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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
Jake Andrews
In The Shadows
Twenty-three years ago, a guitarist who shall remain nameless was booked to play SXSW only to discover his slot was right after Jake Andrews, better known as 13-year-old “Guitar Jake” at the time.…
Alex Woodard – Alex Woodard
Adrenaline Records
When Alex Woodard was a kid, his sister spoonfed him the music of her favorite rocker, Tom Petty. Five albums later, the effect still holds. Woodard’s arrangements, phrasing, and even the timbre of…
Melvin Taylor and the Slack Band – Rendevous with the Blues
Rendevous with the Blues
This is Melvin’s fourth record for the Evidence label, and like the rest, it’s a showcase of his dazzling technique and deep soul. This guy is a treasure. Perhaps it’s because he’s hard…
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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,
Stan Martin
Stan Martin is a keeper of the traditional country music flame. He’s a Don Rich/Danny Gatton-schooled Telecaster-loving guitar picker, a virtuoso who is not a showoff. And he’s a skilled writer and musician…
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…
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…
Bearfoot Bluegrass – Follow Me
Glacier Records
Bluegrass bands are often male-only affairs. But the women in Bearfoot Bluegrass are in a majority position. Annalisa Tornfelt plays fiddle, sings lead, and is responsible for seven of the songs. Kate Hamre…
Waylon Jennings
Waylon was one of the first country music “outlaws” to rebel against the Nashville machine, and one of the ways it showed was that he never abandoned his guitar onstage – unlike many…
David Gilmour – On An Island
This is an expanded edition of Gilmour’s 2006 DVD of material from a live AOL session. The DVD is a bit sterile, done in a studio with no audience, but the playing is…
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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
Blood, Sweat & Tears
What the Hell Happened to Blood, Sweat & Tears?
In 1970, Blood, Sweat & Tears was one of the most popular bands on Earth. The Woodstock headliner’s second album was doing serious business with three hit singles in the top five, which…
Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble
Epic/Legacy
It’s hard to understate how important Stevie Ray Vaughan was to the guitar. He emerged when the guitar had all but ceased to exist on pop/rock radio. Even hitmakers who played guitar, i.e.…
James Armstrong – Dark Night
James Armstrong comes back from an intruder attack in his own home to serve up a record brimming with blues fire. He can’t play guitar like he did in the past because of…
Rush
Moving Pictures 40th Anniversary
If “The Spirit of Radio” helped Rush kick open the door to FM radio, its 1981 follow-up elevated them to blockbuster status. To mark the occasion, this 40th-anniversary Moving Pictures comes in tantalizing…
Anthony Wilson – Adult Themes
Here’s the third album from guitarist, arranger, and leader of his own big band, Anthony Wilson. He’s young, but he definitely can look backward to the likes of his father, Gerald, and other…
Michael Bloomfield – If You Love These Blues, Play ‘Em As You Please
I’ve had more than one conversation with a colleague when The Paul Butterfield Blues Band album came up, and we said in unison, “That album changed my life.” A big reason for the…
Stevie Ray Vaughan and Friends
Years ago, in a BBC documentary about his former bandleader, bassist Noel Redding held up all the albums that Jimi Hendrix released during his lifetime (five, not counting Cry Of Love, which he…
Jack Nitzsche – Hearing Is Believing
It may have only reached number 39 on Billboard‘s Pop Singles chart in 1963, but “The Lonely Surfer” is as perfect as any 21/2 minutes in rock history. Bill Pittman’s Danelectro six-string bass…
Eric Bibb – Diamond Days
Bibb is a fine guitarist and singer, and here proves a very capable songwriter. It’s hard to pin him down – you could call him a folk singer, but his blues and pop…
Michael Bloomfield – If You Love These Blues, Play ‘Em As You Please
I’ve had more than one conversation with a colleague when The Paul Butterfield Blues Band album came up, and we said in unison, “That album changed my life.” A big reason for the…
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…
Joecephus & the George Jonestown Massacre
Heirs of the Dog: A Tribute to Nazareth
Nazareth rarely gets credit as an influential hard-rock band, though original guitarist Manny Charlton laid down killer riffs. This tribute features the loose collective Joecephus & the George Jonestown Massacre – led by…
Tom Principato – Not One Word
Not One Word
Tom’s put out some stuff on record before, and it’s been pretty good. This one’s a little bit different. As the title says, there’s not one word. It’s all instrumental, and Tom does…
Richie Kotzen
Nomad
More than 30 years into a wildly eclectic career (hey, the guy played with Poison and bass god Stanley Clarke), Richie Kotzen is no longer that pre-grunge shredder. With Nomad, he again proves…
Los Lobos – El Cancionero – Mas y Mas
There’s a new four-CD retrospective containing 86 tracks, clocking in at five hours, spanning a dozen albums by one of the greatest bands in rock history. These guys reveal deep roots without pickling…
Alan Jackson
Where Have You Gone
Few have so done more to maintain the sound and spirit of classic country in the face of ever-changing fads than Alan Jackson. Fiddles and pedal steel still frame his warm, earthy voice.…
Greg Howe – Sound Proof
Tone Center Records
Greg Howe’s incredible chops often override the musical aspect of songs. At least that’s the common wisdom. But that doesn’t happen on this collection of songs that show off his rock, jazz, and…
Happy Traum
Stefan Grossman’s Guitar Workshop
Resurrected from Stefan Grossman’s Kicking Mule label of the ’70s (1977, to be exact), Stranger was the followup to Traum’s solo debut, Relax Your Mind. In lieu of beefing up the 30-minute set…
Kris Kristofferson
Nearly a half century ago, a longhaired former Army chopper pilot named Kris Kristofferson was Nashville’s hottest new songwriter. Today, after decades of success, the 80-year-old singer/songwriter and actor is a member of…
Terry Dolan
44 Years Later
The market is flooded with previously unreleased albums and reissue CDs containing alternate takes. It must be simple to get something like that released, right? Guess again. It’s hard to imagine, but a…
Grateful Dead
The triple-LP Europe ’72 is a highlight in the Dead’s extensive live catalog, and 40 years later Rhino is presenting a companion set of unreleased material for those who just can’t get enough.…
