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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
Rick Holmstrom, John “Juke” Logan, Stephen Hodges
Mocombo
Three of L.A.’s most versatile, in-demand blues players, guitarist Holmstrom, drummer Hodges, and harpist Logan cut this live in one room with no outside players. There’s no bass, and Logan (an excellent keyboardist)…
Heybale – The Last Country Album
The incomparable Redd Volkaert and “Mr. Honky-Tonk Piano” Earl Pole Ball (whose collective resume is a Who’s Who of musical greats that includes Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard and Buck Owens) join drummer Tom…
Various Artists
You can thank Randy Rhoads for rescuing Ozzy Osborne from obscurity to become a wealthy reality television star and household name. Recruiting the indispensible songwriting skills of bassist Bob Daisley and drummer Lee…
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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,
The Sender
All Killer No Filler (1977-2001)
The PR for this double-LP (and CD) casts the Senders as “punk,” concentrating on seven live tracks featuring guitarist Johnny Thunders (New York Dolls, Heartbreakers). But 24 other cuts reveal the New York…
Doyle Bramhall II
In the 15 years since his debut album, Welcome, Doyle Bramhall, II has been in great demand. Along with a decade working with Eric Clapton in the studio and onstage, he’s has collaborated…
Hill Country Revue
Razor & Tie
Rock and roll doesn’t get much grittier than Hill Country Revue, the band started by North Mississippi Allstars member Cody Dickinson. The group is Dickinson and Kirk Smithhart on guitars, Daniel Robert Coburn…
Russell Potter
A Stone’s Throw and Volume II: Neither Here Nor There
Few artists are void of forebears and influences, though in some cases the connection is indiscernible. Albert King cited T-Bone Walker as his main influence, though his style bears no resemblance to the…
The Jimi Hendrix Experience/Jimi Hendrix
Despite the ongoing effort to strap the name Jimi Hendrix to everything from vodka to golf balls, his story remains a great American saga. Like Robert Johnson and Charlie Christian before him, he…
Clarence White – 33 Acoustic Guitar Instrumentals
33 Acoustic Guitar Instrumentals came from a cassette tape discovered in Clarence’s personal archives after his untimely death. These home recordings feature him playing lead guitar accompanied by Roger Bush on rhythm for…
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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 Derek Trucks Band – Soul Serenade
Though a step back chronologically – tracks for this album were recorded in late ’99 and early 2000, before the release of the band’s 2002 Joyful Noise album – Soul Serenade is several…
Rod Piazza & The Mighty Flyers – Beyond The Source
There is no group more dedicated to the blues idiom then Rod Piazza and the Mighty Flyers. And they are a group. You can rest assured this it not some off-the-cuff aggregation. These…
Check This Action: Monumental Treasures
One of my favorite gospel albums has the mouthful title An Evening With Rev. Louis Overstreet, His Guitar, His Four Sons, and The Congregation of St. Luke Powerhouse Church of God In Christ.…
Nick Lowe – Dig My Mood
It’s extremely tempting to start this review with something like…”I knew Nick Lowe when he used to rock and roll…,” but I won’t because it might make you think I don’t like this…
The Marcus King Band
It’s easy to see why Warren Haynes has so much respect for young Marcus King. The 20-year-old guitarist, vocalist, and bandleader shows on his second record a command of pretty much all the…
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,…
Howard Alden – My Shining Hour
This is the kind of playing I would give parts of my body to master. It’s just Howard, his guitar, and a batch of great songs. And, Howard has mastered them. And to…
Bryan Sutton – Secrets for Flatpickers
Grab any top-selling country CD produced in the last five years that has acoustic instruments on it and chances are you’ll find Bryan Sutton credited with playing acoustic guitar. On Homespun Video’s latest…
Cailyn
Cailyn Lloyd’s former life as a blues rocker of the Peter Green school gave her the stuff to put blood into the New Age music she has been making for the last few…
The Sonics
Sonics Boom Again
Sometimes, your memory of a favorite band is so locked in – and possibly blown out of proportion – that a reunion can’t possibly live up to its former self (or yours). And…
Jackson Browne
Eagle Rock
Part documentary, part performance (then-current and archival), this reissue of the 1999 portrait of the singer/songwriter reveals his sense of humor, commitment to social causes, and, most of all, talent. There is no…
David Clayton and Todd K. Smith – Free: Heavy Load
This epic chronicles the story of the seminal British blues/rock band Free. Leaving no stone unturned, and with the help of more than 400 photos, authors David Clayton and Todd K. Smith have…
Gregg Wright
Big Dawg Barkin’
Gregg Wright’s pandemic-fueled album displays the pent-up intensity of a virtuoso guitarist unleashed – the former Jacksons’ guitarist and bluesman comes fully loaded with pyrotechnics and sweet runs galore. Tempered by ’70s tours…
At The Louisiana Hayride Tonight
Hot Time Tonight
On Saturday, April 3, 1948, the “Louisiana Hayride,” America’s newest live country radio show, debuted over KWKH in Shreveport. Staged at the city’s Municipal Auditorium, it became a launching pad for artists who…
Richie Allen And The Pacific Surfers – The Rising Surf and Surfer’s Slide
Of all the bandwagons to infiltrate rock and roll, surf music would have to rank as one of the shortest lived but most widespread. I’m not talking about Dick Dale, the Belairs, the…
The Sadies
Yep Roc Records
The Sadies are on a creative roll, following 2007’s New Seasons with an eclectic country-rock album one dares call a “modern classic.” Benefiting again from the production of former Jayhawk Gary Louris, Darker…
Jo’ Buddy
To celebrate 30 years on the road, this Finnish bluesman gathered up the various aggregations he’s toured and recorded with, along with some special guests, to deliver a dozen originals – each screaming…
Closer to My Home
Mark Farner
Grand Funk Railroad, the hard-rock “people’s band,” earned little critical respect. But there’s no denying GFR’s massive influence – led primarily by Farner’s vocals and primal guitar – considering their level of early-’70s…
Joe Satriani, Eric Johnson, Steve Vai
Bass Convergence
Recorded at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles on their 2024 U.S. tour, G3 Reunion Live reunites the virtuosos who started it all. Three sets plus the encore jam capture the energy and…
Jim Campilongo
Jim Campilongo’s tenth album is a stark and intimate portrait of an artist at the peak of his powers. Augmented by two acoustic tracks (“Suppose” and “One Mean Eye”), Dream Dictionary is a…
Bob Weir
Ace: 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition
When is a Grateful Dead album not a Dead album? When it’s Bob Weir’s solo debut from 1972, also featuring members of the fabled jam institution. Now remastered, the disc is a longtime…
Jimi Hendrix Experience
Los Angeles Forum: April 26, 1969