Category Archives: Newswire

REO Speedwagon, Styx, and Ted Nugent will join forces this spring and summer for The Midwest Rock ’n Roll Express tour, set to begin May 1. “Forget all those TV shows with glee clubs singing rock songs,” said Styx guitarist/singer James “J.Y.” Young.  “It’s time for mega-platinum Illinois bands Styx and REO Speedwagon to battle [...]

PRS’ DGT model, the DGT Standard, is an all-mahogany version of David Grissom’s signature model. It has Grissom’s signature neck shape, slightly larger frets and heavier strings, tremolo capability, and DGT pickups with individual volume controls. Grissom made his debut as Joe Ely’s lead guitarist in the mid-Eighties. His on stage and studio resume include stints [...]

  Experience Hendrix, L.L.C. has announced the sudden passing of Robert (“Bob”) F. Hendrix, the company’s Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. As first cousin to Jimi Hendrix, Bob Hendrix came to the support of Jimi’s father, James “Al” Hendrix and his daughter, Janie, in 1995 to help form Seattle-based Experience Hendrix, L.L.C. and [...]

The PRS Collection Series guitars consist of one electric and one acoustic. For the second installment, the company designed instruments with David Grissom, Tony McManus, and Martin Simpson . The Collection Series II DGT has a one-piece maple top with mahogany back, 22 fret 25” scale length pernambuco neck with Honduran rosewood fingerboard and mammoth [...]

The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum will host an exhibit titled “The Bakersfield Sound: Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, and California Country” beginning March 23. Narrated by Dwight Yoakam, the exhibit will explore the roots, heyday, and impact of the Bakersfield Sound, the loud, stripped-down and radio-ready music most closely identified with the careers [...]

Washington, D.C. PBS member station WETA-TV will broadcast “In Performance at the White House: Red, White and Blues” February 27 at 9 p.m. Eastern Time. The blues-themed special will honor the musical form that sprang from the Mississippi Delta and flourished in the Westside of Chicago, with roots in Africa and slavery.  Its performances will explore those roots [...]

Joe Naylor has launched Railhammer pickups, which use both rail and pole magnet extensions to sense string vibration. The rails under the wound strings are designed to sense a narrow section of string, which Naylor says increases the clarity of tone from the strings. The poles under the unwound strings create a fatter sound. The [...]

Michael Davis, bassist for punk-rock pioneers the MC5, died February 17 after being hospitalized for a month with liver disease. He was 68. Davis the MC5 in 1964 and was a member during the band’s ’60s/early-’70s heyday, when it recorded the classic album Kick Out the James. He left the group in ’72, then in [...]

The third annual Six-String Theory Guitar competition is underway. Divided into four categories (Piano/Keyboards, Guitar, Electric and Acoustic Bass, and Drums) its prize package is valued at more than $600,000 and includes cash prizes, Yamaha instruments, scholarships from the Berklee College of Music, a chance to record for Lee Ritenour’s 2012 Concord Records release, and a [...]

The Wisconsin Historical Society Press announced the release of  Les Paul: Guitar Wizard, the 20th book in the Badger Biographies series for young readers. The book tells the story of the man who pioneered the solidbody electric guitar, multi-track recording, and many other musical inventions. Along the way, he overcame numerous physical challenges, including recovery [...]