•  Joey Molland

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     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

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Dale Watson

Dale Watson

Honky-Tonk Hammerin’

Dale Watson remembers well a conversation he once had with Leo Fender. “Leo gave me a guitar, and it was so shiny and new, I said, ‘Well, I just hate…

Blues guitarist Charlie Apicella’s “Booze and Blues” and “Just Like a Woman”

Honoring B.B., Rainey Being V.P. of the North Jersey Blues Society isn’t the only thing that separates Charlie Apicella from the typical blues player. A devotee of B.B. King (and…

Rick Nielsen

Vintage Phenomenon Forefather

Considered by many guitar aficionados to be one of the “founders” of the vintage collecting phenomenon, Cheap Trick guitarist Rick Nielsen has long been a sage among those with an…

Steve Earle

Guitar Talk

Photos by John Peden. Though bandied about haphazardly and almost always inappropriate, when applied to the life and times of Steve Earle, the adjective “extreme” is not hyperbole. The acclaimed…

Graham Dechter

Post-War Perfection

Since his debut at age 19, Graham Dechter has rekindled a post-war jazz sound, effortlessly swinging and always in the pocket. On his latest, Major Influences, he evokes iconic names…

Chris Squire

1948-2015

Yes bassist Chris Squire died June 27th at age 67, after a brief battle with leukemia. Squire co-founded Yes in 1968 andwas its only constant member. The English musician carved…

The Pixies

Alternative Godfathers

In the late 1980s, the Pixies’ unique brand of punk, pop, and guitar rock almost singlehandedly created the alternative music movement that flourished in the early ’90s. Its sound served…

Molly Miller

Dr. J(azz)

Molly Miller is on a quest to bring instrumental music back to storytelling. Her new album, St. George, fuses jazz, rock and roll, and echoes of tantalizing guitar film music…

Rodney Crowell

Same Roots, New Branches

Rodney Crowell arrived in Nashville in 1972, bent on finding a niche for himself in the country music he’d loved since his childhood in Houston. He wrote songs for Jerry…

Tom Petersson

Lower-End Innovator

It’s been a long time comin’… Like his longtime bandmate, Rick Nielsen, Cheap Trick bassist/songwriter Tom Petersson collects classic stringed instruments. Now a resident of Nashville, Petersson still plays the…

Brad Paisley

Keep Pushing Play

Ten years into what has become a stellar career, when Brad Paisley hits your town to play a show these days, it’s with nine semi tractor-trailer rigs and a fleet…

Elliot Easton

Driving Classic Cars

The Cars transcended the new-wave movement of the late ’70s by creating a never-duplicated sound. The band’s self-titled debut album is a masterpiece; almost 40 years after its release, nearly…

Robert Randolph

The Sacred Steel, Family, and SRV

Living testament to the versatility of the pedal-steel guitar and a rarity in pop music, Robert Randolph adroitly addresses the challenge of acting as front man of the Family Band…

Banjo Master Tony Trischka Plays “Chinese Breakdown”

Prime “Earl Jam” sample! One of the most influential figures in roots music, Tony Trischka, master of the five-string, shows us how he does it on “Chinese Breakdown,” from his…

Mark Farner

Mark Farner

Keen to Collaborate

Spiritual beliefs and the power of music have helped Mark Farner deal with life’s inevitable highs and lows. The singer/songwriter/guitarist achieved astonishing success fronting Grand Funk Railroad in the ’70s;…

John Jorgenson

Stringed-Instrument Ecstasy

The title of John Jorgenson’s new three-CD boxed set, Divertuoso, combines two words – “diverse” and “virtuoso” – to aptly describe its contents. Consisting of an album of gypsy jazz…

March 2019

Brown Sound The Fender Conert Amp Among larger vintage Fenders, it’s underappreciated despite offering otherworldly clean tones and glorious sound at breakup. Pros know it’s much more than just “…what…

Denny Laine 1944-2023

Denny Laine, best known for his affiliations with the Moody Blues and Paul McCartney and Wings, died  December 5 after an extended battle with interstitial lung disease. He was 79.…

Tinsley Ellis

A True Keg-Party Jammer

It may be the southernmost point in the country, but growing up in southern Florida is neither exciting or exotic for most people (sorry Miami Vice). While things can be…

Pete Huttlinger

Fingerpicking to fruition

It’s a dream that eludes an untold number of musicians who try to “make it” in Nashville. There’s no telling how many players journey to the Tennessee capital in search…

George Fullerton

Guitar Icon

George Fullerton, whose decades-long association with Leo Fender earned the two early electric-guitar innovators a place in history, He died July 4, 2009 at the age of 86. He succumbed…

Jon Butcher’s psychedelia mastery

Jon Butcher tales his Olympic White ’63 Strat for a rip on “Jam,” a track from his new album, “Nuthin’ but Soul.” The disc is an homage to sounds of…

Tom Petersson

Lower-End Innovator

It’s been a long time comin’… Like his longtime bandmate, Rick Nielsen, Cheap Trick bassist/songwriter Tom Petersson collects classic stringed instruments. Now a resident of Nashville, Petersson still plays the…

Deke Dickerson

Making Merle’s Memoir

From the day he first picked up a guitar at 13, Deke Dickerson honed in on guitarists like Chuck Berry, Eddie Cochran, Scotty Moore, Cliff Gallup, and Duane Eddy. His…

Chris Tapp’s “Got No Right”

Cold Stares’ Guitarist Digs In, Grooves Out Chris Tapp grabbed his real-deal Gibson ’52 goldtop (running through a Kingtone Blues Power pedal into a Fender ’65 Super Reverb) to do…

Randy Meisner

Randy Meisner, bassist and co-founder of the Eagles, died July 26. He was 77 and suffered complications from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Born in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, on March 8,…

Rex Brown

Still Smoking

Throughout his career, Rex Brown has delivered the low-end as the bassist for Pantera, Down, and Kill Devil Hill. But for his new (and first-ever) solo album, Smoke on This,…

Remembering Jeff Beck

This is a regular series of exclusive Vintage Guitar online articles where The Kentucky Headhunters’ Greg Martin looks back on influential albums and other musical moments. I didn’t know Jeff…

Lightnin’ Malcolm’s One-Man Wizardry

First-Rate Blues with Juke Joint Swagger Lightnin’ Malcolm learned blues first-hand from legends of the genre, and it shows! Here, he plays “Jungle” from his new album, “Eye Of The…

T.M. Stevens

Thomas Michael (T.M.) Stevens, a world-renowned bassist whose career saw him back artists in a range of styles, died March 10 after suffering with dementia for several years. He was…