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Bret Adams
Closer to My Home
Mark Farner
Grand Funk Railroad, the hard-rock “people’s band,” earned little critical respect. But there’s no denying GFR’s massive influence – led primarily by Farner’s vocals and primal guitar – considering their level of early-’70s success. Farner’s first studio album since 2006 is straight-up, no-frills music, similar to his famous Detroit band. Lyrically, the longtime born-again Christian…
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Bret Adams
The Ultimate Book of Blues Guitar Legends
The Ultimate Book of Blues Guitar Legends
The blues is the foundation of nearly all American popular music, and this book by Vintage Guitar’s music editor covers the genre’s giants, from the founders to present-day practitioners. Its emphasis is on electric blues since the days of T-Bone Walker and Gatemouth Brown, but it also touches on acoustic-blues men and women. The…
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Bret Adams
Jimi Hendrix
Electric Lady Studios: A Jimi Hendrix Vision
It’s astonishing – and fortunate – that so much unreleased Jimi Hendrix material exists, given his brief recording career. It seems every time he picked up his guitar in the studio, the Record button was pressed. The hook here is 38 of the 39 tracks are previously unreleased – different takes, alternate versions or mixes,…
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Bret Adams
Revealing Jesse Ed Davis
Douglas K. Miller
Jesse Ed Davis was an unsung guitar hero – unless you were a legend like Eric Clapton, John Lennon, George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Rod Stewart, Conway Twitty, Taj Mahal, Jackson Browne, and countless others who played with him and revered his talent. The Oklahoma-born Davis became an L.A. session wizard who released three solo albums…
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Bret Adams
Washita Love Child: The Rise of Indigenous Rock Star Jesse Ed Davis
Douglas K. Miller
“(Jesse Ed Davis) is the cream of the crop; he’s better than Clapton and Hendrix put together,” said Gram Parsons. How’s that for an endorsement? Davis, a brilliant guitarist whose playing was loved by millions, was largely unknown outside the business. In this fascinating biography, Miller, a professor of Native American history and former touring…
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Bret Adams
Dave Mason
Now We All Know
In his new autobiography, Only You Know & I Know, guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Dave Mason looks back on his incredible life, including becoming a founding member of Traffic, sitting in as a special guest on classic-rock favorites like the Jimi Hendrix Experience’s “All Along the Watchtower,” and enjoying a long solo career highlighted by the albums Alone…
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Bret Adams
Pop ’N Hiss: The Police’s Synchronicity
Sonic Stamp
“Going out on top” is a common sentiment among artists and athletes hoping to end their careers at their best – not fade away. In rock and roll, one blueprint is The Police and their 1983 masterpiece, Synchronicity. The fifth album from vocalist/bassist Sting, guitarist Andy Summers, and drummer Stewart Copeland was a cultural phenomenon,…
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Bret Adams
Dave Mason with Chris Epting
Only You Know & I Know
Guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Dave Mason has endured the familiar rock-star highs and lows in his unusual career, and several unique experiences are covered in this autobiography. A founding member of the groundbreaking Traffic, Mason calls the band, “…an abstract idea – all gut and instinct.” Traffic, he believes, along with the Band and Grateful Dead, pioneered the…
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Bret Adams
Review: “Gimme All Your Lovin’: The Blues, Boogie, and Beard of ZZ Top’s Billy F. Gibbons”
In his prologue, author Christopher McKittrick acknowledges the difficulty of condensing Gibbons’ six-decade career into one book, partially due to the enigmatic vocalist/guitarist’s own “admitted tall tales.” In short, Gibbons is both an incredible musician and accomplished bullsh***er. Per engineer and longtime Gibbons collaborator Joe Hardy: “He will approve if I say this: [Billy] will…
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Bret Adams
Deep Purple
=1
Fifty-seven years after its debut, Deep Purple keeps on rollin’. The hard-rock pioneers’ 23rd studio album, =1, is the first with new guitarist Simon McBride, who replaced Steve Morse. To hone their chops, vocalist Ian Gillan, bassist Roger Glover, drummer Ian Paice, and keyboardist Don Airey toured with McBride before recording, and it was time…
