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Bret Adams
Gov’t Mule
Peace… Like a Rive
It’s fortunate the world still has artists like Gov’t Mule to influence aspiring musicians and prove that it’s possible to have a long, fruitful career playing this kind of music. The creation of the band’s rock-oriented 12th studio album is fascinating; vocalist/guitarist Warren Haynes, keyboardist/guitarist Danny Louis, bassist Jorgen Carlsson, and drummer Matt Abts recorded…
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Bret Adams
Steve Lukather
Bridges to Toto’s Past
Discussing his ninth solo album, Steve Lukather is a ball of energy – reflective, witty, ready with a joke. “I have the humor of a 16-year-old, shoved in an old man’s body!” he laughs. With Bridges, the Toto guitarist/vocalist/co-founder had a goal – to make a Toto-sounding album, because there will never be another. To…
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Bret Adams
Pop ’N Hiss: Toto
Fine Line
In 1978, disco ruled the charts and airwaves. Rock teetered on wobbly legs and there was nary a crunchy guitar to be heard in the Top 40 – except for Toto’s monster debut single, “Hold the Line,” with its in-your-face power chords and a scorching solo. Few who heard the track were aware that they’d…
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Bret Adams
Biography of a Phantom: A Robert Johnson Blues Odyssey
Robert “Mack” McCormick
The legend of Robert Johnson looms large, from his music to the myth of the Faustian bargain made at the crossroads, and his death at 27, ostensibly murdered by poisoning. Author McCormick, who died in 2015, was a musicologist who relentlessly investigated Johnson’s life and was part of a group of obsessed researchers known as…
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Bret Adams
Susanna Hoffs
The Deep End
The Bangles vocalist/rhythm guitarist’s fifth solo album is a folk-enriched blend of covers by classic and contemporary artists, enlivened by Hoffs’ angelic voice. The Deep End, like 2021’s Bright Lights, features legendary session aces and sidemen, including guitarists Waddy Wachtel and Danny Kortchmar, bassist Leland Sklar, and drummer Russ Kunkel. Multi-instrumentalist John Jorgenson and guitar…
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Bret Adams
Steve Rosen
Chasing EVH Memories
From 1977 through 2003, music journalist Steve Rosen formed and fostered a personal and professional relationship with guitar legend Edward Van Halen. In the mid ’80s, Van Halen signed a contract with Rosen to write an authorized biography, but it was never finished. In the new book Tonechaser – Understanding Edward: My 26-Year Journey with…
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Bret Adams
Tonechaser – Understanding Edward: My 26-Year Journey with Edward Van Halen
Steve Rosen
Imagine having Edward Van Halen at your house, playing new Van Halen songs or listening to no-vocals cassettes of in-progress albums in EVH’s cigarette-smoke-filled car. How about jamming with the guitar icon? It all happened to veteran music journalist Steve Rosen. This intensely personal book isn’t an EVH biography, though it started that way. Rosen…
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Bret Adams
Kiss
Off the Soundboard: Poughkeepsie, NY
This 1984 concert is the only known soundboard recording with guitarist Mark St. John, whose tenure is one of the briefest chapters in Kisstory. St. John played on Animalize then developed a sudden case of arthritis and had to depart the group. On these live tracks, his style blends bursts of ’80s shredding, whammy bar…
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Bret Adams
Headline: In Memoriam: Ian Bairnson
Guitarist Ian Bairnson, a member of the Alan Parsons Project who played on the band’s 10 studio albums from 1976 through ’87, then on several Parsons solo albums, died April 7. He was 69 and battled dementia. A Scotland native, Bairnson was working as session musician when he met Parsons, who was producing Pilot’s 1974…
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Bret Adams
The Who
The Who with Orchestra, Live at Wembley
The raw power The Who displayed from their humble beginnings, nearly six decades ago, showed they didn’t need enhancements. But this 2019 show at London’s Wembley Stadium – their first there in four decades – included vocalist Roger Daltrey, guitarist/vocalist Pete Townshend and their core band backed by a 50-plus-piece orchestra. The horns and strings…
