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

Blue Steel
Along with his work with Jim Campilongo and others, San Francisco-based pedal steel guitarist Joe Goldmark has produced eight solo CDs (and three earlier vinyl albums) covering broad swaths of popular music, among…

Standing Proud
Loretta Lynn, who turned 84 this year, first became famous for her plain-spoken, proudly twangy hits in the ’60s and ’70s, many of the standout original compositions based on her life. Her best-selling…
Funzalo Records
If you had picked up Golden without hearing one of Tony Furtado’s previous 14 albums, you’d never guess he was once a banjo prodigy. After winning the National Bluegrass Banjo competition at 19,…
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,
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
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,
Playing seemingly anything with strings (including piano strings), the cumulative session credits of O’Brien and Scott include Suzy Boggus, Steve Earle, Trisha Yearwood, Mark Knopfler, Joan Baez, the Chieftains, and countless others. The…
Ray Mason – Old School Ray Mason’s music, while being full of wonderful chord changes, quiet vocals, and lyrics with discreet meaning, is also quirky and hard to define. On this disc, the…
BIG Records
It’s tough to pin a tag on the lapel of Big Head Todd and the Monsters. The band ably jumps from flat-out rock and roll to deep blues, even jazz, funk, and soulful…
Richard Leo Johnson – The Legend Of Vernon McAllister A fascinating, unexpected concept album of acoustic steel-string instrumentals. Johnson has been compared to Michael Hedges, and, like that late innovator, his music is…

If you’ve been feeling low on the Who, there’s a cornucopia of new releases, from video to music to an official book authored by Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey. And if that…

Wilco’s been around for more than a quarter-century, and this new pair of expanded releases goes all the way back to document the Jeff Tweedy-led outfit as they established their footing and then…
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,
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
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,
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
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,
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

With this Tex-Mex flavored blues album co-produced with Anson Funderburgh, another fine Texas blues guitarist, John Del Toro Richardson hits his stride. Think Los Lobos with the blues to Latino style ratio in…
Mountain had just one real hit – the two-and-a-half-minute blast of “Mississippi Queen” can still be heard on classic rock radio. And while it has a 12-bar structure, it isn’t a blues song.…
All My By Ownsome
It’s often said that music must move forward or die. But genres don’t evolve in a straight line – be they Joe Bonamassa paying homage to the Kings or the country blues of…
Original guitarist Charles Ray “Gypsy” Mitchell returns to the band from a decades-long break to open this new album with sweet, understated Pops Staples-like licks to underscore an eerie reading of Tim Maia’s…
Drift
Germany’s The Winston Brothers intercept, collate, codify, regurgitate, and return the sound of late-’60s instrumental funk to the country from which it spawned. The band’s first full-length LP, Drift, is a time machine…
On their fourth Sugar Hill release the Gibson Brothers have dialed back their high-energy bluegrass sound to focus on songs and lyrics rather than hot picking. The brothers hail from upstate New York,…

Of all the cool ’80s alternative rock bands, the loveable ramshackle jag-offs in the Replacements were the least likely to give a toss about, oh, anything much at all. That attitude permeated everything…
In his recent VG interview, Tim O’Brien mentioned that his next release would be more of a “songwriter” CD. Instead, his latest, Two Journeys, is an extension of his album, The Crossing, which…
Vanguard Records
Indigenous is a highenergy blues-rock band fronted by Mato Nanji, disciple of Vaughan and Hendrix; its sound is defined by the chugging rhythms and fat tones squeezed from his Stratocaster. For this album,…

Robert “Mack” McCormick
The legend of Robert Johnson looms large, from his music to the myth of the Faustian bargain made at the crossroads, and his death at 27, ostensibly murdered by poisoning. Author McCormick, who…
Delmark
Junior Wells released enough mediocre product in his lifetime that it’s easy to forget what a great stylist and showman the Chicago bluesman was. This hour-plus live set, recorded at Club 47 in…
For most of my generation, Dan Hicks was our first exposure to swing music that was anywhere near cool enough to be palatable. That he could slip into progressive rock radio playlists surrounded…
Live at Montreux 1983 & 1990

Bob Irwin, founder-owner of New York-based Sundazed Music and a rock and jazz guitarist for decades, has a guitar-centric mind. Part of the instrumental band the Pluto Walkers, Irwin, who now lives near…

Modern Master
No question, Tom Feldmann is a jewel of American guitarmanship, and his new album confirms the notion. As a player, he’s deeply rooted in the “interwar” Delta blues and gospel guitar of the…

Swearing On The Blues
David Bromberg likes to quote the great fiddler Johnny Gimble, who once famously said, “There’s only two kinds of music – ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ and the blues.” Suitably, Bromberg has devoted much of…
Billie's Bones
My fondness for Janis Ian comes as no surprise to longtime VG readers. My monthly column is named after one of her songs, and I have followed her career since I bought my…
Eagle Rock
Dubbed “The Best British Rock Concert of All Time,” the June, 1990, event featured most of the superstar U.K. acts of the day – Genesis, Pink Floyd, Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, Dire Straits,…
This is one of the most fun, most clever, and downright best CDs I’ve heard in a long time. I can’t even begin to describe what this Boston band does. Let’s say you…

Of all the cool ’80s alternative rock bands, the loveable ramshackle jag-offs in the Replacements were the least likely to give a toss about, oh, anything much at all. That attitude permeated everything…
Heartbreak Hill
Being an Albert Lee fan can be as frustrating as it is rewarding. Because, even though he’s invariably busy, touring behind somebody or playing on someone’s record, his jam-packed schedule doesn’t allow much…

Rise and Shine
Blues-rock phenom J.D. Simo and his band continue to push boundaries as they explore everything from slow-burn soul and psychedelia to greasy funk-blues that would make Albert King smile. This album also has…
Reunion! With John Clayton and Jeff Hamilton