• 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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Ray Bonneville

Ray Bonneville

Easy Groove

Ray Bonneville’s latest album, Easy Gone, glides on a steady groove. “I really like the way it sounds with these guys,” he said of drummer Geoff Arsenault and bassist Gurf…

Johnny A.

Beck-Ola: Johnny Plays Jeff

The passing of Jeff Beck affected few people as much as it did Johnny Antonopoulos. “It had the same impact as when I heard John Lennon died,” said the Grammy-nominated…

Jeff Beck

Blow By Blow

 What is jazz? What is rock? These questions perpetually confound and divide music experts and listeners. Similar spirited debates have raged over “jazz-rock fusion.” While there is no definition, Jeff…

John Wetton

Back In Asia

Bassist/vocalist John Wetton has exhibited his solid chops and plaintive baritone voice through the decades in King Crimson, Asia, and several other successful British bands, including Uriah Heep, Wishbone Ash,…

Jeff Beck

He Can’t Help It… He Just Keeps Getting Better

In 1985, speaking of the ’83 Action Research into Muscle Distrophy (A.R.M.S.) Tour that united Yardbirds alumni Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, and Eric Clapton, the latter stated, “At that time…

Mike Campbell

Little Movies

Longtime Tom Petty right-hand man Mike Campbell’s new album, Vagabonds, Virgins & Misfits, is a cinematic, guitar-heavy offering with irresistible hooks, gritty tales, and special guests. His third album as…

Kenny Olson

The Detroit Fender Bender

If you’re talkin’ Detroit rock, vintage guitars, muscle cars, then you’re talkin’ Kenny Olson. VG met Olson at the Detroit Guitar Show, and it didn’t take long before he was…

Les Paul

2007 Hall of Fame Player

In 1952, Gibson’s new Les Paul model was becoming one of the company’s most popular guitars, and though there was no way of knowing it at the time, it would…

R. C. Allen

R.C. Allen

1934-2014

R.C. Allen, a noted luthier who built archtops for local and regional players of note and was a fixture at vintage-guitar shows in Southern California, died March 2. Allen was…

Tony Gilkyson: Country-Rocker, Punk

Tasty licks On A Vintage Kay An alumnus of country-rock’s Lone Justice and punk-rockers X, Tony Gilkyson plugged his vintage Kay Sizzler into a ’64 Fender Princeton Reverb for a…

Ron Asheton

Revisits the fun house

what more must be said about the Stooges and guitarist Ron Asheton’s role in crafting the molten landscapes of their albums, The Stooges (1969), Funhouse (1970), and Raw Power (1973)?

Larry McCray’s R&B-Blues Meld

Rust Belt Veteran does “Arkansas” Larry McCray and his bodacious Custom Shop Flying V show us the hard-drivin’ guitar parts from “Arkansas,” one of the songs from his new album,…

Carl Verheyen

Well-rounded and busy

Carl Verheyen says it all came to him when he heard the Eagles’ album called The Long Run. At that point, he was heavily into jazz, and practicing eight hours…

“Buy That Guitar” podcast with special guest Redd Volkaert

Season 03 Episode 03 In Episode 3.3 of “Buy That Guitar,” host Ram Tuli is joined by Redd Volkaert, one of modern country’s foremost pickers. Any fan of Western swing and…

Memphissippi Sounds’ Yella P asks “Who’s Gonna Ride”

’59 Stratotone at the Memphis Slim House While Memphissippi Sounds’ Yella P and his ’59 Harmony Stratotone were visiting the Memphis Slim House in the Soulsville neighborhood of Memphis (Stax…

Kurdt Vanderhoof

These Go to XI

When it comes to thrash metal, the “Big 4” – Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax – get credit for popularizing the style. But there were other trailblazing bands at the…

Fretprints: Earl Hooker

Unsung Blues-Guitar Legend

Chicago, 1959. Ask any blues musician where to go, and the answer was likely, “Wherever Earl Hooker is playing.” Earl was the blues-guitarist’s guitarist, a commanding presence on the city’s…

Steve Vai

Taming The Hydra

After finishing a sold-out tour with Joe Satriani and Eric Johnson for the G3 Reunion concerts, Steve Vai joined Adrian Belew and Tony Levin to perform interpretations of the ’80s…

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…

David Grissom and David Holt

Two-Guitar Story

When Austinites entertain music-loving friends from out of town the typical question is, “Who should we go see while we’re here?” And in a city loaded with good bands, the…

Steve Hill

One-Man Band

Canadian guitarist Steve Hill is a flat-out rocker, smashing blues into rock and roll with terrifying force, as heard on his latest, Dear Illusion. Often playing as a genuine one-man…

Travis Stever

Travis Stever

A Conceptual Break

Few rock bands have explored the “concept album” format as thoroughly as Coheed and Cambria; the band’s first seven full-length discs followed a sci-fi story line (known as “The Armory…

Douglas Naselroad

Instrumental Healing

Music heals the soul. For many, crafting the instruments that make music has healing power, too. In 2012, the non-profit Appalachian Artisan Center in Hindman, Kentucky, hired Douglas Naselroad to…

The Return of Slash and The Conspirators

4 From the Floor

In the weeks before they gathered to record a new album in the spring of 2021, guitar legend Slash, frontman/songwriter Myles Kennedy, and their cohorts in The Conspirators had to…

Daniele Gottardo plays “Spirals”

American rock guitar meets European classical Guitar virtuoso Daniele Gottardo used his Charvel Custom Shop guitar (with scalloped fretboard) to play this VG-exclusive take on “Spirals,” from latest album, “Inkblot.”…

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…

Gregg Wright

King of the Rockin’ Blues

Gregg Wright is a force to be reckoned with. He took the top spot in the Southern California Blues Society’s annual Battle of the Blues Bands, and will move on…

Mick Ralphs

The Original is Still the Greatest

The only guitarist to appear on every Bad Company album is the redoubtable Mick Ralphs, whose on-the-money sledgemhammer riffs were already known by serious fans of rock guitar prior to…

Shuggie Otis

Return Of The Prodigy

The son of bluesman Johnny Otis, Shuggie Otis was born into a world of blues, R&B, nightclubs, and stages. As a guitar prodigy, he played in his father’s band, and…

The (Way) Back Beat: A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody

Fretted cheesecake advertising through the years, Part Two

Last month, we began looking at some of the more entertaining fretted instrument advertising of the 20th century, in what could be loosely called the “cheesecake” style! This term generally…