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

Spanish singer shines on “Arbre” Accompanied by Jaume Llombart’s beautiful playing on a ’92 Gibson ES-350T modded with a ’57 PAF, Spain’s Belén Bandera does an exclusive take on…

The Creation of Are You Experienced?
It was a bio-pic fantasy. The scene: Outside a London venue where Jimi Hendrix is performing for the first time. Leaving the club, Pete Townshend encounters Jeff Beck, just arriving.…
Larry Rivera, a guitarist/ukuleleist who for seven decades performed at Kauai’s famed Coco Palms Resort and other Hawaii venues, passed away January 30. He was 92 and had been diagnosed…
When Hubert Sumlin sideman Sean Chambers played a gig with Savoy Brown bassist Pat DeSalvo and drummer Garnet Grimm, the result was blues-rock ecstasy. Live From Daryl’s House Club is the next best thing to being there. Fans of incendiary slide playing and Rory Gallagher, look no further. How did you meet Pat and Garnet?I
On Lari Basilio’s latest record, Redemption, art and life collide to make beautiful music. Effortless instrumental guitar techniques merge with rib-sticking melodies to captivate and astonish. Bassist Leland Sklar and drummer Vinnie Colaiuta are back to add rhythmic fire, but Basilio’s muse is life’s challenges and, of course, super cool gear. You became a mother.
A songwriting blues-rocker in the purist sense, Dudley Taft is succeeding in an era when nothing comes easy for his ilk. His new album, The Speed of Life, required a departure from the norm; while his previous three were recorded at his own studio in Cincinnati, this one used down time during a European tour

Triumph guitarist shows how to properly play four classic songs Plenty of players on socials post video showing how to play the “pretty” chords from classic Triumph songs, but…

Constant Creator
The elements of life that mold a person are constant and ever-evolving. Influence is all about perspective. Philadelphia-born Nick Perri grew up in a strict Catholic household where pop music…
Worldly Jazz Virtuoso
Photo courtesy Fareed Haque. Fareed Haque is a jazz-fusion and classical player who’s known for stunning guitarmanship, yet for one reason or another, his name often flies under the radar.…

Blue-Collar Virtuoso
Joanna Connor’s latest is her most-potent album to date. Best Of Me serves up a feast of guitar styles and genres, all under the banner of the blues. Special guests…

Fire in the Heart
In the early ’70s, women didn’t play rock guitar. Nor did they front bands. Nancy Wilson was an exception. Few guitarists present as memorable an onstage image as does Wilson…

Andrew Hendryx Demoing ’64 Fender Mandocaster On a recent mandolin safari, Andrew Hendryx visited a shop in Asheville, North Carolina, and had a go on a ’64 Fender Mandocaster.…
Acclaimed as bassist for The Flower Kings, Jonas Reingold is a master four-stringer. He’s recorded with many artists, including Jon Anderson (of Yes), and has become an integral part of Steve Hackett’s band, re-creating the complex bottom of early Genesis. Twenty years ago, Reingold started the prog group Karmakanic (repeat it slowly a few times),
Tommy Emmanuel is a real guitarist in its truest sense. On Live At The Sydney Opera House, he stands onstage with only an acoustic guitar, and mesmerizes a packed house. His virtuosity employs country, Celtic, and folk fingerpicking styles that lift the spirit. The set is loaded with fan favorites, but a song suggestion from
After landing on American shores in 2002 to study bluegrass, then shifting into a career as a country singer/songwriter/picker, Jedd Hughes has spent 20 years on an alternate – but rewarding – path as A-list session player and touring sideman. While being busy tempered his flow of original music, in 2014, he returned to songwriting.
As a teenager who just wanted to play music, Norm Harris lived with the reality that he and his band weren’t going to be millionaires anytime soon. So he did what musicians do – side-hustled. But when most were manning the counter at a music shop or serving tables, Harris was up at the crack
If you’re making a list of beloved bands with a long string of hook-heavy hits, the Doobie Brothers will surely be on it. Their new album, Walk This Road, features the creative core of vocalist/guitarist Patrick Simmons, vocalist/guitarist Tom Johnston, multi-instrumentalist John McFee, and vocalist/keyboardist Michael McDonald. The news of Walk This Road generated significant
Season 03 Episode 10 In Episode 3.10 of “Buy That Guitar,” host Ram Tuli is joined by Robb Lawrence and Kim Shaheen. Robb’s experience in the vintage market spans from the golden age of electric-guitar innovation to the modern world. Beyond simply studying the history, he lived it, documented it, and played alongside giants who
A Full Plate For 20-Plus Years
Native Californian guitarslinger Steve Lukather has been a mainstay on the Left Coast studio and concert scene for longer than you think. He’s best noted for his longtime association with…

Great jazz on a Strat Ron Bosse learned to play saxophone in grade school and was raised on classic rock, and in high school became a jazz guitarist. A Berklee…

Pushing Boundaries of Blues, Folk, and Rock After a smash-and-grab from his car a few years ago, Reverend Freakchild made this National N-series his main squeeze. Here, they show us…

Baritone Funk
Snarky Puppy’s Empire Central was recorded in front of a live audience and pays homage to the city of Dallas. Deep within the bowels of the band’s sophisticatedly funky 19-piece…

In the colossal wake of the Beatles, Tom Petty – more than most – was that kid the Byrds spoke to in “So You Want to Be a Rock and…

Blues From the Backroads
Stepping into the spotlight to play the blues with the classic bands that backed Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf, most guitarists would sweat bullets. Not so Kenny Wayne Shepherd. He…

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…

Living The Dream
In case you were wondering, shred is not dead, and Ethan Brosh is determined to keep it that way. The Israeli-born Berklee grad is a young man with an old…

Absolute Pride
Del McCoury remembers the seeds of his new album, Almost Proud. “I played the Grand Ole Opry on Tuesday night, March 10, 2020,” he said. “After that, they shut ’er…

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…

James Patrick Regan welcomes Pete Bernhard, guitarist with Devil Makes Three, to the latest “Have Guitar Will Travel” podcast. They rap about Pete’s path to forming the band with Cooper…

Western Soul Brother
For a guitarist with fans and admirers around the world, Dave Gonzalez is one humble man. “I’m still trying to figure it out,” he says of his playing. It’s a…
The Perfect Beast is a Matter of Tone
Ask what defines Rocky Athas’ sonic universe and the Texas-born guitarist will readily answer, “Tone,” which he best exploits in his weapon of choice, a 1962 Surf Green Stratocaster. The…
Remembering Phil Lynott
Moore with his signature model Gibson Les Paul. Photo: Rob Verhorst/Redferns Music Picture Library. Irish guitarist Gary Moore is a man in perpetual motion, onstage and in the studio. A…

Machine Head at 45: Tone Secrets of Deep Purple’s Masterwork
In any conversation about the dawn of hard rock and metal, several bands rise up – Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Mountain, Grand Funk Railroad, and Uriah Heep. But you simply…
Lost Treasures From the Early '70s
Photo: Catherine Sebastian. “Musical style has such a short shelf life. In that year and a half, I lost vital time.” The timeframe John Sebastian is speaking of is the…

Amazing improv on “End of World Blues” We review the reissued 1992 album “Naught Again” by Zero, a band that featured Steve Kimock playing Grateful Dead-style jams with a virtuoso…

The Vulture
Fans of The Black Crowes remember Marc Ford as the gifted guitarist who played on what many consider the band’s best albums, The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion, Amorica, and…

First Takes & Extra Takes
Ed. Note: Guitarist/producer/recording artist/guitar innovator (we could add more to that list!) Steve Ripley has passed away (January 3, 2019) at his home in Pawnee, Oklahoma after battling cancer. He…

Prog Shred Ain’t Dead
After bursting onto the scene in 1995 with the screwball shred classic The Adventures of Bumblefoot, Ron Thal (a.k.a. Bumblefoot) has shape-shifted his playing, adapting to the hard rock of…

Jazz Memoir
The latest from Julian Lage contains mesmerizing originals featuring Bill Frisell’s supple artistry and Lage’s potent six-string imagery. View With A Room is a dreamy record that transcends contemporary jazz-guitar…