• 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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Tab Benoit – The Sea Saint Sessions

The Sea Saint Sessions

Tab Benoit is one of those guys whose recordings get into my head, and I can’t get them out. It started in the early ’90s with a wonderful song called “Nice and Warm.”…

The Brothers Comatose Cover “Stickshifts and Safetybelts”

“Hardly Strictly Bluegrass” From San Francisco Here’s a dose of bluegrass flavor courtesy of The Brothers Comatose, playing a cover of Cake’s “Stickshifts & Safetybelts” from their “Ear Snacks” album. Guitarist Ben Morrison…

Steve Khan

Backlog

Steve Khan has spent the last few albums mixing Latin music and jazz. The project has worked beautifully, culminating in this effort that takes tunes from Thelonious Monk, Bobby Hutcherson, Ornette Coleman, Steve’s…

Bill Hullett – Two-Lane Blacktop

Okay, by now you’re all saying, “Does this guy listen to anything besides jazz?” Well, here’s a killer instrumental album featuring a veteran Nashville studio picker. Not only does Hullett put on a…

Frank Moriarty – Seventies Rock: A Decade of Creative Chaos

Seventies Rock: A Decade of Creative Chaos

It’s the music many of us grew up on. But it was different from the ’60s. The Beatles were over, Jimi and Janis were dead, and the feel-good ethos of Woodstock had given…

Paul Curreri – Are You Going to Paul Curreri

Those familiar with Curreri might be surprised to hear this live trio effort, where he plays his Fender Tele through the entire set! That’s certainly not a bad thing, as his style translates…

Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs

Vagabonds, Virgins & Misfits

It’s no shock the late Tom Petty’s right-hand man and MVP on Don Henley hits like “The Boys of Summer” and “The Heart of the Matter” would continue his superlative work. His latest…

Lee Rocker – Racin’ the Devil

Lee Rocker is best known as the bassist in the Stray Cats. He’s signed with Alligator, which appears to be expanding its scope with acts outside of blues, and here they’ve made a…

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers

Live at the Fillmore (1997)

Expanded from its origins as a radio broadcast, Live at the Fillmore captures Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers in transition, retreating from large arenas, music videos, and record-making in favor of a 20-show…

Steve Howe

It’s been 45 years since Steve Howe joined Yes, but in 1975, he launched a parallel solo career that’s still going strong. For this collection, Howe has picked 33 of his favorite solo…

Albert King, Little Milton, and more

This 10-disc set covers the final three years of Stax singles, a period when the iconic Memphis-based label was under new management and trying to broaden and expand too many directions at once,…

David Reinhardt, Levis Adel-Reinhardt & various artists

Label Ouest

In honor of the centenary of Django Reinhardt’s 1910 birth, the tribute albums are being released as quickly as Django ever played a two-fingered arpeggio. This one from France may be the most…

Ray Mason Band – Three Dollar Man

Three Dollar Man

This is very fun stuff. It’s only 10 short songs, but they’re all interesting and different. The slant for the most part is guitar-driven pop/rock of the best kind. Twangy guitars mix with…

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!…

Medeski, Scofield, Martin, & Wood

John Scofield long ago proved he can handle pretty much any musical situation he’s put in. The times he’s been thrown together with this funky trio have shown to be wonderful sessions brimming…

Flatt & Scruggs – Best of The Flatt and Scruggs TV Show

Before “Hullabaloo” or “Hootenany” there was the Grand Ole Opry, America’s first national country music show broadcast on the radio. Of course the Opry garnered a slew of imitators, and when television came…

Jim Suhler

Dallas native Jim Suhler has been splitting his time between leading his own group, Monkey Beat, and, since 1999, playing lead and rhythm guitar with George Thorogood and the Destroyers. His latest release,…

Otis Taylor

Otis Taylor has no concern for your discomfort with racial issues. It’s an artist’s duty to reflect the times, and there’s plenty to reflect upon. He skips the antiquated blues coding about devils…

Charlie Apicella

Organ-ized

The organ trio – or in the case of the Charlie Apicella album, the organ quartet – is alive and well. Each of these new releases features organ and guitar, and to anyone…

Drive By Truckers – The Dirty South

The Dirty South

I confess, these good ol’ boys have become one of my favorite rock and roll bands. There double-disc opus, Southern Rock Opera, was one of my favorite records from the past couple of…

Andy Babiuk and Greg Prevost

The rest of the world may be titillated by what the Stones smoked, shot, snorted, or ingested. But some of us have our priorities straight; we’re more concerned with what the band strummed…

Paul McCartney & Wings

As clearly as the “whole is greater than the sum of its parts” adage has been demonstrated by numerous great bands, it will never keep critics from harping on how each of the…

Edgar Winter

Brother Johnny – Allstar Tribute to Johnny Winter

Brother Johnny is a tribute to legendary Texas guitarist Johnny Winter. Masterminded by famed sibling Edgar Winter, the album is an entertaining odyssey into Johnny’s musical life, with help from talented guests; Kenny…

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…

Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators

Slash and his rock and roll posse have released their third solo album with Alter Bridge vocalist Myles Kennedy. This is a mean, heart-resuscitating rock machine with driving tempos, crunchy chord work, and…

Steve Khan – Borrowed Time

Steve Khan once again proves he’s among the top guitarists of his generation. Khan has always been a fine composer and writer, but here he penned just two cuts – the other seven…

Foley, Coleman, Potvin – Time Bomb

From the first notes of the title-track opener, this trio of guitarists leaves no doubt that this album is going to rock and roll. Sue Foley and Deborah Coleman need no introduction to…

  • Yes

    Yes

    Close to the Edge: Super Deluxe Edition

Dick Dale – King of the Surf

The Rosetta Stone of Dick Dale’s brand of surf guitar is 1962’s Surfer’s Choice, which, even though it was his first album, was largely a collection of the singles he’d already released on…

Kenny Burrell

Consistency has always been one of Kenny Burrell’s hallmarks – as in consistently great. Ironically, he’s almost taken for granted because of it. He was Duke Ellington’s favorite guitarist, cut his first session…

Drive By Truckers – The Dirty South

The Dirty South

I confess, these good ol’ boys have become one of my favorite rock and roll bands. There double-disc opus, Southern Rock Opera, was one of my favorite records from the past couple of…