• Ally Venable

    Artists

    Ally Venable

    Connection

    On Money & Power, Ally Venable wields the power of wisdom and emotional connection. It’s an album about empowerment and comeuppance, but there’s plenty of playtime with guest stars Shemekia Copeland and Christone “Kingfish” Ingram. An audio bluesfest, it’s songwriting brings substance carried by guitarists swinging for the fences. What does the albums title represent?What

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Sebastià Gris’ flavorful Two-for One

 Fresh from Barcelona Sebastià Gris used his Gibson SG as eye-candy to play a sample of “Clickbait,” from his latest album, “Oli, All i Julivert.” It was custom-finished by…

Dudley Taft

Dudley Taft

Raucous, Righteous Blues

With the recent release of his third solo album, Screamin’ in the Wind, guitarist Dudley Taft is serving notice that for all of his years of experience, his guitar playing…

Robben Ford

The Space Between the Notes

When it comes to blues, Robben Ford has always been inspired by the most profound practitioners of the form and gone his own way with the understanding that true blues…

Eli Cook

All Over the Map

Eli Cook’s seventh album, High-Dollar Gospel, is an Americana-style showcase of sounds, instrumentation, and varied tunings played on an interesting mix of guitars – a National tricone, a Rockbridge SJ…

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…

Steve Carr

Twenty-Five Years of Tonemaking

In the mid ’90s, Steve Carr was a guitarist playing weekends and working weeknights as a waiter in a swank French restaurant in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. In 1998, he…

Jeremy Popoff

Gettin’ Lit Again

After the gloom of grunge, the late ’90s saw a surge of energetic sounds, mixing hard rock, pop, and punk into an irresistible confection. Green Day, Weezer, and Blink-182 were…

Heavy Hitters Rock Crown Guitar Fest

Want a surreal experience? Try looking up from your oatmeal to see Robben Ford and Pat Metheny strolling past your table, Lee Ritenour and Daryl Stuermer grabbing waffles in the…

Bob Barry

Jazz Lenser, Guitar Lover

Photographer/jazzographer Bob Barry is a busy man. Of course he enjoys frequent personal appearances at galleries and events showcasing his art, but his duties on the board of directors for…

Dan Fogelberg

The sociopolitical attitude of the American population is often said to be gauged in reference to a town in Illinois. But “How will it play in Peoria?” isn’t the only…

Marty Stuart

A Country-Music Odyssey

Marty Stuart’s life is the stuff of movies. Just nine years old when he started singing and playing guitar in his own band, while his grade-school classmates in Mississippi were…

Pat Travers

Pat Travers

Full Blast

It’s an elite class – rock guitarists who crossed the Atlantic to achieve their rock-star dreams. Somewhere between the mid-’60s sojourn of Jimi Hendrix and that of Brian Setzer in…

Eric Johnson

Return of the (Texas) King

If you just flew into Austin and were to drive around looking at the city, you’d barely have an inkling of the musical talent hidden in these hills. Among other…

Exquisite fingerstyle from Will Ackerman

Trademark Melodies from an Icon Will Ackerman and his Steve Klein guitar show us a piece of the lovely “I Had To Go There” from his new album, “Positano Songs.”…

Frank Gambale

Thunder From Down Under

Frank Gambale is enjoying a busy life these days. He recently spent a week playing the Blue Note, in Las Vegas, with Vital Information in support of the recently released…

Sylvain Sylvain

Finds his Subway Rhythm

Subway Rhythm is an apt name for Sylvain Sylvain’s music publishing company. The former New York Doll’s train of thought makes all the stops, a tendency he often acknowledges in…

Pop ’N Hiss: Be Bop Deluxe’s Live! In the Air Age

Atmospheric Axes

For a shining moment, the eclectic British quartet Be Bop Deluxe rose above an upheaval in rock and pop in the late ’70s, as fresh hard rock and Southern bands…

Name that Twang

The Guild-Duane Eddy Connection

The fledgling Guild company scored a coup when it signed Johnny Smith to an endorsement deal in 1956. Perched atop the jazz-guitar scene at the time, Smith helped Guild join…

Myles Goodwyn 1948-2023

Myles Goodwyn, co-founder, creative force, and guitarist/frontman in April Wine, died December 3, 2023. He was 75. Goodwyn grew up in Waverly, Nova Scotia, and was influenced by an uncle…

Jerry Douglas

Helping Hiatt

In April of 2020, Jerry Douglas and his band were set to back singer/songwriter John Hiatt on his new album, Leftover Feelings, then play a joint tour. The pandemic, of…

Have Guitar Will Travel – 039 Featuring Lyle Workman

In Episode 39 of “Have Guitar Will Travel,” host James Patrick Regan speaks with guitarist/composer Lyle Workman, whose new solo album was recorded at Abbey Road. After growing up in…

Jazz Guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel: Deep, Rich, Sparkling on a Baritone

Moody, Introspective, Intimate Kurt Rosenwinkel’s new album features him improvising solo on nine tracks like this one, “Peace Please.” That’s his Collings Baritone SoCo16 LC running through a Pure Tone…

Adam Levy’s Wistful Elegance

Vintage ES-335 on “And They All Sang” Famous for supplying charismatic guitar parts while backing Nora Jones and Tracy Chapman, Adam Levy’s latest solo album, “Spry,” is music laden with…

Steve Rothery

Prog with a Purpose

Marillion has been playing thought-provoking neo-prog since its 1983 debut album, Script for a Jester’s Tear. Along the way, the group has issued classic releases of the genre including Misplaced…

Have Guitar Will Travel 097 – Oliver Wood (the Wood Brothers)

In episode 97 of “Have Guitar Will Travel,” host James Patrick Regan speaks with Oliver Wood (of the Wood Brothers), who shares the story about how he and his brother,…

J.J. Cale

Up Close & Personal

J.J. Cale is the last person you’d expect to get the up close and personal “Behind The Music” treatment. Interviews with him are rare, and for years most of his…

George Gruhn

How a Zoologist Became a Guitar animal

If you bumped into a bearded, corduroy-jacketed George Gruhn in a Nashville coffee shop, you might think you’d stumbled upon an avuncular college professor – which is fitting, considering that…

Gary Duncan

Millennium Mercury Man

One of the more respected musical aggregations to emerge from the fabled San Francisco “psychedelic music” era in the late ’60s was Quicksilver Messenger Service, a guitar-based quartet that offered…

Brad Gillis

Hard Rock, High Profile

Brad Gillis. Photos by Pat Johnson. Bay-area guitarist Brad Gillis has led something of a storied life. He was only 19 years old when he transitioned from playing guitar in…

Andy Wood

Sonic Identity

Andy Wood is the living embodiment of the modern working guitarist. Straddling the galaxies of country music and shred, he has a savvy online presence that includes guitar instruction, live…