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Music
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,
Alecia Nugent – Alecia Nugent
Don’t let the spelling of her first name lead you to believe Alecia Nugent is one of those overly affected country divas the labels trot out with lugubrious regularity. Instead, her debut album…
The Mike Eldred Trio
The Mike Eldred Trio’s latest was recorded at Memphis’ hallowed Sun Studios, but the deep blues are straight outta the Delta. Eldred needs little introduction here. The former Fender Custom Shop manager, he’s…
Al Di Meola – Consequence of Chaos
Al Di Meola – Consequence of Chaos Though sometimes lumped in with Carlos Santana, Latin guitarist Al Di Meola is almost his complete musical opposite. Where Carlos plays easy-going, accessible Latin rock, Di…
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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
Al Di Meola
Throughout his 40-year career, Al Di Meola has worked in several different styles, the common denominator being Latin music. On this new album, he delves into what might be termed his “World Sinfonia”…
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…
Cow Bop
Picture yourself in a smoky cowboy-jazz joint around 1952, and you’ll get the picture on where Cow Bop is coming from. The combo’s music is tantalizing postwar bop, but with ample heaps of…
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…
The Bottle Rockets
Brian Henneman should be a country super-star. For more than two decades, Festus, Missouri’s favorite son, has combined Tom T. Hall wit with Roy Nichols chops as front man of the criminally underappreciated…
Glen Campbell & Jimmy Webb
It’s no surprise, given Glen Campbell’s 2011 Alzheimer’s diagnosis and his lengthy Farewell Tour, that music and video from the past are emerging, like this 1983 Canadian TV show he did with songwriter…
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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
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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
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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
Gentle Giant
Alucard/EMI
Gentle Giant was one of the great, eccentric British bands of the ’70s. They blended FM rock with Elizabethan madrigals and baroque chamber music, plus generous dollops of Celtic folk and jazz-fusion. Apart…
Larry Campbell & Teresa Williams
Multi-instrumentalist Larry Campbell is the consummate hired gun. He picked his licks as part of Bob Dylan’s eight-year-long Never Ending Tour, led the Levon Helm Band’s Midnight Rambles, and served as a sideman…
Rob Blaine
The liner notes for this are on-target when they say Rob Blaine yanks “big chunks” of music from his guitar. But that’s not the whole story. Yes, he can channel Freddie King, Jimi…
Diana Krall
Fans familiar with Krall’s records featuring swinging tunes and gentle ballads might be more than a little surprised when they hear Glad Rag Doll. It wouldn’t be fair to say she’s left the…
Kim Wilson – Lookin’ For Trouble
Lookin' For Trouble
What can you add to the legacy of one of the greatest harmonica players of all time? Perhaps a second legacy of developing a generation of great unknown guitarists within the confines of…
Cory Wong
Striped
On Cory Wong’s eighth album this year, the guitarist presents himself as both a paragon of productivity and gifted songsmith. As if playing for the band Vulfpeck and hosting his podcast “Wong Notes”…
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…
Looking to Get Lost: Adventures in Music and Writing
Peter Guralnick
Peter Guralnick has masterfully chronicled American vernacular music artists for half a century. His in-depth, first-person profiles of blues, R&B, country and rockabilly greats first appeared in magazines, then in the anthologies Feel…
Chet Atkins
In July 1958, Chet Atkins and his half-brother, singer-guitarist Jim Atkins, a member of Les Paul’s original 1930s trio, recorded six songs at RCA’s Nashville studio for this LP, conceived as six of…
Mike Zito – Today
Mike Zito’s debut disc is brimming with Texas-style fire and soul, even though he’s from St. Louis! Zito uses a variety of Strat tones and employs chops chock full of soul. His vocals…
Miko Marks and the Resurrectorsd
Feel Like Going Home
Miko Marks can sing the hell out of country, blues, and soul. And with guitarist/songwriter/producer Steve Wyreman again at her side, this new studio album may be her best yet. The lead single…
Montrose – The Very Best of Montrose
Ronnie Montrose is known less for his guitar capabilities than for fronting a mid-’70s hard rock band that featured an unknown lead singer named Sammy Hagar. Still, Montrose released a quartet of heavy…
Rodney Crowell – Fate’s Right Hand
Fate's Right Hand
Willie Nelson
At Budokan: 2/23/84
Asleep At The Wheel – Live at Billy Bob’s Texas
Live at Billy Bob's Texas
Steely Dan – Two Against Nature (video)
Two Against Nature features the current touring band doing new and old tunes in concert in a nice intimate setting that highlights the band’s sound perfectly. Fagen and Becker lead a group featuring…
Stew Cutler
Cutler’s latest release perfectly navigates that land between jazz and blues that puts it firmly in both camps. It’s an organ-trio record for the most part, with Cutler’s lead and rhythm guitar parts…
Johnny Nicholas & Friends
Too Many Bad Habits
When Johnny Nicholas was kicking out blues in Austin in the ’70s, between there and Detroit, he recorded his 1977 album Too Many Bad Habits, 14 raw, authentic tracks released on the Blind…
Nate Najar
This Is Nate Najar
Nate Najar plays accessible jazz on a classical guitar and applies classical technique to match. This album showcases the music veteran playing a variety of tunes that range from Chopin’s “Prelude in E…
Eric Gales Trio
Eric Gales is arguably the most underrated guitarist of his generation. Emerging in the early ’90s with a post-Hendrix blueprint that combined a fusion of blues, rock, and gospel, he never sustained the…
John Mayall
The Sun Is Shining Down
British blues icon John Mayall – now 88 years old and in his twilight – announced his retirement from touring late last year. His exit from the road, however, doesn’t necessarily mean his…
George Harrison
All Things Must Pass 50th Anniversary Edition
Is the world big enough for two distinct renderings of All Things Must Pass, Harrison’s iconic masterpiece? This anniversary set features a dramatic new mix (overseen by George’s son, Dhani), offering a sweeping…
Buck Owens
Buck Owens never minced words. I know. I interviewed him and others in his inner circle in 1992, while annotating Rhino’s Buck Owens Collection box set. Detailing his scorn for Nashville’s music industry,…
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…
