• 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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Kansas – Two For the Show

One iconic artifact of the late-’70s rock scene was the ubiquitous “double live album,” a marketing ploy usually timed for the Christmas rush, but one that also yielded much good music. Following the…

Oz Noy

Oz Noy masterminds an inspired jazz sequel with spectacular feel and blues embellishments. Amidst Noy’s quirky, energetic, funk-charged compositions is gutbucket slide. “You Dig” features slide player Greg Leisz, who offsets Noy’s intervallic…

Was (Not Was) – Boo

The brothers Was (okay, they’re not really brothers) are back after a layoff of almost 20 years. Not much has changed, and that’s a good thing. The 10 cuts here all “reek” of…

Iggy and The Stooges

MVD Audio

In 1973, the Stooges were newly reformed yet seemingly on their last legs. Their early attempts at Raw Power, their third and last album before breaking up again, were rejected by management, although…

Jean-Luc Katchoura with Michele Hyk-Farlow

A Bebop Guitar Masterpiece

Maybe it’s sour grapes, but it sometimes seems jazz guitarists – in comparison with pianists and horn players – never get the recognition they’re due among the music’s diehard cognoscenti. On the other…

Charles Brown – A Life In The Blues

This is more than just an album by the late R&B great Charles Brown. It’s truly the story of a life – a scrapbook of history, photos, testimonials, music, vintage film clips, a…

Sea Level

By today’s standards, Sea Level was a “jam band,” but 35 years ago, they were an eclectic group variously labeled as Southern rock, jazz-fusion, or West Coast funkpop. An offshoot of the Allman…

Thurston Moore

Rock N Roll Consciousness

There’s always been a push/pull relationship between the worlds of hippie-inspired jam bands and punk-inspired indie rock. While the latter has been known to regard the former as self-indulgent, the former sometimes holds…

The Twangbangers – 26 Days on the Road

Pretty hard to screw up this one. You’ve got Bill Kirchen and Redd Volkaert on guitar, Joe Goldmark on pedal steel, and Dallas Wayne on vocals, along with the killer rhythm section of…

B.B. King: From Indianola to Icon

Charles Sawyer

Author/photographer Charles Sawyer’s association with B.B. King began in 1968 and led to his authorized 1980 biography The Arrival of B.B. King. This coffee-table production is no sequel, but a lavishly illustrated memoir…

Alejandro Escovedo

Fantasy Records

If straight-ahead rock with hints of punk, new wave, and ’50s rock and roll is your deal, Escovedo offers it in spades. Street Songs of Love has plenty of chugging riff-driven rock and…

Dave Alvin – West of the West

The Great American Music Galaxy

Dave Alvin is one of America’s best songwriters, and as such runs the risk of alienating casual fans when he does an album of covers. But then again, maybe not… The idea with…

Mary Chapin Carpenter – The Age of Miracles

Zoe/Rounder

Mary Chapin Carpenter’s music is like a security blanket – warm, familiar, and homey. On The Age of Miracles, she distills her music into an even more comforting package. The album was produced…

Richie Kotzen

Soul Survivor

Richie Kotzen may not be a household name, but with nearly 20 albums and countless group projects on his resumé, he’s on the verge. Coming to prominence in ’89 after being signed to…

Mehran

Iranian-born Mehran has mastered flamenco guitar and here uses his skills on a concept album about events in his home country. The music is a mix of jazz, new age, and Iranian. The…

Big Lazy

The guitar universe has been inundated with all things “retro” for the past decade, but the all-instrumental trio Big Lazy gives it a fresh spin. Old-school twang meets gritty Hollywood-soundtrack music here, with…

Jim Weider and the Honky Tonk Gurus – Big Foot

Okay, the only words I can use to describe my reaction to this record are “blown away.” Weider, as some of you probably know, works as the guitarist in the current version of…

Stephen Bruton – Spirit World

A CD of personal or autobiographical songs can be tricky. The music can wind up meaning far more to its creator than it does to its audience. That’s bad. Luckily for everyone, Stephen…

Dave Hill

New World finds West Coast guitarist Dave Hill at the top of his game as a player and composer. Produced by bassist Jimmy Haslip, the music veers where you’d expect, and Hill’s playing…

Morphine

No Guitar, No Problem

They were a band like no other – either before or since. That was the inevitable description of the rock trio Morphine, from critics to TV hosts to fellow musicians like Henry Rollins…

Steve Howe – Elements

Elements

Some would say progressive rock, art rock, whatever you want to call it, has always seemed a little too pompous for it’s own good. Despite that, I’ve always loved Yes, and a good…

Gov’t Mule – The Deepest End: Live In Concert

The Deepest End: Live In Concert

Everyone knows the story by now. Government Mule(and former Allman Brother) bassist Allen Woody passed away a couple years back, and the band paid tribute by releasing a couple of CDs that featured…

Paul Curreri – The Spirit of the Staircase

I was a big fan of Curreri’s Songs for Devon Sproule. That record, produced by guitarist Kelly Joe Phelps, was a solo acoustic country-blues effort that took the form places it hadn’t yet…

Check This Action: Jimmie’s Blues Box

Don’t think music can be life-changing? Try moving 1,700 miles. In 1987, I moved from Northern California to Austin, Texas, and music was the reason. Bands like the LeRoi Brothers, Tail Gators, and…

Pete Levin

Self-distributed

The past few Pete Levin albums have featured his fine organ playing, great songs, and lots of room for whatever guitarist was working with him. Jump! is no different, with Dave Stryker on…

Hilary Gardner

On The Trail with The Lonesome Pines

Vocalist Gardner explores the association between jazz and country, the Great American Songbook, and cowboy movie stars. Similar territory was mined by Asleep At The Wheel and Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks,…

Pan-Americans

Flat Fish

If you’re a member of Pan-Americans, “among others” is part of your resume – in terms of bands you belong to as well as instruments (and roles) played in them. The band’s ad…

  • Yes

    Yes

    Close to the Edge: Super Deluxe Edition

John Monteleone

The Chisels Are Calling

Captured in this documentary, John Monteleone’s hand-crafted fretted instruments draw inspiration from the past. His chief inspirations are legendary guitar craftsmen John D’Angelico and Jimmy D’Aquisto, and he incorporates untraditional design ideas such…

Pete Anderson

How to Produce a Record: A Player’s Philosophy for Making a Great Recording

Known as longtime musical partner and guitar ace with country singer Dwight Yoakam. But, his real claim to fame might be that as a bona fide roots-music mechanic – a guy who has…

Pentangle

The Albums

Take Five When one thinks of bands with two (or more) lead guitarists, groups like the Eagles, Buffalo Springfield, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Wishbone Ash, the edition of Fleetwood Mac featuring Peter Green and…