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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
One Unforgettable ’60s-Oddity Magnatone
Monster Mash
Drew Moniot and his band, The Sequins, were on top of the world, playing Gibson SGs through endorsement-deal amp stacks as 16-year-olds in 1967. Among their many favorite memories was…
Opens Up
It used to be that photos didn’t lie. But nowadays (as supermodels and tabloids have proven) that’s not always true. But it is true that when Rod Price’s slide hand…
Martin Taylor M.B.E.
Jazz Guitar Royalty
Photos courtesy Martin Taylor. If Martin Taylor ever decides to quit playing guitar, he can always launch a career as a stand-up comic. Asked where he grew up, the guitarist…
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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
Rick Nielsen
Storied Career
“Many years ago, I was in the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ dressing room with my son, Daxx,” recalls Rick Nielsen. “Flea says to him, ‘Your dad was weird before it was…
Mike Zito
Back to Solo Soul-Searching
Following a stint of nearly four years in the Royal Southern Brotherhood, Texas-based guitarist Mike Zito is focusing on his solo career and has a new album, Keep Coming Back.…
Nate Bergman
Skankin’ With Lionize
The members of Lionize blend heavy rock with reggae to create infectious tunes… kind of like if the guys in Deep Purple were Rastafarians wrapped in trippy sci-fi imagery. Nate…
Heaven and Hell
Neon Knights Reunite
In 1979, Black Sabbath was at a crossroads after the departure of original frontman Ozzy Osbourne.…
Jake Andrews – “ Apricot Brandy”
Austin Stalwart Goes Full Steam for “Apricot Brandy” Jake Andrews was just eight years old when he sat in at Antone’s with an impressed Albert King, and not long after…
Black Joe Lewis
Garage Soul
Eectric Slave is the third album by Black Joe Lewis, and marks a return to the sound of his roots – Hound Dog Taylor, Elmore James, Ron Asheton, and Jimi…
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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
Eric Clapton & J.J. Cale
Blowin' Down the Road
Photo: David McClister, courtesy Reprise Records. Blowin’ Down the Road With Eric Clapton & J.J. Cale by Dan Forte It’s fitting that The Road To Escondido, the long-awaited collaboration between…
J.J. Cale
Clapton Mentor
Ordinarily, in a mentor-disciple relationship in which one of the players is Eric Clapton, the guitar icon would be the mentor. But one of the most significant moments at Clapton’s…
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…
Larry Rivera
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…
Mick Ralphs
Good Company
In 1972, one of Britain’s best bands, Mott The Hoople, still hadn’t made any impact on the charts. Its record company, Island Records, was getting impatient. Then, a future rock…
Robbie Robertson
The Many Sides of
It’s difficult to say which is more ironic: the fact that Robbie Robertson, one of rock guitar’s true stylists, is more famous for his songwriting, or that beneath the minimal,…
Gerry McGee
Venture of the Month
Lead guitarist Gerry McGee has been in that position for the Ventures on more than one occasion. He’s had plenty of other diversions to keep him busy during “interim” times…
Joe Robinson
Eyes on the Prize
Bouncing on a trampoline in the yard of the home his father built outside Temagog, Australia, nine-year-old Joe Robinson gleefully started playing air guitar while Eric Clapton’s “Layla” was blasting…
The (Way) Back Beat: A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody
Fretted cheesecake advertising through the years, Part One
There are many ways for an advertiser to attract attention, and in the history of 19th- and 20th-century print hucksterisim there have been few stones left unturned in the battle…
Joe Walsh
Life’s Still Good
Whether coughing up the #2 talk-box lick of the ’70s, kicking the Eagles into overdrive, or wryly expressing his views on subjects ranging from rock-and-roll excess to lawn mowers to…
John Oates
Rhythm-Minded
From 1975 through ’85, John Oates and Daryl Hall created a trove of era-defining R&B-influenced pop/rock hits on the way to being inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of…
Reverend Peyton
Return of the Adrenaline
“I got all the ways/I just ain’t got the means,” 40-year-old Josh “Reverend” Peyton of Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band sings on Dance Songs for Hard Times, the blues and…
In Memoriam: Anthony Klassen
Anthony R. Klassen, a guitar builder and founder of New Era Guitars, passed away December 13 at his home in Furnessville, Indiana. He was 62. In 1977, Klassen got a…
Fretprints: Kim Thayil
The Grungy Flowering of Soundgarden
In 1991, a movement emerged from Seattle that shook the musical world to its core. Seemingly overnight, a cadre of unlikely “grunge” bands from the Northwest rose quickly to attain…
Randy Bachman
The Album Title Says It All
Canadian guitarist/guitar collector Randy Bachman is known worldwide for his classic licks in songs by the Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive, but he has also recorded jazz with the likes…
Donald “Duck” Dunn
"Duck’s" Gaggle: The Basses of Donald Dunn
Nearly every musician who plays popular music – be it soul, R&B, pop, or the others – has been influenced by Donald “Duck” Dunn. And certainly, every person who has…
Tinsley Ellis
On luck, the road, and The Hard Way
Tinsley Ellis is a road warrior, and he knows it. “I paid some dues early, and now it’s paying off,” he says. “I have friends in all 50 states and…
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…
John And Jake Andrews
The Family that Frets Together…
The “father and son” idea of musical lineage isn’t anything new, and it shouldn’t be surprising that more than one generation of electric guitarists has attained notice in the popular…
Pop ’N Hiss: The J. Geils Band’s “Live” Full House
Detroit Get-Down
You heard of the Boogaloo?” singer Peter Wolf bellows as the J. Geils Band roars through “Hard Drivin’ Man.” “You heard of the Boston Monkey? You heard of the Philly…
George Cummings
Remembering Mississippi and Dr. Hook
George Cummings is best known as the original guitarist for Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show. Born in Meridian, Mississippi, his father’s amateur picking set a course. As a teenager…
