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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
Micki Free
Turquoise Blue
Grammy winner Micki Free’s latest is loaded with rockin’ badassery. With influences ranging from Billy Gibbons and Carlos Santana to Jimi Hendrix, the former Shalamar guitarist charts his own course with rock and…
Tim Sparks – Tanz
Tanz is guitarist Tim Sparks’ second album of “Jewish Blues” – a collection of Jewish songs and dances from Yiddish, Sephardic, and Oriental traditions he has translated into acoustic fingerstyle guitar. This album…
Jeffrey Foucault & Lisa Olstein
Self-distributed
Cold Satellite is a concept album with songs co-written by Jeffrey Foucault and Lisa Olstein. Longtime friends, they began to collaborate in 2007, when Olstein sent Foucault a bunch of unpublished poems plus…
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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,
James “Blood” Ulmer
In and Out Records
Sometimes called a “modern bluesman,” James “Blood” Ulmer covers ground from Hendrix to Ornette Coleman to John Lee Hooker. His music is never dull; always a bit challenging, it’s also fun. His new…
Courtney Barnett
Courtney Barnett’s sleepy slacker persona might be a put-on, but what this young Aussie may (or may not) lack in what the older folks call “gumption,” she compensates for with droll, witty lyrics…
Gurf Morlix – Cut ‘N Shoot
Is Gurf his real name? I don’t know. What I do know is he’s produced excellent records in the past few years for other artists, and in the past couple has started putting…
Sean Wheeler
Sand In My Blood
During the lounge craze of the ’90s, one of the best groups was Virginia’s Useless Playboys. They became favorites at the Continental Club in Austin, where guitarist Billy Pitman eventually moved, leading to…
Bachman-Turner Overdrive
Mercury
BTO holds an interesting spot in rock history, in essence serving as hard rock’s ambassadors to AM pop radio. Their reign was brief, but from 1973 to ’76, music fans could barely turn…
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…
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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
Al Di Meola – Anthology
Al Di Meola needs no introduction, and most of the music on this fine two-CD collection will be familiar to most guitarists as well. The only question is What’s new? The 20 tracks…
Various artists – Henry Mancini: Pink Guitar
Here’s a capital idea executed brilliantly: 13 inventive acoustic guitar arrangements of Mancini classics – 12 solo and one bonus duet – by a dozen top-flight pickers. Even though this already won the…
Ted Drozdowski’s Scissormen
Parts of Ted Drozdowski’s coal-mining family background are almost as hardscrabble and tragic as that of the people who created the blues music he champions so fiercely. That background is a factor in…
Mel Brown
Hellafied
Before becoming a member of the house band at the legendary Austin venue Antone’s, Mississippi-born Mel Brown (1939-2009) was a blues guitarist who gained notice with West Coast R&B icon Johnny Otis. This…
Pretty Things, Procol Harum, David Bowie, and Various Artists
For all the British psych bands you do know – such as the Move and Small Faces – you’ve probably never heard of dozens more. This three-CD set brings together more than 75…
Johnny Winter – The Best of Johnny Winter
The Best of Johnny Winter
Johnny Winter was such an important guitarist when he hit the national scene in 1969, it’s a shame his discography has become so littered with bootlegs and “best of”‘s that don’t do justice…
Mississippi John Hurt – Memorial Anthology
John Hurt played a different breed of blues from Delta stalwarts like Son House and Robert Johnson. Hurt was an all-around songster, and his simple guitar and downhome voice were infectious. This two-CD…
Scotty Moore/D.J. Fontana – and Various Others
Here’s a CD featuring a couple of members of Elvis’ original band – the legendary Scotty Moore on guitar and drummer D.J. Fontana – along with guests like Levon Helm, the Mavericks, the…
Drive By Truckers – The Dirty South
I confess, these good ol’ boys have become one of my favorite rock and roll bands. There double-disc opus, Southern Rock Opera , was one of my favorite records from the past couple…
Tony Furtado
Funzalo Records
If you had picked up Golden without hearing one of Tony Furtado’s previous 14 albums, you’d never guess he was once a banjo prodigy. After winning the National Bluegrass Banjo competition at 19,…
Barney Kessel with Shelly Manne & Ray Brown
The Poll Winners
Kessel, bassist Brown, and drummer Manne – pillars of West Coast jazz – had already topped reader polls in Playboy and two jazz publications before teaming for this 1957 collaboration. Using the rarely-employed…
Omar & the Howlers – Big Delta
In his 22 years as a recording artist, Omar Dykes has churned out a steady stream of solid albums (more than a dozen to date), but lately seems to be on a creative…
Steinar Gregertsen
Powerhouse Records
It’s testament to the music of Jimi Hendrix that people still record it, and somewhat amazing that people like Steinar Gregertsen still find new ways to interpret it. This record features Gregertsen mostly…
The Gourds – Blood of the Ram
The Gourds may be the most dangerous band in America. They aren’t hazardous to your bodily health, but they can certainly cause pain and consternation to your cerebral cortex, especially if you have…
Todd Wolfe Band
American Home Entertainment
Wolfe is best known as a sideman for Sheryl Crow, but he has also recorded with Leslie West and Faith Hill, among others. Now, with his own group – a trio – Wolfe…
The Magpie Salute
The Magpie Salute
This debut album from a 10-piece band is woven together from the smoldering embers of the Black Crowes. Vocalist Rich Robinson, guitarist Marc Ford, bassist Sven Pipien, and the late keyboardist Eddie Harsch…
Joel Harrison String Choir
Sunnyside
Paul Motian is one of the most unusual figures in jazz – respected for his composing as much as his drumming. He was a member of Bill Evans’ famed trio, backed such greats…
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…
Richard Thompson
When you realize that Thompson’s I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight (with then-wife Linda and classics like “Calvary Cross”) was 40 years ago, you have to wonder if he’ll ever slump.…
The Ramones – End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones
There’s an anachronism at the heart of this excellent, engrossing documentary. Few people will argue The Ramones’ influence on punk and post-punk rock, and the footage here from their heyday at CBGB and…
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…
