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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
Dick Dale – Better Shred than Dead: The Dick Dale Anthology
Well, what needs to be said about this? The King of the Surf Guitar at his finest. This covers 1959 to 1996 and hits all the high points. All the tunes are here,…
Junior Wells – Keep On Steppin’: The Best of Junior Wells
The recent death of Junior Wells marked the end of an era, leaving behind his legacy and lots of great music. This “best of” CD draws from Wells’ four previous Telarc releases, all…
Kim Wilson – Smokin’ Joint
This CD, recorded over a two-year period, spotlights the world class work of the legendary T-Birds frontman, but of interest to the readers of this publication would be the four – count ’em,…
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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,
Lyle Brewer
Even when Lyle Brewer covers standards, he makes the song his own. His last couple albums have been filled with familiar songs given the Brewer treatment. With his latest, we get a record…
Gentle Giant
Alucard/EMI
Gentle Giant was one of the great, eccentric British bands of the ’70s. They blended FM rock with Elizabethan madrigals and baroque chamber music, plus generous dollops of Celtic folk and jazz-fusion. Apart…
Grateful Dead – Live at Cow Palace
The Grateful Dead was an electric jug band with more in common musically with Jim Kweskin than Jimi Hendrix. On this new three-CD set, you can hear this ultimate jam band at its…
Chris Duarte – Love Is Greater Than Me
Love Is Greater Than Me
Chris Duarte is a great guitarist. Of the current crop of players aspiring to the permanently vacated Texas chair, Chris’ stuff rises closest to the top. In concert, his chops are endless and…
Ronnie Earl & the Broadcasters
Stony Plain Records
Starting like a number of instrumental albums Ronnie Earl has produced over the past 15 years, this one opens with a mid-tempo (Albert Collinspenned) track, then slows for some blues and a cool…
Brad Paisley – Play
Brad Paisley’s albums have been admirably consistent, emphasizing vocals, of course, but usually spiced by a couple great Telecaster workouts. In the case of Play, five of the 16 tracks are vocals, the…
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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
The Highwaymen
Columbia/Legacy
The first group of Highwaymen was a folk ensemble that flourished in the early ’60s. The Highwaymen of this release were a Traveling-Wilburys-type aggregate of four of country music’s biggest stars and songwriters…
John Mellencamp – Freedom’s Road
This release was surrounded by a scary amount of hype. And the Chevy commercials on TV that forced “Our Country” down our throats seemed a harbinger of bad things. Mellencamp, of course, can…
Arlen Roth & Jerry Jemmott
Super Soul Session
Roth is well-known for his “Hot Licks” instructional videos and method books. But his career is far from academic, having toured and recorded with Bob Dylan, Duane Eddy, and John Sebastian, devoted albums…
Rob Blaine
The liner notes for this are on-target when they say Rob Blaine yanks “big chunks” of music from his guitar. But that’s not the whole story. Yes, he can channel Freddie King, Jimi…
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…
Jellyroll – Hep Cats Holiday
Jump blues are like licorice: if you like it, you can’t get enough. Jellyroll satisfies the craving with a cool selection of 12 classic tunes, from “Is You Is Or Is You Ain’t…
Guy Forsythe
Call this music “Americana,” if you have to put a label on it. The opener, “Red Dirt,” establishes straight away the muscular Midwestern quality that reflects Guy Forsythe’s musical coming of age in…
The Go-Go’s
Alison Ellwood (director)
When Police drummer Stewart Copeland discovers the Go-Go’s are not in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, he’s incredulous. “The most important aspect of musicianship is feel,” Copeland declares in this 90-minute…
Dutch Henry – All That Space
Dutch Henry writes the kind of soaring pop-rock that while never being completely out of fashion probably won’t be Top 40 any time soon. The title cut is a bouncy pop piece, much…
Play It Loud
This new history of the electric guitar should be required reading for all guitarists. And a joyful one at that. Subtitled “An Epic History of the Style, Sound, & Revolution of the Electric…
Steve Morse Band – Split Decision
Split Decision
It’s hard to believe that the Steve Morse Band is nearly 20 years old. Formed in the wake of the Dixie Dregs’ 1983 breakup, the SMB has long served as a forum for…
Joe Pass – Resonance
In the history of jazz there have no doubt been numerous creative rolls like the one the late Joe Pass experienced in the early 1970s. But in Pass’ case, his DiMaggio-like streak was…
Steve Smith, George Brooks, Prasanna
Abstract Logix
Before joining Journey in 1978, Steve Smith drummed on jazz violinist Jean-Luc Ponty’s Enigmatic Ocean, and before he left the band in ’83, he had already formed the fusion group Vital Information. The…
Duke Robillard – A Swing Lesson with Duke Robillard
Stony Plain
Duke continues his impressive output with a nod to his swing roots. Among guitarists, Robillard is known as a do-all, as he can be at home in almost any musical style, not only…
Eric Clapton
Still Slowhand
There’s a lot of looking back going on here. For his 23rd solo album, Eric Clapton reunites with producer Glyn Johns, who not only worked with the Rolling Stones on Sticky Fingers and…
Geoff Muldaur – The Guitar Artistry Of
Vestapol/Rounder
When an 18-year-old Geoff Muldaur cut his first album – 1963’s Sleepy Man Blues for Prestige – you could practically count on your fingers the number of white performers recording blues – Koerner,…
Daniel de Visé
King of the Blues: The Rise and Reign of B.B. King
Sixty years, 90 countries, 15,000 concerts – and that tally doesn’t include B.B. King’s early years of juke joints, radio broadcasts, and street-corner serenades. Over the years, Riley “Blues Boy” King became the…
Mark Chesnutt
Saguaro Road
In the ’90s, Mark Chesnutt had a string of 21 Top 10 singles, eight of them topping Billboard’s country chart. He played George Jones (hailing from the Possum’s hometown of Beaumont, Texas) on…
The Routes
Mesmerised
Color the Routes’ mastermind Chris Jack’s music how you like: vintage-y, psychedelia, joyfully and unapologetically garage. But be sure to color it outside the lines. Jack is a musical mad scientist. Each release…
Eric Johnson
EMI/Vortexan
The notoriously slow-to-record Johnson follows up his 2005 set, Bloom, with a solid album that should please his guitar-loving fanbase. Where Bloom was an oddly diverse collection of FM rock and vintage soul,…
Allen Toussaint
Think of New Orleans rock and roll and R&B, and icons such as Fats Domino, Professor Longhair, Dr. John, the Meters, and the Neville Brothers come to mind. As songwriter, producer, arranger, or…
Sloan – Parallel Play
Beyond "Just" Hooks