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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
Ally Venable
Real Gone
Ally Venable has deep roots in blues-rock, but it’s easy to picture her as a festival headliner. A legitimate triple threat – the writer of original songs, a powerhouse vocalist and a tough,…
João Erbetta and Pete Curry
Los Angeles
Guitarist Erbetta has composed and produced film scores in his native Brazil, while Angelino Pete Curry plays bass with Los Straitjackets and was the surf-rock Halibuts’ lead guitarist. The two previously spearheaded the…
Roy Buchanan and Tom Principato
Masters of the Telecaster
In 1972, Roy Buchanan shook up the guitar world with his self-titled debut album. The tones he extracted from his ’53 Tele, his facility with eclectic repertoire and techniques, from country to blues…
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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,
Jinx Jones – Live in Finland
San Francisco’s Jinx Jones teams with two terrific Finnish musicians for the making of this fine live record. Henry Valanne (drums) and Ari Sjöblom (bass) are both adept at the various forms of…
Willie Nelson – Naked Willie
The forced, intrusive background vocals on the “definitive” versions of “Funny How Time Slips Away” or “Crazy” (from The Essential Willie Nelson) are argument enough in favor of this project. The songs on…
Duke Robillard – A Swing Lesson with Duke Robillard
Stony Plain
Duke continues his impressive output with a nod to his swing roots. Among guitarists, Robillard is known as a do-all, as he can be at home in almost any musical style, not only…
Ernie Hawkins
Corona Records
Ernie Hawkins is a genius of the acoustic guitar who has mastered the country-blues stylings in the vein of Reverend Gary Davis. On Whinin’ Boy, he finds himself in a band setting more…
Stevie Ray Vaughan and Friends
Years ago, in a BBC documentary about his former bandleader, bassist Noel Redding held up all the albums that Jimi Hendrix released during his lifetime (five, not counting Cry Of Love, which he…
Check This Action: “Pipeline” and Beyond
When a friend introduced me to Bob Spickard and Brian Carman of the Chantays about 40 years ago, I immediately pumped them with questions: Who played lead and who played rhythm on their…
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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
Muddy Waters – The Blues: Rolling Stone 1941-1950
The Blues: Rolling Stone 1941-1950
This new collection chronicles the rise of Muddy Waters from tractor driver to the king of the blues. It presents 36 of his formative first recordings on two CDs covering his debut years…
Lee Ritenour
In honor of his 40th year of recording, Lee Ritenour blended a bit of new material with journeys in time, revisiting tunes he’d recorded starting with First Course, his 1975 debut. He kicks…
Bola Sete
Samba In Seattle
The uninitiated will wonder why they’re just now hearing such a guitar genius, while aficionados bemoan the fact Bola Sete isn’t a household name. Previously unreleased, this triple-CD, subtitled Live At The Penthouse…
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,…
James Burton and Ralph Mooney – Corn Pickin’ And Slick Slidin’
The first domestic CD release of this pickin’ fest from 1968 is cause for celebration. This all-instrumental outing featuring two of country’s greatest stylists – Tele maestro James Burton in his post-Ricky Nelson/pre-Elvis…
Mike Zito
Resurrection
The very title of bluesman Mike Zito’s new album – and the fact it’s the follow-up to 2020’s Quarantine Blues – strongly suggests the arrival of songs celebrating post-pandemic life. There’s indeed a…
Prasanna
The highly decorated Prasanna embellishes his artistry with a style that fuses elements of jazz and Indian music. The ancient Indian art of Carnatic music weaves throughout, bringing much-needed pizazz, panache, and fearless…
Phil Collins, Billy Cobham
Great Guitar Albums From Non-Guitarists
Sometimes non-guitarists make great guitar albums. These expanded reissues from drummers Billy Cobham and Phil Collins are cases in point. After a blistering career in the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Cobham went solo and released…
Moreland & Arbuckle
Aaron Moreland on guitars and Dustin Arbuckle on vocals and harmonica have been doing their thing for almost a decade now and every album has been a winner. This latest is no exception:…
The Beau Brummels
Turn Around: The Complete Recordings (1964-1970)
In the mid ’60s, this Bay Area band straddled British Invasion, garage rock, and emerging psychedelic sounds. More important, they cut some of the most sophisticated rock and roll of the time, thanks…
Alex Woodard – Alex Woodard
Adrenaline Records
When Alex Woodard was a kid, his sister spoonfed him the music of her favorite rocker, Tom Petty. Five albums later, the effect still holds. Woodard’s arrangements, phrasing, and even the timbre of…
Josh Smith
Bird Of Passage
Between playing guitar on the road and producing blues artists with Joe Bonamassa, Josh Smith found time to get in the studio for himself. Bird Of Passage is Smith’s dream of composing for,…
Happy Traum
There’s a Bright Side Somewhere
Traum is known to some as founder of the expansive Homespun Tapes instructional series, but there’s nothing academic about this baker’s dozen. From the powerful intricacies of “Santa Cruz Blues,” an improvisation named…
Jonathan Kreisberg
New For Now Music
There’s a whole new generation of jazz guitarists very conversant in the traditional language of the form, but with their own other influences. Jonathan Kreisberg is at the top of that list. On…
George Harrison – Brainwashed
It’s become cliché to say a particular guitarist is recognizable after just one note, but in the case of George Harrison, it’s true. Because along with his many hats and talents – singer,…
Otis Taylor
Anyone familiar with Otis Taylor’s work won’t be surprised by the hypnotic nature of his new record, featuring vocal numbers and instrumental interludes that all are seemingly connected. The classic title cut gets…
Darren Jay and the Delta Souls
Darren Jay may not be in Gregg Allman’s class as a singer, but he’s still effective. As a guitar player and arranger, though, he can stand with many, and he leads this big…
Greg Nagy
Blues rocker Greg Nagy makes the Northern industrial equivalent to Southern country of the 1950s and ’60s. He melds ’70s West Coast R&B, British blues rock, Albert King tones, dollops of Steely Dan,…
Toots and the Maytals – Light Your Light
News flash: Toots is sporting dreads! Since the dawn of his career in the mid 1960s, Frederick “Toots” Hibbert has sworn by a close-shaven head. And his music has remained close to its…
Robert Cray – Twenty
Once every couple of years, Cray puts out a well-crafted record with fine writing, guitar solos that ooze soul, and vocals that rank with the best. No change here. Twenty should make plenty…
The Rolling Stones
Eagle Rock
Some people think Exile On Main Street is the best album the Rolling Stones ever recorded. Those people are wrong. And it’s certainly not “the rock and roll Bible,” as Sheryl Crow proclaims…
