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Trending Now
After having his life saved by a liver transplant and releasing Battle Scars, an album that chronicled his health struggles, Walter Trout is back. To celebrate, he gathered friends including Joe Bonamassa, Warren Haynes, and Kenny Wayne Shepherd to record We’re All in This Together. How did the guest list develop for the album? Battle […]
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Artists
Keb’ Mo’
Writing by Subtraction
Keb’ Mo’s latest album, Blues Americana, nearly wrote itself. “Going in, I had planned to make a solo acoustic record,” he said. “I got the songs together, but felt it didn’t really hold up. So, I made the record like I wanted – started simple, with guitar and vocal and a click track, because I […]
Artists
2Frontiers’ Authentic Appalachian Sounds
Exclusive run at “Long Dead Man” When you’re in the mood for old-timey Appalachian music done very well, grab “New Old West,” the latest album by 2Frontiers. Here, Sjoerd Van Ravenzwaaij and Gregory Mulkern share an exclusive take on “Long Dead Man.” Sjoerd’s using his Taylor K-22E, while Gregory plays his custom Pietsch flathead banjo. […]
VG Approved Gear
The Electro-Harmonix Superego Synth Engine
Synthful
Electro-Harmonix Superego Synth Engine Price: $283.60 (retail); $212.70 (street) Contact: www.ehx.com Building on the success of its Freeze Sound Retainer (a.k.a. the world’s shortest looper), the Electro-Harmonix Superego Synth Engine is a “short” sampler pedal, but with more control and options. The Superego not only allows the player to capture or freeze notes and chords […]
VG Approved Gear
Walrus Audio’s R1 High Fidelity Reverb
Reams of Reverb
Many manufacturers claim “studio quality” reverb, but not all nail it. Walrus Audio’s R1 High Fidelity Reverb is the latest to tempt discriminating players with high-tech features and promises of classic sounds. Controls and connections on the R1 are plentiful, including MIDI in/through jacks, 9-volt power jack (no battery), dual footswitches with multi-color LEDs, and […]
Artists
Jeff Beck
He Can’t Help It... He Just Keeps Getting Better
In 1985, speaking of the ’83 Action Research into Muscle Distrophy (A.R.M.S.) Tour that united Yardbirds alumni Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, and Eric Clapton, the latter stated, “At that time and for many months after that, I began to think of Jeff as probably being the finest guitar player I’d ever seen. And I’ve been […]
VG Approved Gear
Supro Huntington
Looking supremely ’60s-like with its gorgeous, vintage-y cherry-red finish, petite body, and fancy-topped pickups, the Supro Huntington is inviting as all get-out. A short-scale axe, it combines a classic shape (think Ozark/Supro Pocket Bass) and passive electronics with a modern touch or two. The Huntington’s gold-foil pickups are, according to Supro, replicas of the Pocket […]
Music
Robin Trower featuring Sari Schorr
Joyful Sky
Trower, a legendary guitarist who has occasionally sung lead on his own albums, has more-often worked with stellar vocalists to bring extra power to his combustible blues-rock. Collaborators have included the late, great James Dewar, Davey Pattison, and Richard Watts. Now, add Sari Schorr to that list. Trower exhibits palpable excitement at having the husky-voiced […]
Classic Instruments
Prototypes and Pathfinders
Five Amps That Set the Tone – Or Hoped To
Groundbreaking and undeniably collectible guitar amplifiers have made frequent appearances in this space over the years, but so have prototypes, limited runs, rare, or unusual examples that hold a fascination above the “standard.” Often, these rarities shined a light on the evolution of a deserving as a window into the thinking of their designers while […]
Artists
Jake Shimabukuro Plays the Beatles “Something”
Silky-Smooth Shimabukuro Jake Shimabukuro’s playing is a silky delight on this run through the Beatles “Something.” That’s his Kamaka tenor koa uke and the tune is from his fantastic new album, “Jake & Friends,” which includes guest players including Vince Gill, Sonny Landreth, Warren Haynes, Ray Benson, Lukas Nelson, and Billy Strings. We interviewed Jake […]
Music
Allen Hinds, Tyler Reese, Brad Myers and Michael Sharfe
Fly South, Reminiscence, Sanguinaria
Instrumental Eclectic
In the hands of creative players, the guitar can do so many things. These three recent releases of mostly instrumental music illustrate this perfectly. Allen Hinds is a player with a liquid touch whose music skirts the edges of jazz, rock, and R&B. His great touch and perfect choice of notes are highlighted in the […]
Music
Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters
Maxwell Street
On this latest album, Ronnie Earl and his band freely and unabashedly mourn and honor the late David Maxwell, the Broadcasters pianist who died in 2015 at age 71. While Earl and his musicians express their grief by playing the blues simple, straight, and emotional, the opener, “Mother Angel,” offers a gorgeous, uplifting instrumental theme […]
Artists
Julian Lage
Jazz Memoir
The latest from Julian Lage contains mesmerizing originals featuring Bill Frisell’s supple artistry and Lage’s potent six-string imagery. View With A Room is a dreamy record that transcends contemporary jazz-guitar techniques in favor of crafting altered states of consciousness. It’s a journey of the mind with gorgeous chord melodies that stands on the shoulders of […]
Overdrive
Legendary ’Burst
The Peter Green/Gary Moore ’59 Les Paul Standard
We take a life-size look at the 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard with a sound that has for decades fascinated guitar lovers and blues fans with its evocative, inimitable tone.
Music
Dixie Dregs
Free Fall/What If/Night of the Living Dregs
Free Fall was their official ’77 debut and, what it lacked in audio polish, it made up for it in bravado. Morse’s funk guitar ignited “Refried Funky Chicken,” a firecracker revealing the Georgia band’s terrifying tightness. “Cruise Control” became a Dregs concert staple – Morse’s electric-12-string work is especially gorgeous, and dig Andy West’s serious […]
VG Approved Gear
Jim Dunlop BG95 and EVH95 Signature Cry Baby Wahs
Voodoo Chasin’
Wah users needn’t settle for stock tonal options like those heard on the “Theme From Shaft” or “Voodoo Child (Slight Return).” That’s because Jim Dunlop offers recreations of the classic Cry Baby with additional tone-shaping options, boost features, and improvements to potentiometers, all to help you replicate the wicked sounds you hear in your brain, […]
VG Approved Gear
Weller Guitars’ Stageliner
Jetson Moderne
More and more, guitar designers are digging deep, thinking out of the box, and using their imaginations to conjure hip, nontraditional designs. Strat, Tele, and Les Paul shapes are no longer the go-to templates. Among younger consumers, particularly, retailers see a move away from standard shapes to more futuristic profiles, early-’60s oddball, artsy flourishes, and […]
Classic Instruments
Gibson Marauder M-1
Every once in awhile, someone in Gibson R&D gets a brainstorm like, “I know! Why don’t we make a bolt-neck guitar!” So they do. And the result is almost always interesting – and almost always a commercial flop. Call it “Les Paul syndrome.” Guitar aficionados are the beneficiaries of both sides of this coin. Not […]