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Music
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,
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…
Darrell Scott – The Invisible Man
On his latest solo release, Darrell Scott delivers 12 reasons why he’s one of the most outstanding and underrated songwriters/performers in the U.S. today. Compared with his past efforts, The Invisible Man has…
Dave Specter
The latest from Dave Specter crosses genres and styles like a car with bad wheels crosses highway lines. But here, the outcome is a good thing. Whether it’s soul, blues, jazz, or rock…
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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
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Paul Johnson
The Hepcats Live at the Ajax Novelty Company
This isn’t live, there may not be an Ajax Novelty Company, and the three felines known as the Hepcats are actually the brainchild of Paul Johnson, whose Belairs were early-’60s pioneers of surf music. Suspend reality and dig how the “trio” expertly articulates layers of acoustic guitar. Across decades, Johnson has embraced folk-rock, psychedelia, and
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Yes
Close to the Edge: Super Deluxe Edition
Are you a high-fidelity audio geek? If the answer is, well, yes, this Rhino release brings together an HD experience of Close to the Edge in no fewer than four versions, plus rarities and a ’72 concert. For starters, the 2025 remaster sounds as close to the analog 1972 mix as you’re going to get
Moondi & Gaudreau – 2:10 Train
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…
Ted Leo
The Hanged Man
Critically acclaimed East Coast songwriter Ted Leo’s press clippings are filled with references to the Canon of British Bands Whose Names Are Collective Nouns: The Who, The Jam, The Clash. Fair enough; after…
Bill Kirchen – Hammer Of The Honky-Tonk Gods
In 1994, Nick Lowe released his best album in 10 or 15 years, the country-slanted The Impossible Bird, featuring ex-Commander Cody guitarist Bill Kirchen. After stellar albums for Black Top and Hightone, Kirchen…
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…
Mike Morgan and The Crawl
The Lights Went Out In Dallas
Texas has a storied tradition of fantastic blues guitarists, and Mike Morgan has steadily grown as one of the keepers of that flame. This collection also reveals him to be a strong singer…
Taste
Taste was a criminally short-lived Irish blues-rock trio in the late ’60s, featuring bassist Richard McCracken, drummer John Wilson, and the extraordinary guitar and vocals of Rory Gallagher. They played 1970’s infamous Isle…
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Pink Floyd
Have You Got It Yet? – The Story of Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd
It’s understandable that fans warily approach the flood of pseudo-documentaries and biopics. Add the fact that the late Syd Barrett, Floyd’s original guitarist/leader, suffered from mental illness, and exploitation alarms are sure to go off. But this documentary handles the subject with dignity instead of sensationalism. Interviews by longtime Floyd cover artist Storm Thorgerson with
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The Wildhearts
In the raging ’90s, The Wildhearts blasted out of Newcastle upon Tyne like some unholy melding of Guns ’N Roses, Cheap Trick, and The Replacements. Hard rock, power pop, and punk still make up their secret sauce, heard on this latest effort with original singer/guitarist Ginger Wildheart. Ben Marsden plays lead, while Kavus Torabi adds
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Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band
Honeysuckle
Resonator-slide specialist Reverend Peyton returns to his primary influences – early 20th-century African-American music – compelling him to shout from the hollers and the hills. Rootsy, acoustic, inter-war blues is the specific genre, and Peyton doesn’t hold back. With top-tier tutelage from the likes of David “Honeyboy” Edwards, T-Model Ford, and Robert Belfour, he masterfully
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Mike Campbell with Ari Surdoval
Heartbreaker: A Memoir
In his autobiography, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers guitarist Campbell admits he’s quiet and shy. Self-doubt plagued him his entire life, and when problems arose in the Heartbreakers, a lack of confidence had him blaming himself first, even when he wasn’t responsible. Perhaps his attitude was psychologically rooted in his impoverished childhood and coming from
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Alan Gogoll
Lioness Lullabies
Venture online and watch a few videos by Tasmanian guitarist Alan Gogoll and you’ll see he’s nothing short of a phenomenon. On acoustic, he conjures artificial harmonics in a manner that almost defies gravity. Better still, he never shows off these chops – everything on Lioness Lullabies is in the service of the song and
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Jimmy Vivino
Gonna Be 2 of Those Days
A veteran vocalist/guitarist/keyboardist and purveyor of blues, R&B, and rock’, Jimmy Vivino has an incredible résumé. A longtime fixture in Conan O’Brien’s house band, he has played on movie, radio, and Broadway projects and worked with Levon Helm, Hubert Sumlin, Al Kooper, Jimmie Vaughan, Donald Fagen, Warren Haynes, Laura Nyro, along with innumerable others. He’s
Seth Walker – Leap of Faith
Seth Walker’s latest effort takes a slightly different path, mixing blues with soul and a group-driven R&B feel. Old-school horn charts dominate “Can’t Come With You,” where Walker’s vocals take on the soul/bluesman…
Bearfoot
The teenagers who began the Bearfoot Bluegrass Band in 2006 have matured into young adults. As they’ve matured, so has their music. Even their name has changed slightly; it’s been shortened to Bearfoot.…
Eric Ambel
Eric “Roscoe” Ambel is accomplished guitarist (Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Steve Earle) and go-to “roots rock” producer (Bottle Rockets, Nils Lofgren, Ryan Adams, and many more). In 2012, he added “erstwhile tavern…
Merle Haggard – Roots, Vol. 1
Norm Stephens isn’t a household name, even to country music fans who have no doubt heard his guitar playing. But to Merle Haggard, Stephens – the original guitarist behind Hag’s biggest influence, Lefty…
Dion
Dion DiMucci, the Bronx doo-wop singer who became immortal in 1961 with Dion and the Belmonts (“Teenager In Love”), and on solo rock hits like “The Wanderer” re-invented himself as a folk-blues singer…
Scotty Anderson – Classic Scotty
Alright, here’s the deal. I haven’t played in a band for about three years. It became a deal of the “day job” getting in the way. But I just got some gigs with…
Deep Purple
Turning to Crime
As songwriting royalties wither in the streaming age, artists increasingly record covers, often songs influential to their musical development. The pandemic further helped Deep Purple find time to cut this album of high-volume…
Sunny War
Anarchist Gospel
Sunny War’s latest record blurs stylistic boundaries, rejecting fatuous labeling. Instead, it’s a document of the human experience – a hypnotic montage of black folk, acoustic blues, country, urban, and avant-garde. It’s lived…
Gary Clark Jr.
Postmodern Soul
If listeners haven’t figured out that Gary Clark Jr. is more than a blues revivalist, his second full-length studio album should provide a cold hard slap of reality. This disc shows fans –…
Robbie McIntosh – Widescreen
Perhaps Eric Clapton does think of himself as a “journeyman.” The truth of the matter is that he has, practically from day one, been a front man. Robbie McIntosh, on the other hand,…
Biréli Lagr
Biréli Lagr
Kilborn Alley – Tear Chicago Down
There may not have been a blues bandleader since at least the mid ’60s who has not turned to his rhythm section and asked, accusingly; “Do you guys even know how to play…
Tom Principato – Raising the Roof!
Powerhouse Records
Principato has long been known as a fine guitar player, but here production and vocals take him to a new level. There’s plenty of the stuff you expect from Principato, including funky New…
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…
The Beach Boys
Great Vibrations
It’s ironic – and tragic – that Brian Wilson leads off his long-awaited memoir explaining the voices he hears in his head. He’s referring to the mental illness that has troubled his life…
Esperanza Spalding
Popularly known as that cute female jazz bassist with the Afro who bogarted the Best New Artist Grammy away from Justin Bieber in 2012, Esperanza Spalding’s new album is soul-jazz surrealism at it’s…
Neil Young with Crazy Horse
Toast
Neil Young and Crazy Horse are known for uncorking an electric-guitar roar that would shame most heavy metal bands. The mesmerizing Toast, while not explosive, relies on distorted electric guitars, with simple hooks…
The Rolling Stones
Amidst the late-’70s rise of punk and new wave, the Stones felt irrelevant; they were still a mammoth touring entity, but their brightest days seemed behind them. Released at last, these secret gigs…
Jack Bruce and the hr-Bigband
A Bass Legend And Much More
Jack Bruce was one of the most fascinating figures in rock and roll – although he preferred to be known as a jazz musician. As one-third of Cream (with Eric Clapton and Ginger…
U2 – How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
U2 has hit another home run. Try and think of another major rock and roll band this far into it and still making consistently good albums. Hell, at this point in their career,…
Joan Osborne – Breakfast in Bed
In other hands, Osborne’s penchant for jumping from genre to genre could peg her as a dilettante. But she’s just so good at everything she tackles – her 2006 Nashville CD, Pretty Little…
Songcatcher – Music from the Motion Picture
Music from the Motion Picture
The Beatles
Revolver Special Edition