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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 Shimabukuro – Hula Girls
Hula Girls
Just as he did with his incredible solo version of George Harrison’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” on his 2006 CD, Gently Weeps, this 31-year-old ukulele maestro reinvents his instrument just as he reinvents…
Barry Waldrep & Friends
Celebrate Tony Rice
Tony Rice’s death on Christmas 2020, following years of ill health, was certain to inspire tribute efforts. Guitarist-banjoist Barry Waldrep, producer of nearly two dozen bluegrass homages to artists ranging from Phish to…
Craig Maki with Keith Cady
Craig Maki and Keith Cady provide a well-researched look at an overlooked part of Motor City’s rich musical history. They offer new or little-known information about the fertile Detroit scene that influenced people…
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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,
George Benson – The Essential George Benson
Sony/BMG’s Legacy division has released single- and double-CD retrospectives on everyone from Igor Stravinsky to Earl Scruggs as part of its “Essential” series. It has spanned 50-plus years, surveying giants like Dave Brubeck,…
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…
Lucinda Williams
Don’t Tell Anybody The Secrets I Told You: A Memoir & Stories From A Rock N Roll Heart
Turning 70 is a time for reflection, and Lucinda Williams offers two takes. Her poetic autobiography recounts her troubled, peripatetic childhood and the tales behind the songs it inspired. Yet her new album…
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,…
Dwight Yoakam
Brighter Days
Nearly 40 years ago, as audiences wearied of frothy ’80s country-pop, Dwight Yoakam was in the vanguard of country’s New Traditional movement. His stripped-down spin on the twang-driven Bakersfield sound of the ’60s…
The Everly Brothers
If you’re weary of rock concert DVDs with critical commentary, typically unauthorized and of varying quality, this Everly Brothers retrospective is highly recommended. Authorized, with participation of Don Everly and a 2010 interview…
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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
Jimmy Gaudreau – 2:10 Train
Rebel records
Jimmy Gaudreau and Moondi Klein have been playing together for more than 10 years. They first met when T. Michael Coleman, Mike Auldridge, and Klein asked Gaudreau to join them in Chesapeake. When…
Johnny Adams – There Is Always One More Time
From the “there really can’t be a better singer around” catagory comes this set from the latter part of Adams career. It encompasses his work with Rounder from 1982 until his death in…
Charlie Musselwhite – Sanctuary
With his debut album in 1966, harmonica vanguard Charlie Musselwhite met and set the standard for authenticity and adventurism in blues. But in the past few years,
John Davis – John Davis
John Davis was a member of Superdrag, which gained some notoriety in its 10-year run. They were a mix of influences including punk, early British rock and roll, and pop. Davis left the…
Dave Rawlings Machine
Americana fans are no strangers to guitarist Dave Rawlings. Largely building his rep on several releases by his musical partner Gillian Welch, Rawlings and his flatpicked Epiphone Olympic first stepped out as the…
Grateful Dead – Live at Cow Palace
The Grateful Dead was an electric jug band with more in common musically with Jim Kweskin than Jimi Hendrix. On this new three-CD set, you can hear this ultimate jam band at its…
Mike Stern
Echoes and Other Songs
Mike Stern’s smokin’ new album is the last with longtime keyboardist and producer Jim Beard (Steely Dan), who died in March. Thus, Echoes becomes the capstone to a near-40-year collaboration. Then there’s the…
The Roches – Moonswept
Sibling harmonies are invariably sited for the unmatched quality that results from the close similarity of the voices – from the Everly Brothers to the Pointer Sisters. But the Roche sisters’ one-of-a-kind blend…
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…
Damon Fowler
Blind Pig
Damon Fowler has a smokyMemphis-like style of soul and blues at its peak on his third album. The combination infuses his originals (“After The Rain”) with a Southern rock feel that recalls Lynyrd…
Tomas Janzon
Changes Music
Tomas Janzon is a traditional-jazz guitarist influenced by Wes Montgomery, with hints of Metheny and Scofield. It’s also obvious he has one of the best jazz-guitar tones you’ll hear. Most of the songs…
Birthright: A Black Roots Music Compendium
Various artists
This double-CD’s 40 tracks represent a wide swath of black roots music, from zydeco to gospel, from a Mississippi fife-and-drum crew to one-man band Jesse Fuller. If some of the cuts are familiar,…
Gary Clark Jr.
Live North America 2016
Gary Clark Jr. has brought back the soaring psychedelic blues-rock guitar solo. After a backlash of post-Hendrix overkill, replaced with severely articulate blues Nazi-approved Chicago and West Coast swing vocabulary, the pendulum is…
Wilko Johnson and Roger Daltrey
Wilko Johnson was having quite a run. In 2009 he stole the show in Oil City Confidential, Julien Temple’s acclaimed rock doc about Johnson’s old band, Dr. Feelgood. In 2011 he began appearing…
Deke Dickerson – King of the Whole Wide World
Roots-rocker Dickerson has cranked out solo albums (along with his Dave & Deke Combo output prior to that, not to mention his recordings with Untamed Youth in his teen years) with such frequency…
Gil Parris – Gil Parris and Friends Live
We’ve discussed Gil’s playing in these pages several times, and this DVD reinforces that use of ink. Shot at the Irvington Town Hall Theater in Irvington, New York, it’s obvious Parris is among…
Willie Nelson
Soon after arriving in Nashville in 1960, Willie Nelson signed a songwriting contract with Pamper Music, co-owned by Ray Price, one of the era’s biggest stars. It launched a friendship that endured until…
Marshall Crenshaw – Jaggedland
All of the hats Crenshaw wears so well – singer, guitarist, composer, producer – come together in full force on “Right On Time,” his latest CD’s opening track. His vocal is equal parts…
Rodrigo Y Gabriela
In Between Thoughts, A New World
The Grammy-winning acoustic duo is back with a collection of consciousness-raising musical concepts, textures, and philosophies augmented by electronica and orchestral elements. Rhythm is king as they slap, shred, groove, and showcase effortless…
The National, Wilco, and Others
The Grateful Dead have always had a street-cred problem in some rock quarters. Dave Marsh infamously called them “the worst band in creation.” Kurt Cobain was photographed with a “Kill the Grateful Dead”…
Pinnick – Gales – Pridgen
Dug Pinnick, Eric Gales, and Thomas Pridgen have returned with the followup to last year’s Pinnick–Gales–Pridgen. That first album was fueled by superb musicians rising to the occasion to create inspired work in…
Paul McCartney & Wings
Band on the Run 50th Anniversary
Johnny Winter – The Best of Johnny Winter
The Best of Johnny Winter
