• 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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Dave Wyndorf

Cover Up

Like most rock bands, the men of Monster Magnet found themselves with a lot of time on their hands once Covid effectively ended tours in 2020. But instead of going…

Jim Weider

Telecaster Master, Camp Counselor

Ever dream of hanging out with a couple handfuls of guitar legends while breathing fresh mountain air and (mostly) unplugging from the world? If so, Jim Weider has something you’ll…

Whit Smith

Rhythmic Rendezvous and the Hot Club of Cowtown

For its latest album, Rendezvous in Rhythm, the Hot Club of Cowtown has stepped back in time. Guitarist Whit Smith plays acoustic jazz echoing the work of his heroes including…

Eddie Cochran’s Gretsch 6120

Don’t Mean a Thing If It Ain’t Got that Twang

One night in the late 1950s, Eddie Cochran set the world alight onstage in the City of Angels. Though the details are lost to history, The Los Angeles Times reported,…

Brennen Leigh

Honky Tonk Woman

Country singer, songwriter, and guitarist, Brennen Leigh has no shortage of gifts, ably documented on her latest album, Ain’t Through Honky Tonkin’ Yet, and it’s heart-yanking single “Running Out of…

Gary Hoey

Reverence and Feel

On Dust & Bones, Gary Hoey continues his foray into blues using one part guitar virtuosity, one part production skill, and two parts homage. It’s a muscular blues-rock recording with…

Steve Cropper

Homage to Lowman Pauling

All but forgotten today, with his low-slung guitar, stylish rhythm licks, and tasty leads, Lowman Pauling was one of the great guitar heroes of the ’50s. Guitarist for the R&B…

Mike Beigel

Resurrection of the Mu-Tron III

Mike Beigel is no guitarist. But that never held him back in crafting one of the most legendary of all guitar effects pedals, the famed Musitronics Mu-Tron III envelope filter.…

2025 May Issue on Spotify

This month, we feature The Dobbie Brothers, Popa Chubby, Joey Molland, Carlos Alomar, Cream, David Bowie, Rush, Norman Harris, Greg Koch, Rik Emmett, Chris Walz, Elmore James, and more! Spotify…

John Frusciante

Red Hot On The Empyrean

Best known for his work with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, John Frusciante thoroughly enjoys every aspect of making music, and continuously experiments with new and unusual ways to create…

Del McCoury

Absolute Pride

Del McCoury remembers the seeds of his new album, Almost Proud. “I played the Grand Ole Opry on Tuesday night, March 10, 2020,” he said. “After that, they shut ’er…

Buddy Guy

Legend Steeped in the Blues

Buddy Guy, Bayfront Blues Festival, 1997. Photo by Ward Meeker. When referring to the all-time great legends of the blues and the guitar, the formidable Buddy Guy comes to mind…

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…

Rick Nielsen

Rockford State of Mind

One of the godfathers of the vintage guitar phenomenon, Cheap Trick guitarist Rick Nielsen was in an ebullient mood when he contacted VG… and not just because he’d acquired yet…

Ty Tabor’s Six-String Meditation!

King’s X Guitarists’s solo work is mindful, complex Ty Tabor used his Player Strat (with a JB Jr. pickup at the bridge) to play this cool rendition of “Insane,” from…

Susan Santos’ Blues-Rock Riffage

Solo take on “Have Mercy” Susan Santos grabbed her LsL T Bone, plugged into a Bugera V5 Infinium amp, and played this DIY take on “Have Mercy,” a highlight track…

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…

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…

Eric Schenkmann

Funk, Blues, and Thunder

It’s been a quarter-century since the Spin Doctors broke out with “Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong,” which catapulted the New York band to international prominence. The quartet of Eric Schenkman…

Alexander Dumble 1944-2022

Recalling an Eccentric Genius

Howard Alexander Dumble, iconic amp designer and builder, passed away January 16, 2022, after suffering a stroke. He was 77 and had been dealing with heart issues including Atrial fibrillation…

Ian Hunter

Guitar Prognosticator

Ian Hunter’s Diary of a Rock N’ Roll Star is a fascinating look at early-1970s bands, music, and guitar collecting. The book, a journal of a U.S. tour by his…

Mick Taylor

Shedding Light on the Genius of Mick Taylor

The mid/late 1960s were a fertile and progressive time for rock guitar, with “Swinging London” serving as the birthplace and incubator for the blues-rock idiom, in particular, as budding English…

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Michael Schenker

Acoustic Album, Electric Gear

One of the most influential guitarists in hard rock history, Michael Schenker has imbued the music of UFO, Scorpions, and his own MSG with soaring, light-speed guitar solos. More recently,…

Tony Iommi

Heaven and Hell: This Mob Still Rules!

Toni Iommi photo: Rick Gould. There is an undeniable power generated when certain musicians join forces. That is most definitely the case with Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Vinny Appice, and…

Sunny War

Love and Nothingness

Eclectic folk-punk stylist Sunny War’s latest album, Anarchist Gospel, is a break-up album mixing black folk, acoustic gospel, and symphonic trappings. She’s backed by ethereal moods, rustic textures, talented guests…

Thinkin’ Thin

Heroes of the Semi-Hollow

The semi-hollowbody electric guitar is one of the most revered axes in the plugged-in universe, offering the playability of a solidbody with the warm, woodier tone of a fat archtop.…

GA-20 – “Double Gettin”

VINTAGE GUITAR EXCLUSIVE! GA-20 – “Double Gettin” GA-20’s Matt Stubbs tells it like this: “‘Double Gettin’’ originally appeared on our latest full-length release, ‘Crackdown.’ The story takes you from a…

Onstage with Rainbow in 2016. Blackmore 2016: Fabrice Demessence.

Blackmore’s Best

To help denote the 45th anniversary of the release of Machine Head, we asked subscribers to Vintage Guitar’s electronic newsletter, “What are your three favorite Ritchie Blackmore songs, riffs, or…

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…

Brad Paisley

Country's Newest Star Keeps Nashville Tele-tuned

If you need proof that few popular music stars are as comfortable as Brad Paisley wearing the “star hat,” watch his video for his latest single, “Celebrity,” a comedic jab…