Month: December 2011

Tony Savarino proves himself in many styles and shows a fine sense of humor on an album guitarists will certainly appreciate.

His “Barrelhaus Gutbucket Chicken Pickin” starts things off, with chromatic licks, killer bends, and percussive guitar sounds that glide over a loping country beat. Phil Baugh’s “Take One” feels like a long lost Hank Garland track, with its jazz-country feel and Savarino working chords. He proves more than capable of playing a blues that isn’t cliché with “Blues for Bb,” a smooth after-hours jam with jazzy soloing and changes.

At first glance, Brian Eno’s “Deep Blue Day” – an atmospheric piece with notes soaring in and out – doesn’t seem to fit. But it works. “Freight Train” is an acoustic tour de force with fingerpicking, flatpicking, and everything else you can think of on acoustic. And how can you not love an instrumental guitar record that finds room for “Holiday for Strings.” The classic melody is a muted-string workout that’ll put a smile on your face.

Savarino also sneaks in a rocking rendition of Motorhead’s “Dancing on Your Grave” that hints at Savarino’s inspirations, pre-Telemasters!

Guitaring is a collection of great songs, deployed with great execution – and the occasional wink.

This article originally appeared in VG‘s April ’11 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.

Led by acoustic guitarist/singer/ songwriter Kevin Jackson, Jackson County Line has a California countrysoul with elements of War and Santana and plenty of Buffalo Springfield with an emphasis on Neil Young. “Easy To See” has a particularly strong Young flavor brought out by a lightly fuzzed solo from lead guitarist Jonny Daly, who sometimes plays against mood to impressively effective results. JCL benefits from not completely fitting into any one particular style, though it’s hard to imagine them existing if certain artists hadn’t come before. Listening to “205,” “Summertime,” or the eerie “Train Song,” artists beyond Young come to mind – the Flying Burrito Brothers, Love, Jackson Browne, Booker T. & the MGs, and even Nickleback (yes), along with a host of others. The music on South has a comfortable musical and emotional familiarity; it touches favorite spots. It’s a laid-back album, but hardly lightweight. It’s extremely well-conceived, with every instrument or background vocal coming in just right. Jackson, who sounds a little like Don Henley, is an exceptional songwriter whose material (“Birmingham,” “It’s Only Fair”) can be intensely moving.

This article originally appeared in VG‘s Feb. ’11 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.

As the Wheel celebrates its 40th anniversary, it’s taking care of business – releasing Willie And The Wheel (with Willie Nelson) in 2009 and now teaming with one of the great voices of Western swing, former Texas Playboy Leon Rausch. Both albums, it seems, should have happened years (if not decades) ago. Still, both are welcome, better-late-than-never entries into the catalogs of all concerned.

The liner notes dub this “jazz with a cowboy hat,” which is accurate enough; Bob Wills often sprinkled his Playboys with jazz-leaning instrumentalists, like guitar great Jimmy Wyble, and Rausch’s laid-back phrasing is perfectly at home in that genre. But he can handle pretty much anything, as he shows on “Snap Your Fingers,” a 1962 Top 10 hit for soul singer Joe Henderson, and Peggy Lee’s sprightly title tune. The 82-year-old even plays electric bass on Wills’ “Osage Stomp,” the CD’s only instrumental, and Count Basie’s “Alright, Okay, You Win” is as comfortable a fit for him as it is for the Wheel (featuring Elizabeth McQueen dueting with Leon).

The Wheel started as a multi-vocalpronged beast, and in addition to Mc- Queen, Jason Roberts, and, of course, leader/guitarist/producer Ray Benson trade choruses with Rausch throughout much of the album – and, not surprisingly, Willie joins the party for a lazy “Truck Driver’s Blues.”

But the Wheel has also always featured top-notch players, as evidenced by lap steeler Eddie Rivers on a laid-back “Truck Driver’s Blues” – with Willie dueting – not to mention Benson’s bouncy break on the title track, with Roberts doubling on fiddle and electric mandolin. Augmenting the group on much of the album (shining on “I Didn’t Realize”) is George Strait’s guitarist Rick McRae.

Throw in yet another rendition of “Route 66” (since pairing it with the Wheel’s boogie beat was originally Rausch’s idea), and you’ve got one swinging party.

This article originally appeared in VG‘s Feb. ’11 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.

This is Wood’s first solo album since 2001, which isn’t surprising, seeing as it’s only his seventh studio album in 36 years – his solo output usually dictated by his schedule with his long-running stints with the Faces and, for most of that three-and-a-half decades, the Rolling Stones.

Eleven of the dozen songs are new originals and collaborations. On the lone cover – a power-packed, uptempo version of Willie Dixon’s “Spoonful” – Woody trades vocal choruses with Bernard Fowler and solos with Slash. Guest stars abound, but there’s no mistaking who the leader is – with Wood’s stamp on everything from the gruffy, scruffy garage-rock of “Thing About You” to the soul/country of “Why You Wanna Go And Do A Thing Like That For,” from the reggae lilt of “Sweetness My Weakness” to the Dylanesque “Lucky Man” (a co-write with Eddie Vedder and Bob Rock). Dylan is a frequent influence (on 1979’s Gimme Some Neck, Wood nailed the then-unreleased Dylan song “Seven Days”), popping up again on “Fancy Pants” and “I Don’t Think So” – though the latter is cycled through Dire Straits (featuring Faces/Stones disciple Waddy Wachtel on rhythm).

The Stones and Faces, of course, represent hard-partying rock bands at their prototypical best – which makes it easy to overlook the beautiful ballads both have recorded and Wood’s superb playing on them. On “I Gotta See,” co-written by duet partner Bernard Fowler, Wood’s arpeggiated rhythm complements a soaring, economical solo by Billy Gibbons (who co-wrote “Thing”), and his and Slash’s guitars weave in, around, and through gospelinflected vocals by Wood, Fowler, and Bobby Womack on “Forever.”

It is to Wood’s credit that he never gets lost in the all-star gathering, and there’s no hint of “vanity project.”

This article originally appeared in VG‘s Feb. ’11 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.

Fresh from his double win at the 2010 International Bluegrass Musicians Association (IBMA) awards for “Mandolin Player of the Year” and “Instrumental of the Year,” Adam Steffey teams with The Boxcars on arrangements tight as Doyle Lawson’s Quicksilver, but with a broader musical palette. Between vocal parts, The Boxcars lay down more than a smattering of killer instrumental solos; Steffey’s bouncy mandolin counters Ron Stewart’s machine-gun banjo. The original instrumental “Jumping The Track” highlights their technical prowess, especially on the last pass, where all the soloists trade fifths.

Are The Boxcars the next bluegrass supergroup? They have the talent, but take a listen to this and decide for yourself.

This article originally appeared in VG‘s Feb. ’11 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.