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Artists
Joey Molland
The word “underrated” is belabored in music journalism, but Joey Molland was just that. As co-guitarist in Badfinger, he was part of a quartet signed to the Beatles’ Apple Records, yielding glorious AM hits like “Come and Get It,” “Day After Day,” and “No Matter What.” The foursome fell into obscurity and tragedy a few
Phil Collen
A Rock Cat Plays the Blues
In the eyes of many, there’s quite a difference between arena rock and blues rock. But not to Phil Collen, guitarist for one of the biggest acts in the former…
Jonathan Wilson
Charlotte to Cali
Jonathan Wilson is having a very good year. His Gentle Spirit CD (Bella Union), a hippie-soul drenched 80 minutes of folk-psych-rock goodness, has earned international praise. He toured Europe throughout…
Ron Bosse
Unison Groove
While Boston-based guitarist Ron Bosse was inspired to begin his six-string journey while listening to classic rock, he became a jazz player and has been active for decades. “The first…
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Duke Robillard – Lowdown
Vintage Guitar is happy to offer the premier of the new music video by Grammy nominee Duke Robillard. “Lowdown” is the first single from his upcoming album, Blast Off!, set for release February 20 on Nola Blue Records. “When thinking about a powerful song to launch the album, I chose a hard-rocking Tom Waits tune
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David Bowie’s Young Americans
David Bowie was always creatively restless. The English musician decided to step away from the glam rock he’d recorded for a few albums concluding with 1974’s Diamond Dogs, which included a few songs with tinges of soul, R&B, and funk. On tour promoting the album, he played a handful of soul covers. Bowie had long
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Fretprints: Cream’s Disraeli Gears
Supergroup Alpha
Jack Bruce claimed Cream was two bands – live trio and studio group. Live, bassist Bruce, guitarist Eric Clapton, and drummer Ginger Baker were renowned for their highly improvisatory, powerful performance that was unprecedented in rock. Moreover, they were actually a jazz group (“…we just didn’t tell Eric,” Bruce said), as exemplified by their excursions
Adrian Belew
Musical Modernist
Bleeps, squawks, and other sounds emanate from the guitars of Adrian Belew, who has gigged with the likes of Frank Zappa and Talking Heads, not to mention his quarter-century association…
Samantha Fish
Blues Belle Stretches Out
In 2012, Samantha Fish’s Runaway was named Best Artist Debut at the Blues Music Awards. Known for her energetic blues-rock concerts, she released two departures in 2017 – the R&B-tinged…
Steve Vai
Rock-Star DNA
Recorded in 1991, Steve Vai’s Gash is an homage to his rock-and-roll past. It’s also a passion project celebrating the life of friend, Johnny “Gash” Sombrotto. Reminiscent of his guitar…
Kid Ramos’ Raunchy Slide
Kid Carves it up! Proving that tone is less about fancy gear and more about feel, Kid Ramos used his home-modded Fender Squier Mini Strat with pickups from an Epiphone…
Eric Lindberg
“I’m always trying to do things I haven’t done before,” says guitarist/banjoist Eric Lindberg, who has toured and recorded for a decade with wife Doni Zasloff as the bluegrass duo…
Moeller, Moore, and Dayton serve up a Texas jam
Texas Headhunters gonna getcha! Johnny Moeller and his buds in the Texas Headhunters gathered to jam a bit on “The Headhunters Theme,” from their self-titled album. Johnny is playing a…
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Check This Action: Up Jumped Elmore
When someone recently asked me to recommend the most essential Elmore James album, I answered, “Any and all.” I’ve never heard a bad Elmore cut, and I’ve heard nearly everything he recorded. Everybody knows that he set the standard for slide guitar in electric blues, but he was also a fantastic singer and wrote some
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Javier Batiz
Mexican guitarist Javier Batiz, a teacher and inspiration to Carlos Santana and other musicians, passed away December 14 at his home in Tijuana, Baja California. He was 80. Known as the “Godfather of Mexican Rock,” “La Layenda” (The Legend) and other sobriquets, Batiz came to appreciate American blues guitarists such as B.B. King and John
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Josh Meader
Jazz Evolution
Josh Meader is a jazz and fusion player who breaks ground with virtuosity that’s never flashy for its own sake. On his new album, Tide of Times, the young Aussie ace blends styles on a dime, hybridizing music before our eyes; videos online include an especially stunning non-album rendition of “Misty.” It’s fascinating, seeing Meader
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Chris Walz
Debut, Long Time Coming
Chris Walz has done his share of performing. He played young Woody in the stage production of Woody Guthrie’s American Song. From the late ’90s to 2001, Walz toured and recorded with banjo player Greg Cahill’s Special Consensus bluegrass band. And for 10 years he took the role of guitarist Fred Hellerman in Weavermania, a
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Greg Koch
Way Of The Gristle
On Blues, Greg Koch reaches the outskirts of infinity with an album that showcases his wicked guitar skills and love for Muddy Waters. Flying V blues master Larry McCray drops by with the Memphis Horns, and the result is a passionate pentatonic party with soul and fireworks. How did this album come about?Devon Allman had
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Rik Emmett
Canadian Custom
Rik Emmett is a master of many guitar styles and other artistic endeavors. As co-lead vocalist/guitarist in the hard-rock trio Triumph from 1975 to ’88, he experienced life as a rock star, then released a string of solo albums, a book of poetry, and an autobiography. His latest project, Ten Telecaster Tales, is a book
In Memoriam: Len Chandler
Len Chandler, a Greenwich Village “folky” in the mid ’60s with Bob Dylan, Dave Van Ronk, Pete Seeger, The New Lost City Ramblers, and others, died at his home in…
Allan Holdsworth
1946-2017, Lion of Legato
Music fans were relaxing on Easter Sunday when word of Allan Holdsworth’s death began filtering about, bringing shock to the guitar community. For 45 years, Holdsworth had been one of…
“Sneaky” Pete Kleinow
1934-2007
The Gilded Palace of Sin, and nothing else, he’d still have left an indelible mark on country-rock and the pedal steel guitar. Of course, for him, that was only a…
Dave Alvin & Jimmie Dale Gilmore
Southwest Survivors
TexiCali marks the latest chapter in the partnership of L.A. roots-rock vet Dave Alvin and revered West Texas singer/songwriter Jimmie Dale Gilmore – old friends who had appeared on the…
A Tribute To Chuck Berry
That Brown-Eyed Handsome Guitar-Playing Man
When those first notes of Chuck Berry’s first Chess single came blasting out of the radio in July of 1955, many a youngster – as well as those young at…
Jimmie Vaughan
Full Plate, New Strats
After trading football for guitar at age 13, Jimmie Vaughan forged a remarkable career as a blues-roots guitarist, first with The Fabulous Thunderbirds then with a string of solo records…
Rick Derringer
Different Directions
For all of his decades of experience as a guitarist, producer, and singer, Rick Derringer recently took his avocation in yet other musical directions. Among the classic instruments Derringer played…
Davey Johnstone
Ringmaster for Reg
Countless millions are fans of Davey Johnstone’s work, even if they don’t know his name. Anyone who appreciates pop music from the past 50 years has heard his guitar, mandolin,…
Ricky Byrd
Cool and Greasy
“I wanted to make the type of album I would’ve liked to have heard when I was 13 – cool and greasy,” said ex-Blackhearts guitarist Ricky Byrd of his debut solo…
Good Times In Bad
The Origin of Fender’s Vintage Series
The years leading up to CBS Musical Instruments’ 1985 sale of the Fender brand were fluid times at the instrument maker’s headquarters in Fullerton. Faltering in a market death struggle…
John Sebastian’s ’59 Gibson Les Paul Standard
Vintage Guitar magazine Presents Greg Martin's Head Shop
This is a regular series of exclusive Vintage Guitar online features where The Kentucky Headhunters’ Greg Martin looks back on influential albums and other musical moments. On November 30, 1966,…
Paul Nelson
Main Man to the Blues Man
Paul Nelson is not only Johnny Winter’s second guitarist, but the blues icon’s musical director, producer, songwriter, and – many say – life saver. Fans who have recently seen Winter…
Steve Boone
Low-end with the Lovin’ Spoonful
The iconic quartet known as the Lovin’ Spoonful germinated in New York City’s Greenwich Village in the mid ’60s and crafted hit songs that embraced folk, blues, country, and jug-band…
King, Landon Visit the Delta
Bucket (List) Full ’O Blues
Five decades after their bands first charted with hit singles, two guitar legends recently reunited for a sojourn to the Mississippi Delta, birthplace of the blues. Mark Landon was a…
Dean DeLeo and Tom Bukovac unite on the trip the witch
Cosmic Convergence
At a glance, there’s little reason to connect a guitarist like Dean DeLeo to one like Tom Bukovac. One is ’90s-rock royalty, the other a modern-day Nashville studio legend. Strange…
Have Guitar Will Travel 094 – John Notto (Dirty Honey) III
In episode 94 of “Have Guitar Will Travel”, presented by Vintage Guitar Magazine! Host James Patrick Regan speaks with John Notto guitarist for Dirty Honey for the third time! Dirty…
Jim Campilongo
“I’m a Guitar Player”
It’s been two years since Jim Campilongo put out a solo record, but on the new Dream Dictionary, his patented Telecaster tones take on greater dimension as he conjures a…
Kirk Fletcher
The Mid-life Crisis Sessions
Back from barnstorming the globe, blues guitarist Kirk Fletcher’s latest is music for the people. Heartache by the Pound is about love, sorrow, joy, and pain, driven by freakishly excellent…
Scott Sharrard
Destined for the Gig
Anyone who has seen the Gregg Allman Band in person or caught its new CD/DVD, Back to Macon, Ga, knows guitarist/musical director Scott Sharrard covers a lot of musical ground.…
Mark Andes
Son of Straight Arrow
There probably aren’t too many fathers of rock stars who’ve had a song written about them, but such is exactly the case with veteran actor Keith Andes. His son Mark…
Have Guitar Will Travel – 031 Featuring John Notto
The latest episode of “Have Guitar Will Travel” has host James Patrick Regan speaking with guitarist John Notto from Dirty Honey, a band that harkens to the glory days of…
