• 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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Paul Westerberg – Besterberg: The Best of Paul Westerberg

As the soul of the Replacements, Paul Westerberg not only crafted glorious world-weary lyrics, but wielded one mean guitar. Influenced equally by the disparate threads of Kiss, R.E.M., Alex Chilton’s Big Star, and…

Albert Castiglia – These Are The Days

New York-born/Miami-raised Albert Castiglia is primarily, and by instinct, a blues man. But on his third album the one-time member of Junior Wells’ band displays a wide stylistic versatility along with his considerable…

Monte Montgomery

That guitar players will ever stop reinterpreting Jimi Hendrix’ “Little Wing” is neither likely nor necessary. The song is so rich and inviting, so mesmerizing to play, its beautiful chord structure and melody…

The Soul of John Black

John Bigham, aka John Black, has worked with Fishbone, Joshua Redman, Everlast, and Miles Davis. For the past decade, he’s produced a handful of recordings mixing jazz, R&B, rock, and gutbucket blues. Like…

Todd Wolfe Band

American Home Entertainment

Wolfe is best known as a sideman for Sheryl Crow, but he has also recorded with Leslie West and Faith Hill, among others. Now, with his own group – a trio – Wolfe…

James Blood Ulmer – Bad Blood in the City: The Piety Street Sessions

A collection of songs inspired by Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, this is one of the best albums of the year. Vernon Reid returns to produce (and supply guitar in spots), and the…

The Allman Brothers Band

Rocking The Fox

What an embarrassment of riches this boxed set offers. Recorded on three nights in September 2004 at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, it showcases a band that surely will be remembered as one…

Deborah Coleman – Livin’ On Love

Groovy is the word for Deborah Coleman. She’s got the hip sensibility of Joan Armatrading blended with the blues groove of B.B. King. The result is music that moves you. When Coleman released…

Freddie Steady 5

Tex Pop

Austin’s Freddie Krc has worn many hats – singer/songwriter, producer, drummer, label head, guitarist, harmonica hyperventilator – with Jerry Jeff Walker, Roky Erickson, Sal Valentino, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Carole King, and the many…

Chip Taylor & Carrie Rodriguez – The Trouble With Humans

The Trouble With Humans

Some famous musical duos originate in the womb, like The Louvin or Everly brothers. Others are created by love, like Ian and Silvia, Richard and Mimi Farina, and Buddy and Julie Miller. Finally…

Eilon Paz

Stompbox: 100 Pedals of the World’s Greatest Guitarists & Stompbox Vintage & Rarities

Sure, we’ve all got a “thing” about guitars. And for many, amps strike a similar chord. But there’s something special about stompboxes that inspires a fetish in fans. They’re dangerous and weird and…

Bleeding Hearts

Riches To Rags

In the pantheon of ’80s indie-rock guitar heroes, Bob Stinson has been largely forgotten, except among fans of The Replacements, the band he cofounded in 1978. It hasn’t helped that Stinson was booted…

Check This Action: Discovering Son House, Again

In 1964, blues enthusiasts Nick Perls and Phil Spiro, along with freelance photographer/writer Dick Waterman, made a pilgrimage to track down Eddie “Son” House. Decades earlier, the blues singer and bottleneck guitarist had…

Larry Carlton/Steve Lukather – No Substitutions

No Substitutions

I don’t really know what to say about this one. It’s just a good, old-fashioned jam by a couple of great guitarists. To no one’s surprise, they’re both up to the task. The…

Deep Purple

A Fire in the Sky

There have been innumerable Deep Purple compilations, but this clever set includes at least one track from every Purp album. Three guitar legends are spotlighted – Ritchie Blackmore, Steve Morse, and Tommy Bolin,…

Nat King Cole

Live at the Blue Note Chicago

Many Nat Cole fans, even diehards, are unaware that, in addition to his beautiful singing voice, he was among the greatest jazz pianists. Fewer still are aware of the world-class guitarists who played…

Darrell Scott

Appleseed Recordings

Darrell Scott’s latest CD highlights his performing prowess rather than his songwriting chops – all 12 cuts are covers. This isn’t the first album on which Scott has displayed his interpretive abilities, but…

Oz Noy

Fusion maestro Oz Noy expands his palette of influences by enlisting the help of a horn section and special guests. Noy basks in the funkalicious glory of instrumental ’60s soul. Jazz-rock Strat lines…

Kim Wilson – Smokin’ Joint

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,…

Sam Phillips – Fan Dance

Fan Dance

Sam Phillips has reinvented herself. Her big star pop persona is gone, replaced by a starkly gothic singer/songwriter with an album that screams to be heard. Phillips has moved from Virgin Records and…

Eric Clapton and Friends

After Midnight

Eric Clapton has worn many a hat during his career. English bluesman, psychedelic guitar god, downhome roots rocker, even ’80s big-suited popmeister. In recent decades, he’s added another chapeau to the curious collection:…

Brian Setzer – The Knife Feels Like Justice

I was extremely happy to see this on CD. I loved this album when it came out in ’86, and it still sounds wonderful. I guess you’d call this post-Cats/pre-swing Brian. Musically, it…

The Who – BBC Sessions

Let’s face it; The Who deserves to be mentioned in the same breath with the Beatles and the Stones. Yes, you’ll like one more than the other, but Pete Townshend and company were…

Groove Legacy

Groove Legacy is a group of L.A. musicians who have banded together to make an album in the soul/jazz/funk vein that harkens back to the ’70s, but still sounds vibrant and current. It…

Brad Paisley

Hot-Picking Comfort Zone

Brad Paisley’s albums have followed a formula that began on his 2001 sophomore album Part II. Generously programmed with abundant cameos, they blend love songs with catchy numbers celebrating idealized small-town and rural…

Erin Harpe and the Delta Swingers

Some retro acts are more concerned with image and outfits than music. This record is a bit theatrical but with enough substance to give it staying power. A charming, versatile singer, Erin Harpe’s…

Dale Watson

Dale Watson is a country-music traditionalist, and while he mines familiar veins on Carryin’ On, he also throws in a dash of the pop/country style that dominated both charts in the late ’60s…

  • Yes

    Yes

    Close to the Edge: Super Deluxe Edition

Roy Buchanan and Tom Principato

Masters of the Telecaster

In 1972, Roy Buchanan shook up the guitar world with his self-titled debut album. The tones he extracted from his ’53 Tele, his facility with eclectic repertoire and techniques, from country to blues…

Tony Savarino

Naked Ear Records

Tony Savarino proves himself in many styles and shows a fine sense of humor on an album guitarists will certainly appreciate. His “Barrelhaus Gutbucket Chicken Pickin” starts things off, with chromatic licks, killer…

The Derailers – Genuine

Genuine

With the new year comes a look at this album, a fine record deserving of notice. The influences here are wide and varied, and the Derailers manage to mix them to put together…


Various Artists

Bill Frisell and Thomas Morgan and Dominic Miller

Mac Arnold

PFOB Music/Plantation #1 Productions