Magnet (his day gig) and the Atomic Bitchwax (his side gig), might lack name recognition, he certainly doesn’t…