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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
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…
Blue Lunch
Bob Frank’s Band Blue Lunch prowls the musical alleys haunted by the spirits of Bill Doggett, Dave Bartholomew, and the Five Royals, whose “Monkey Hips and Rice” makes for some of the finest…
Roy Jay
Roy Jay’s music flutters between swaggering suburban bar blues to California country/rock; sometimes within a single song, as on “Fatal Mistake.” But he’s a good player, with a fine acoustic sound (“John Brown”),…
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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
Ian and Silvia – The Complete Vanguard Studio Recordings
The Complete Vanguard Studio Recordings
I suppose some husband-and-wife singing duos were more influential than Ian and Silvia, but I’m hard-pressed to think of any. Their combined voices have a power and energy that is unique: instead of…
Doc Watson – Best of Sugar Hill
Doc Watson is such an icon of American music and the country and bluegrass fields that it would be impossible to point to one recording and pin down his best work. This collection…
Dierks Bentley
Capital Records
From the outside, one could easily judge Dierks Bentley’s music too slick, his status as merely a phenom on country radio. But Up On The Ridge might slap you up-side the head. Recorded…
Paul Burch
Blue Yodelin'
Meridian, Mississippi, was Jimmie Rodgers’ birthplace and the starting point for Paul Burch’s “imagined musical autobiography” of the Father of Country Music. In these 20 songs and musical interludes, he draws a rich,…
Bob Marley & the Wailers
Ume/Tuff Gong
For such a guitar-driven genre, reggae doesn’t get many props from the six-string community, though its offbeat-chord trademark is as much a part of the rock lexicon as anything. For proof, check out…
Barney Kessel
Stompin’
A year after Barney Kessel began recording his now-landmark material for Contemporary Records, he performed at Phoenix’s Jazz Mill backed by the house band, the Jazz Millers. The event was captured on a…
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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,
John Thomas
Intrigued by that “Only A Gibson Is Good Enough” decal on the headstock of his World War II-era Gibson Southern Jumbo, musician and writer John Thomas began delving into the story behind the…
Robben Ford – In Concert Revisited
The premise of the Autour Du Blues DVD was to stage a transatlantic blues summit for the 25th anniversary of Paris’ New Morning club in December ’06, teaming the group of France’s studio…
Jerry Garcia, David Grisman, and Tony Rice – The Pizza Tapes
This material came from the first Tone Poems sessions at David Grisman’s studios, and its title came from the fact the master was allegedly stolen from Jerry Garcia’s kitchen table by a pizza…
The Andy Poxon Band
Poxon might present a dilemma for some listeners. He was only 16 years old when this material was recorded, and considering the mix of blues, country, rock, and funk he presents, it’s easy…
Andreas Oberg – My Favorite Guitars
If you were to judge this disc by its cover, you might think something was fishy; a handsome Swedish guy with a leather jacket and t-shirt, guitar thrown over his shoulder… Yeah, right!…
Little Milton – Greatest Hits
I love Little Milton. I have since I first heard “Feel So Bad.” Any song that starts with the lines “Feel so bad..like a ball game on a rainy day” is alright with…
Big Head Todd and the Monsters – Crimes of Passion
Big Head Todd and the Monsters have been around, and been a part of several music scenes. They were “the next big thing” in the early ’90s, with a hit record and a…
Joanna Connor
Best Of Me
With a decades-long career and a boatload of albums to her credit, slide queen Joanna Connor is no stranger to blues, rock, pop, soul, and the acoustic-folk tradition. On her new album, fans…
B.B. King & Friends – 80
B.B. King & Friends – 80 To mark his 80th birthday, the King of the Blues has cut an album of duets with friends old and new. The gimmick is nothing new, but…
The Slambovian Circus of Dreams
Here is a “best of” album by a band that’s not exactly a household name, nor does it have any hit songs. But don’t let that dissuade you. They’re a tight ensemble that…
Taste
Taste was a criminally short-lived Irish blues-rock trio in the late ’60s, featuring bassist Richard McCracken, drummer John Wilson, and the extraordinary guitar and vocals of Rory Gallagher. They played 1970’s infamous Isle…
The Grascals
Cracker Barrell Records
The Grascals understand that making music professionally is a business, and strategic partnerships are part of being successful. On The Grascals + Friends they partner with some of the biggest names in country…
Kim Wilson – Lookin’ For Trouble
Lookin' For Trouble
Styx
Crash of the Crown
BreaBreaking While 2017’s concept album The Mission embraced progressive rock, the new Styx album has even higher ambitions. Returning to their guitar/keyboard-fueled ’70s style, the band takes prog’s grandest elements and condenses them…
Dio
There’s his music, his style, and his metal-culture influence. But above all, Ronnie James Dio is responsible for creating one indelible symbol – the flashing of the goat horns. Rhino has now released…
Adrian Quesada
Boleros Psicodélicos
Grammy-winning guitarist/producer Adrian Quesada and his band, Black Pumas, opened for the Stones on their last tour, providing a scintillating vision of modern rock and roll alongside the classics. Now, Quesada injects a…
Big Star
Shining Even Brighter
Big Star’s star shone only briefly. The band formed in Memphis in 1971 around guitarists-songwriters Chris Bell and Alex Chilton, and then blazed out by ’74 despite rave critical reviews and two stellar…
The Beau Brummels
Turn Around: The Complete Recordings (1964-1970)
In the mid ’60s, this Bay Area band straddled British Invasion, garage rock, and emerging psychedelic sounds. More important, they cut some of the most sophisticated rock and roll of the time, thanks…
Crown Lands
Fearless
This Canadian duo doesn’t disguise its Rush fanaticism. The obvious parallel is Greta Van Fleet, and what that quartet did for Led Zeppelin, Crown Lands does for Rush. On the 18-minute “Starlifter: Fearless…
Tony Holiday
Motel Mississippi
Following his two volumes of Porch Sessions collaborations with artists Lurrie Bell, Bobby Rush, Charlie Musselwhite, and the two Kids – Ramos and Andersen – the Memphis-based Holiday presents a fully realized, intriguing…
The Yardbirds – Birdland
Birdland
It’s hard not to be skeptical over every “reunion” that comes along when you’ve got Toad The Wet Sprocket reuniting after all these years – five to be exact. If that’s a reunion,…
Andy Timmons Band
To translate one of the touchstones of popular music is not something most guitarists would attempt, but Timmons and his trio take the Beatles’ classic and turn it into an instrumental rock album…
Larry Carlton/Steve Lukather – No Substitutions
No Substitutions
Grateful Dead
Road Trips, Vol. 1 No.4: From Egypt With Love