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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
Donna The Buffalo – Silverlined
Some still think Jethro Tull is the name of that band’s lead singer. So was it wise for a band, especially one with a female lead singer, to name itself Donna The Buffalo?…
Pete Levin – Deacon Blues
Levin is a keyboard specialist who for the past few decades has played with the best in the business, including Paul Simon, Miles Davis, John Scofield, Robbie Robertson, David Sanborn, and plenty of…
Tony Rice – Night Flyer
The title is a bit misleading. Tony Rice has penned music and lyrics for a few songs (including the one that leads off this album), but the title refers to his interpretations of…
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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,
Andy Poxon
A former teen phenom, Andy Poxon is just now hovering around the legal drinking age with enough footage on the internet to chronicle his musical growth and development over the last half dozen…
Graham Parker – Songs of No Consequence
Graham Parker – Songs of No Consequence Man, it’s good to hear Graham Parker, and to know that age hasn’t dulled his pen – his lyrics challenge anything and everything that bothers him.…
Deke Dickerson
We’ve all dreamed the dream. Dozens, if not hundreds, of times. It generally revolves around trolling yard sales or pawn shops where you excitedly uncover a rare, dusty gem patiently waiting for a…
Tom Principato – Anniversary DVD: Celebrating 40 Years
Anniversary DVD: Celebrating 40 Years
Tom Principato is one of those guitarists who has been around for a long time. He’s on the fringe of lots of stuff, has played with tons of great guitarists, and makes pretty…
Tony Bacon – 50 Years of Fender – Half a Century of the Greatest Electric Guitars
In 1950, Leo Fender began production of the first solidbody electric guitar, and music hasn’t been the same since. Celebrating the anniversary of the event, this book provides a year-by-year chronicle of the…
Slick SL-52 and SL-56
Budget Riff Rockers
Since 2004, Guitarfetish has been selling instruments, parts, pedals, and accessories online. Their Slick guitar line – designed and built with input from guitarist Earl Slick – includes the offset SL-56 and single-cut…
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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
Russell Malone
MaxJazz
Triple Play is a trio record, with Russell Malone’s guitar being the only harmonic instrument. Many guitarists would shy from the challenge of keeping the harmony and melody while soloing. It’s not a…
Cage the Elephant – Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked
Brothers Brad and Matt Schultz had a rough youth in small-town Kentucky, where music, money and hope were hard to find. Growing up in an eventually broken home with six people squeezed into…
David Michael Miller
The latest record from David Michael Miller is a mixture of soul, gospel, blues, pop, funk, and everything in between. Sometimes multiple styles of music come together in the same song, as in…
Rick McRae- Guitarland
The retitled version of Johnny Gimble’s “Fiddlin’ Around” (“Pickin’ Around”) is a clue, but just going by the repertoire here – encompassing Jobim, Bonfa, Villa Lobos, Cole Porter, and Charlie Parker – one…
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,…
Ten Years After – The Anthology (1967-1971)
If you’re lucky enough to catch Ten Years After on classic rock radio these days, it’s likely the 1971 hit “I’d Love to Change the World.” As strong as that tune is, it…
Bob Dylan and the Band
Fans file it under Bob 101. Hunkered in the Catskills in 1967 after reportedly cracking up his Triumph motorcycle a year earlier, Dylan invited the rockabilly musicians who backed him on his…
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…
James Armstrong – Dark Night
James Armstrong comes back from an intruder attack in his own home to serve up a record brimming with blues fire. He can’t play guitar like he did in the past because of…
The Gourds
In October 2013, a mere month after releasing their 10th LP (and 19 years after forming), the Gourds announced that they were taking a hiatus. With the Austin, Texas, alt-country quintet’s new album…
Ron Thompson
Ron Thompson has been a fixture in the San Francisco blues scene for more than 40 years. But rather than gaining visibility and rocketing to stardom like, say, Robben Ford, he patiently paid…
Nels Cline
Lovers
Nels Cline has quite the musical resumé, and yet has always been hard to pin down. Whether doing some form of fusion, manning the lead-guitar chair in Wilco, or serving up dissonance and…
Andy Timmons
Electric Truth
Is there life after success in a glam-metal band? Many guitarists were asking themselves that question after the scene fizzled in the ’90s. Most blamed grunge. Danger Danger’s Andy Timmons never had to…
Pink Floyd & The Dark Side of the Moon
Martin Popoff
This book marks the 50th anniversary of Pink Floyd’s masterwork – composer/bassist Roger Waters’ meditation on madness set over angsty, slow-tempo rock. The narrative digs into the weeds of their 1973 breakthrough, accompanied…
Joe Bonamassa
From the opening notes of “Slow Train” to the echo of the last note of “Prisoner,” modern blues guitarslinger Joe Bonamassa’s Dust Bowl is a masterpiece. Bonamassa has released 11 previous solo albums…
Tom Walsh and John King
C.F. Martin’s ukuleles have long been the standard by which all others were judged. Though bookcases brim with books about Martin guitars, the merest mention of the company’s extraordinary ukes has been largely…
R.L. Burnside – Mr. Wizard & Acoustic Stories
R.L. Burnside plays guitar like the world is coming to an end. His electric sounds follow in the boogie-drone style of John Lee Hooker and Fred McDowell, but take the blues over the…
Wes Montgomery
There’s not a lot more that can be said about Wes Montgomery that hasn’t already been said. But new recordings keep surfacing, almost demanding more superlatives about his playing. Suffice it to say…
The Rolling Stones
Chrome Dreams/MVD
Despite the title, the focus of this “unauthorized” Stones documentary is not directly on Mick Taylor nor his guitar playing, but a general analysis of the band’s heyday. That said, there’s a lot…
Newport Folk Festival – Best of Bluegrass 1959-1966
Before Farm Aid, Telluride, or even Woodstock, there was the Newport Folk Festival. Begun in the late ’50s, this yearly gathering molded and defined a generation’s tastes in music. It was the all-star…
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…
