Tony Rombola

Gothic Blues

Godsmack guitarist Tony Rombola is moonlighting once again, on the third album by Apocalypse Blues Revival with fellow Godsmack member/drummer Shannon Larkin, bassist Brian Carpenter, and singer Shane Hall. The…

Pop ’N Hiss: Be Bop Deluxe’s Live! In the Air Age

Atmospheric Axes

For a shining moment, the eclectic British quartet Be Bop Deluxe rose above an upheaval in rock and pop in the late ’70s, as fresh hard rock and Southern bands…

Brad Gillis

Playin’ On

A member of the cutting-edge vanguard that made the Floyd Rose locking vibrato a huge part of ’80s rock guitar, Brad Gillis famously gashed two classics – a ’62 Strat…

Joe Bonamassa

Driving

Joe Bonamassa’s latest record, Driving Towards The Daylight, is a return to the blues. After two successful studio albums with the heavy-rock band Black Country Communion, Bonamassa’s latest solo effort…

Check This Action: Folk Festival of Blues

I heard blues records earlier than I can remember. My dad had Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee albums, and a family friend had records by Lead Belly and Jesse Fuller.…

Jorge Garcia’s FM Anthems, in Jazz

Fresh takes on revered classics Joge Garcia’s “Still Crossing” is a collection of stellar instrumental performances of familiar tunes like “Kashmir,” “Little Wing,” and a classical spin through Joni Mitchell’s…

Adrian Belew

Musical Modernist

Bleeps, squawks, and other sounds emanate from the guitars of Adrian Belew, who has gigged with the likes of Frank Zappa and Talking Heads, not to mention his quarter-century association…

Pop ’N Hiss: Joe Satriani’s Surfing With The Alien

Spacey Hang Ten

The ’80s were teeming with music ranging from pop-metal to new wave, thrash metal, blues revivals, and the New Romantic movement. Mid-decade, an instrumental rock-guitar album improbably rode the tide.…

Paul Nelson

Main Man to the Blues Man

Paul Nelson is not only Johnny Winter’s second guitarist, but the blues icon’s musical director, producer, songwriter, and – many say – life saver. Fans who have recently seen Winter…

Fretprints: Johnny Meeks

Rock-and-Roll Guitar Pioneer

In the 1950s, “rock” music was a melange of blues, country, and hillbilly that also snared elements from boogie-woogie, gospel, Western swing, doo-wop, and prototype R&B. Called “rockabilly,” its emissaries…

Dusty Hill

1949-2021

It didn’t take long for testimonials to pour in to VG following the death of ZZ Top bassist Dusty Hill. “Dusty Hill has the patent on the blues-rock groove!” said…

Steve West

Steve West, lead guitarist on Paul Revere & the Raiders’ classic 1963 version of “Louie, Louie,” died of pneumonia on December 28. He was 76. West had to leave the…

Chris Leuzinger

Country Crunch

Growing up in the tropical air of West Palm Beach, it’s little wonder that Chris Leuzinger’s first musical revelations had a Latin sway. “We had a big console record player…

Lance Lopez

Hard-Time Music

Several years after being liberated from Supersonic Blues Machine, Lance Lopez is back and better than ever. Wielding hard lessons from the road and the influence of players named Billy,…

Classics: February 2024

Sean Slade’s 1964 SG Junior

They might not seem to have a ton in common aside from first names. J Mascis, Dinosaur Jr.’s co-founder and guitarist developed a style equal parts guitar heroics and left-side-of-the-dial…

Bob’s Playboy Pickers

Bob Wills was, first and foremost, a fiddler. But he began his career in childhood, strumming guitar and mandolin chords at rural Texas parties and dances behind his father, ace…

Duke Levine, solo guitar on a ’70s country stalwart!

Classic licks on a ’60s Teisco and blackface Princeton Reverb” Boston native Duke Levine’s impressive career has included stints with Otis Rush, Del Fuegos, Mary Chapin Carpenter, and others. Now…

George Kilby, Jr.

The Succinct Approach

George Kilby, Jr.’s Six Pack is, he says, a “collection of singles” rather than an EP or album. Kilby graduated from Princeton, where his mentor, J.K. Randall, introduced him to…

Snowy White

One Man, One Guitar

Snowy White, one of the finest blues and rock musicians to come out of the U.K., built a career on near-anonymity. Deliberately. “It is my nature,” he explains. “If the…

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…

Robin Trower

Conquering Hero

As frustrating as the Covid pandemic has been for keeping artists off the road the past two-plus years, for many, it provided the luxury of time to work on new…

Pat Martino

Legend, Treasure, Inspiration

He is a living legend, a national treasure, and an inspiration to musicians and music lovers of all stripes. Pat Martino’s exemplary career spans four decades, and his personal tale…

Steve Lukather

Sun Shine

Steve Lukather has been a busy professional guitarist for 45 of his 63 years, as a founding member of Toto, revered session musician who played on countless hits, and solo…

Zakk Wylde

Stripped Down BLS for Unblackened

When Zakk Wylde was asked to record a new DVD/CD package, he decided to give his Black Label Society fans something different – Unblackened, a live acoustic/electric performance featuring Wylde…

Ghalia Volt’s Stompin’ slide!

Belgium Born, Delta Fostered Brussels native Ghalia Volt moved to the U.S. in 2013 to busk in music-rich cities like Chicago, St. Louis, Memphis, Nashville, and Clarksdale, Mississippi, where for…

Shane Theriot

Out of the House

Shane Theriot’s new album, Still Motion, is more stripped-down funky “jazz trio” than the lush soul he helps create as musical director for Hall and Oates. And that’s exactly what…

Blake Aaron

Melodic Passion

Blake Aaron’s fifth solo release, Soul Stories, features eight originals and a couple of covers that have at least one thing in common. Each instrumental relies heavily on the listener…

Have Guitar Will Travel 093 – Martin Simpson

Features In this episode, host James Patrick Regan speaks with Martin Simpson, discussing his new duet record with Thomm Jutz, “Nothing But Green Willow: The Songs of Mary Sands and…

Adam Hawley’s Joyous Jazz

Adam lays it down on “Escape” Jazz hitmaker Adam Hawley, who has backed Jennifer Lopez, Natalie Cole, and played in the “American Idol” house band, used his fetching PRS Hollowbody…

Jon Butcher

Shifts Gears

Veteran guitarist Jon Butcher is changin’ with the times. Interviewed in Vintage Guitar‘s October ’95 issue, he was at the time recording, performing, and hoping for a sophomore effort from…