• 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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Nathan East

Nathan East’s phone hasn’t stopped ringing in 40 years. Offered gigs with Quincy Jones, Eric Clapton, Michael Jackson, Beyoncé, and Daft Punk, he’s crisscrossed genres from pop to jazz. His smooth yet percolating…

Buddy Guy – Heavy Love & Buddy’s Blues 1979-82

Buddy Guy’s latest CD, Heavy Love, sounds like he’s doing his darndest to wrestle the blues guitarslinger crown back from the late, great Luther Allison. Before his death, Allison proved himself the hardest…

Duke Robillard Band

They Called it Rhythm & Blues

Robillard, his guitar, and band preside over a celebration of classic R&B and blues made up of 18 familiar and obscure numbers aided by heavy-hitting guests. Instrumentally, he remains a model of brevity…

Alison Brown Quartet – Replay

Replay

Acoustic jazz is one of those “difficult” musical categories that doesn’t get much attention. Most jazz fans won’t take seriously anything that lacks a horn, while folkies are intimidated by music where they…

Paul Priest

Self-distributed

The title references the “impact” of the guitar effects pedals made by Robert Keeley in making the album. That’s all fine and good, but more important is the fine music, propelled by the…

Firecracker – The Wailin’ Jennys

Firecracker – The Wailin’ Jennys The second release from the tri-girl musical aggregate from Canada proves that even with a new contributor (songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Annabelle Chvostek), the Jennys’ music is still very tasty. The…

Steve Trovato – About Time

Yikes! Talk about your chops, Steve Trovato’s got ’em. Known best on the West Coast as an instructor (Studio Jazz Guitar at USC) and for his work on movie and TV themes, Trovato…

Stéphane Wrembel

Djamming!

There’s plenty of Gypsy jazz guitarists who can play more notes at faster tempos than Django Reinhardt, but few can truly match the master in inventiveness, melody, and sheer swing. Stéphane Wrembel is…

Connie Smith

Love, Prison, Wisdom and Heartaches

Connie Smith’s career began with her ebullient 1964 hit “Once a Day,” now part of the Library of Congress’ prestigious National Recording Registry. Marty Stuart, Smith’s husband and producer since ’97, shaped her…

Eliza Gilkyson – Land of Milk and Honey

Ever since my freshman college film class, when I was forced to sit through Leni Reifenstal’s Triumph of the Will , the cinematic licking of Hitler’s jackboots, I’ve been painfully aware that art…

The Doors with Albert King

DMC/Rhino

Speaking of his work on David Bowie’s Let’s Dance, Steve Ray Vaughan once admitted that he wanted to see just how many places Albert King’s licks would work. “You know, they always fit,”…

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…

Various Artists

Bill Frisell and Thomas Morgan and Dominic Miller

Bill Frisell is a living jazz icon, famed for his ethereal tone and snaking post-bop lines. Here, he partners with Thomas Morgan for a live set – just guitar and standup bass –…

Mark Pickerel – Cody’s Dream

This is the second solo album by the former Screaming Trees drummer turned singer/songwriter/front man, who went on to record with Neko Case, Jim Carroll, and Nirvana. There’s a cinematic vibe to the…

Lightnin’ Willie

No Black No White Just Blues

Guitar-based blues can become a blustery music that’s played too loud, too fast, and with little soul. That’s not a problem with a practitioner like William Hermes, a.k.a. Lightnin’ Willie. Every note is…

Tommy “CGP” Emmanuel and David “Dawg” Grisman

Certifiable Pickin’

Tommy Emmanuel is one of just five pickers hailed by his mentor Chet Atkins as a “certified guitar player,” or CGP. On two new albums, Emmanuel provides proof with every passage. Australia-born Emmanuel…

Willie Nelson – Naked Willie

The forced, intrusive background vocals on the “definitive” versions of “Funny How Time Slips Away” or “Crazy” (from The Essential Willie Nelson) are argument enough in favor of this project. The songs on…

Elvis Presley

Before the Crown

The beginnings of Elvis Presley’s professional career during July, 1954, through late 1955 long ago acquired a mystique that has grown over the decades. During this time, the unknown Memphis singer, recording at…

Viva

Guitarist and singer Viva DeConcini’s last record, Rock and Roll Lover, was a stunning collection of eclectic songs that fit together perfectly even though stylistically they ran the gamut from loud rock and…

Blind Pig Records – 20th Anniversary Collection

It’s been 20 years since Blind Pig Records got its start in the humble Blind Pig Café in a basement in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Over the years, the label has released records by…

Laurie Lewis

Laurie Lewis is a bluegrass pioneer, and her latest release showcases the breadth of her musical talent – singing, songwriting, and playing guitar and fiddle. Lewis enlists the help of longtime musical partner…

John Fogerty – The Long Road Home

Since Creedence Clearwater Revival disbanded 33 years ago, its catalog has been anthologized in every conceivable way, culminating with a six-disc boxed set of every track the band ever laid down, including its…

Gurf Morlix

Rootball Records

Gurf Morlix’s latest effort is a tribute to his old buddy, Blaze Foley, a singer/ songwriter who was shot to death in 1989. Morlix has taken 15 of Foley’s songs and given them…

Frank Zappa – The Freak-Out List

Sexy Intellectual/MVD

Though unauthorized, this 90-minute DVD attempts to get inside Frank Zappa’s head by way of the influences he listed in the liner notes of the 1966 debut of his Mothers Of Invention, Freak…

Danny Gatton – Funhouse

Funhouse

This is incredible stuff. Hardly a scoop to guitar players. What surprises me is that there are tapes of Danny Gatton out there that sound this good, and we’ve never heard them. This…

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…

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,…

  • Yes

    Yes

    Close to the Edge: Super Deluxe Edition

Scotty Anderson – Classic Scotty

Alright, here’s the deal. I haven’t played in a band for about three years. It became a deal of the “day job” getting in the way. But I just got some gigs with…

For One Who Waits

Mitch Seidman is a jazz player of impeccable taste and tone. His last record, Triangulation, used the same trio as here: Jamie McDonald on acoustic bass and Claire Arenius on drums. The three…

Robben Ford – The Art of Blues Rhythm

Robben Ford has been a prolific artist since the early ’70s and is as much a teacher as a recording artist. His impeccable soloing techniques, phrasing, and tone have been the subject of…