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Toronzo’s Tasty Blues!

More than “just” a great blues player, Toronzo Cannon is an outspoken supporter and fan of the form. His dedication extends to the guitar he plays here, made with wood repurposed from Muddy Waters’ home at 4339 South Lake Park Avenue. Built in Chicago by GTR, he plugged it into a Victoria Silver Sonic amp to tease us with a snippet of “Something To Do, Man,” one of the standout tracks from his new album “Shut Up & Play!” Catch our review in the September issue. Read Now!

Rocky Athas’ Texas ’Tude!

Dallas guy Rocky Athas built a career playing blues in the vain of T-Bone and SRV, but his new album, “Livin’ My Best Life,” is more Houston/BFG-flavored. Here, he and his ’69 Gibson Les Paul Custom (running through an Ibanez TS-10 and a Fender Reverb tank going to a vintage Lab Series L-5) play riffs from three songs – “Dark Days,” the title track, and “Walk In My Shadow.” Our review of “Livin’ My Best Life” and interview with Rocky appear in the September issue. Read Now!

Toronzo’s Tasty Blues!

More than “just” a great blues player, Toronzo Cannon is an outspoken supporter and fan of the form. His dedication extends to the guitar he plays here, made with wood repurposed from Muddy Waters’ home at 4339 South Lake Park Avenue. Built in Chicago by GTR, he plugged it into a Victoria Silver Sonic amp to tease us with a snippet of “Something To Do, Man,” one of the standout tracks from his new album “Shut Up & Play!” Catch our review in the September issue. Read Now!

Rocky Athas’ Texas ’Tude!

Dallas guy Rocky Athas built a career playing blues in the vain of T-Bone and SRV, but his new album, “Livin’ My Best Life,” is more Houston/BFG-flavored. Here, he and his ’69 Gibson Les Paul Custom (running through an Ibanez TS-10 and a Fender Reverb tank going to a vintage Lab Series L-5) play riffs from three songs – “Dark Days,” the title track, and “Walk In My Shadow.” Our review of “Livin’ My Best Life” and interview with Rocky appear in the September issue. Read Now!

Giveaway

Guitar Accessory Bundle Giveaway!

Win an accessory bundle with an Oxford Guitar Supply gift card, Music Nomad KEEP IT SIMPLE, SETUP (KISS)™ kit, Rocky Mountain Slides Co. Bear Claw Tri-picks, Firecracker Aluminum Slides and graphite picks, plus a Reverend back pack to put it all in valued at more than $450. Deadline is November 25, 2024. Complete the survey […]

by Vintage Guitar
Classic Instruments

Gibson’s Crest Models

Gibson has produced two guitars bearing the “Crest” name. While both designs date to the 1960s, they’re very different instruments. The first incarnation was a single-cutaway with design ties to the L-5CT, while the second looked more like a fancy ES-335 with a shortened neck. In almost every way – size, construction materials, appointments, and […]

by George Gruhn and Staff
Artists

ZZ Top

The First 20 Years, Un-Remixed

Usually, the hook with boxed reissues is that they include previously unreleased songs, alternate takes, live material, and maybe some extra tchotchkes like rare photos, revisionist essays, or poster reproductions. Sometimes it’s remixed versions of familiar hits. It’s rare that the main attraction is un-remixed albums the way they came out 40-odd years ago – […]

by Dan Forte
Artists

John Jorgenson

John Jorgenson’s Gypsy Jazz Orchestra

Call it a “Gypsy jazz wall of sound.” John Jorgenson’s new album, Istiqbal Gathering, features the master guitarist backed by the full Orchestra Nashville – strings, woodwinds, brass, even percussion. The result would make Django Reinhardt himself envious. For Jorgenson, it all came naturally. “Recording solo guitar with a full orchestra is very different than […]

Artists

Ty Tabor

Digging Deep

King’s X guitarist Ty Tabor’s latest solo album is a guitar-centric meditation on mindfulness and the complexities of existence. With a break from touring, he had time to whip out some of his coolest gear and use it to color the depths of his lyrical ideas. Despite hardship and loss, Shades shows Tabor at the […]

Have Guitar Will Travel

Have Guitar Will Travel – 041 Featuring Daniel Donato

The new episode of James Patrick Regan’s “Have Guitar Will Travel” podcast features wunderkind Daniel Donato, whose childhood appreciation for the Grateful Dead, “Paradise City,” and disc three of the Led Zeppelin box set spurred him to pursue his passion for the guitar. Busking in Nashville led to joining the Don Kelley Band, and here […]

Artists

Woody Harris: Fingerstyle a la Fahey, Basho

Reemergence With a Rare Guitar Woody Harris used his ’76 John Mello guitar (“It has dimensions of a classical guitar, but made for steel strings.”) to play a piece of “The Drop” from his new EP, “Edgework.” It’s one of Woody’s two new EPs reviewed in the April issue! Read Now!

Music

Styx

Crash of the Crown

BreaBreaking While 2017’s concept album The Mission embraced progressive rock, the new Styx album has even higher ambitions. Returning to their guitar/keyboard-fueled ’70s style, the band takes prog’s grandest elements and condenses them into punchy songs – no question, that classic Styx crunch is present. Tommy Shaw’s warm electric, bright acoustic rhythms, and distorted slide […]

VG Approved Gear

Alembic Essence Zebrawood 4

Alembic basses are the stuff of low-end legend, famed for magical tones in the hands of Stanley Clarke, Jack Casady, and John McVie, among others. The newer Essence 4 series is meant to capture that Alembic experience with a body lighter than the company’s hefty axes of the 1970s. Like most Alembics, the Essence 4 […]

VG Approved Gear

Tech 21’s Acoustic Fly Rig

String Wings

Adding to its line of compact DI/multi-effects units for traveling guitarists, Tech 21’s Acoustic Fly Rig is more than a collection of tone sweeteners – it contains a gig bag worth of functionality specific to the needs of acoustic performers. Opening the black tin packaging, it’s immediately striking how miniaturized this pedal is. The chassis […]

Artists

Roy Treviño

Joining the Conversation

With his new self-titled album, South-Texas-based guitarist Roy Treviño accomplished his goals by simply being himself and letting the music flow. “I’d made a couple records before, but I’d put limitations on myself,” he said. “For instance, it had to be electric blues or whatever. As a result, I didn’t feel like those albums were […]

VG Approved Gear

MXR Dyna Comp Mini

A Classic, Compressed

In the ’70s, the original MXR Dyna Comp found its way onto a plethora of now-classic vinyl sides and was a key ingredient to the soundtrack of a generation. With an eye toward the latest trend in miniaturized effects pedals with full-sized sounds, MXR’s Dyna Comp Mini Compressor retains the same rich analog sounds of […]

Coral Electric Sitar
Classic Instruments

Coral Electric Sitar

For centuries, Indian musicians have utilized the resonant sympathetic strings of the sitar to create the unique sounds of classical Indian music. Traditional sitar design combines a body fashioned from a large gourd with a long, hollow neck made of teak or tun wood and two bridges made of bone, horn, or ebony at the base of […]

George Gruhn and Sarah Rose Jones
Classic Instruments

B.C. Rich Acrylic Warlock

Most industries know a great idea when they see it and aren’t shy about jumping on a bandwagon. In 1969, an electric guitar made out of translucent acrylic proved it. The materials and processes that ultimately yielded acrylic were discovered in the late 18th century, but modern polymethyl methacrylate (acrylic glass) was invented in the […]

Artists

Warren Haynes

Lights-Out Blues

Blues is the beating heart of Gov’t Mule, and guitarist/bandleader Warren Haynes can play them lights-out. Standing as evidence is his work on their latest album, Heavy Load Blues, a rugged mix of songs that pays tribute without sacrificing the band’s sonic mission; Haynes’ playing is indeed heavy, and so is the music. What compelled […]

Artists

Ty Tabor

On a Roll

King’s X guitarist Ty Tabor is on a roll. Despite the band being on hiatus due to bassist Dug Pinnick’s health issues, Tabor stays busy with side projects like Jelly Jam, with Rod Morgenstein and John Myung. He operates a commercial audio mastering facility, and his new solo album, Nobody Wins When Nobody Plays, showcases […]

Classic Instruments

Vega Model 120

Viewed from our contemporary perspective, it’s difficult to fully appreciate how different the music scene in general – and the guitar scene in particular – was back in the early part of the last century. When the electric guitar hit the ground as a viable entity in the mid 1930s, everything was up for grabs… […]

Peerless Retromatic
VG Approved Gear

Peerless Retromatic

Modern Vintage

Peerless Retromatic Price: $1,699 Info: www.peerlessguitars.eu While many new guitars of the last decade have touted authentic (or semi-authentic) “retro” features, the Peerless Retromatic represents an evolution in the retro-guitar revolution. That’s because in addition to its sexy design and vintage-inspired accoutrements, the Retromatic is refreshingly modern, giving its player the choice between a humbucker […]

Music

Eric Clapton

Live in San Diego with Special Guest J.J. Cale

With Eric Clapton’s 2014 announcement that he would no longer tour, his tribute album to J.J. Cale the same year, and subsequent revelation that he’d been suffering from peripheral neuropathy, the double-CD release of this 2007 concert recording makes total sense. Cale, Clapton’s longtime inspiration who died in 2013, made a rare appearance with E.C., […]

Artists

John Oates

Rhythm-Minded

From 1975 through ’85, John Oates and Daryl Hall created a trove of era-defining R&B-influenced pop/rock hits on the way to being inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Singer/songwriter/guitarist Oates is releasing 12 new songs – one per month for a year – via digital outlets, with guest guitarists including Tom Bukovac, […]

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