• Thomas Custom Guitars

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    Thomas Custom Guitars

    Rarities from the Pacific Northwest

    Certain makes and models of electric guitars are rightfully prized for their elegant physical designs and superior craftsmanship. Even better are those also revered for their playability and particularly rich tonal qualities. Thomas guitars, on the other hand, are usually noted for their odd (sometimes controversial) shapes and zany features. Built by the late guitarist/machinist/luthier/and

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Big Al Anderson

Pawn Shop Guitars

Since last spoke to him, songwriter and master of the Telecaster Al Anderson has been extremely productive. More than a dozen of his songs appear on Vince Gill’s new These…

Hangin’ with Kid and Lisa “Little Baby” Andersen

Smooth, Funky Blues With Soul Kid Andersen worked with Charlie Musselwhite and Elvin Bishop before scoring his current gig with Rick Estrin & the Nightcats. One of the best blues…

Larry Carlton

The buzz about Fire Wire, the new record by guitar legend Larry Carlton, was that he was going to rock more than he had in years. Yes, the guy who…

Robert Lockwood, Jr.

1915-2006

With the death of Robert Lockwood, Jr., the blues world lost one of the few direct links to Robert Johnson as well as one of the studio kingpins of Chicago…

Dave Stryker

Dave Stryker

Fits To a T

The latest project from jazz guitarist Dave Stryker, Messin’ With Mister T, is a tribute to late saxophonist Stanley Turrentine, with whom Stryker played for more than a decade. A…

Ted Newman Jones’ West-Texas Guitars

Melodious Coterie

Boxcars Among the vast papers, drawings, photographs, and tapes at Texas Tech’s Crossroads of Music Archive is a guitar beloved by the late Jesse “Guitar” Taylor. Known as “Dice,” it…

Fretprints: Fran Beecher

Rock-and-Roll Guitar Begins

The ripples that anticipated a rock-and-roll tsunami were in motion in the 1940s, when pop, “race records,” and country converged to produce rock’s first wave. Until then, pop music ranged…

Matthias Jabs

Still Got That Sting

It won’t be long before the Scorpions, a veteran hard rock aggregation from Hanover, Germany, celebrates its 30th anniversary of creating guitar-based music with memorable hooks for an untold number…

Graham Parker plays “We Did Nothing”

Reflective take on the world In his review of Graham Parker’s “Last Chance To Learn The Twist,” Dan Forte recalls that the singer/songwriter emerged as part of the ’70s new-wave…

Lance Lopez

Hard-Time Music

Lance Lopez is back and better than ever. Trouble Is Good is wild, hellacious, and packed with three essential influences – Jimi Hendrix, B.B. King, and the Reverend Billy F…

Michael Schenker

Temple Of Rock

Michael Schenker has had the kind of stormy past that could give Keith Richards a run for his money. He will forever be tied to iconic bands such as The…

Joe Messina

Joe Messina, guitarist with the famed Funk Brothers studio band at Motown Records, died April 4 at his home in Northville, Michigan. He was 93 and suffered kidney disease the…

Burton, Garrett, Lee, and Wilcox Join Forces

Burton, Garrett, Lee, and Wilcox Join Forces

Telecaster Summit

For guitar lovers and roots-music fans, the place to be in July ’13 was British Columbia. The Vancouver Island MusicFest held a true summit meeting of masters of the Telecaster…

Emmett Chapman

Emmett Chapman, inventor of the Chapman Stick, died at his home on November 1. He was 85 and had battled cancer. An innovative jazz guitarist, Chapman played a long-scale nine-string…

BILL KIRCHEN

Bill Kirchen

Telemaster Offers A Word To The Wise

Trying to top 2006’s Hammer Of The Honky-Tonk Gods, Bill Kirchen’s eighth solo album, would seem a mighty tall order. Then again, he set what would have been a surprisingly…

Zac Schulze gets straight to it!

If you’re a fan of Cream, Zeppelin, and Rory Gallagher (who isn’t?), you’ll dig Zac Schulze Gang, a British power trio that’s carrying the torch with both hands; they’ve played…

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…

Belfast Bluesman Dom Martin

Gallagher, Buchanan Inspiration! Dom Martin grew up listening to blues-guitar legends including his Irish countryman Rory Gallagher, and has created his own sprawling musical vision. Here, he plugs his Vintage V100…

Johnny Marr

Brit Gets a Git

When pop-music fans in the U.K. talk about guitar heroes, they tend to put more stake in the way a player’s work fits, contextually, into that of his band. To…

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…

Paul Quinn

Ramming It

As one of the leading bands of the early-’80s New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement, Saxon is responsible for offering up such headbanging anthems as “Wheels of Steel,” “Strong…

Ralph Towner

Fifty Years and Counting

As a young musician, Ralph Towner wrote “Icarus,” a revolutionary jazz piece that became a crossover hit for the Paul Winter Consort. Later, the classically trained guitarist (also a fine…

Geddy Lee

Rush RX for my Favorite Headache

Geddy Lee is a man who needs very little introduction. With just over three decades as the unmistakable lead vocalist, bassist, and keyboardist in Rush, Lee has forged a potent…

Tyler Morris Features a Martin Style 2 1/2-17

Tyler Morris Playing a Martin Style 2 1/2-17 Tyler Morris grabbed his 19th-century Martin Style 2 1/2-17 to play a medley of 20th-century licks. He also digs into the history…

Pop ’N Hiss: Wishbone Ash’s Argus

Twin-Lead Loadstone

Founded in 1969, Wishbone Ash attained fast fame in the U.K. with its meshing of intricate twin-lead-guitar passages and harmony vocals. With their third album, Argus, Andy Powell and Ted…

Mundell Lowe

Jazz All Around

Mundell Lowe is arguably the most successful jazz guitarist of his era. He routinely performed with such luminaries as Charlie Parker, Lester Young, Billie Holiday, Dizzy Gillespie, Bill Evans, Sarah Vaughn,…

Check This Action: A Year In Their Life

Recently, I stumbled onto one of those “reaction” videos by a New Zealander named Courtney, who wasn’t sure if she’d ever seen footage of the Beatles or even heard their…

Mick Taylor’s ’58 Les Paul Standard

The Ya Ya’s Out!

Hard-edged face of the British Invasion, the Rolling Stones introduced the world to the implements, trappings, and accessories of rock-and-roll superstardom. With help from radio, television, and teen ’zines, the…

John5

Rocker’s new album not what you might think

Don’t let John5’s stage persona fool you. Underneath that peroxide-white hair, sinister colored contact lenses and high-priest-of-evil wardrobe breathes one impressive and versatile guitarist. True, the Michigan-born guitarist (real name…

Thomas Custom Guitars

Rarities from the Pacific Northwest

Certain makes and models of electric guitars are rightfully prized for their elegant physical designs and superior craftsmanship. Even better are those also revered for their playability and particularly rich…