• 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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Mike Zito

Back to Solo Soul-Searching

Following a stint of nearly four years in the Royal Southern Brotherhood, Texas-based guitarist Mike Zito is focusing on his solo career and has a new album, Keep Coming Back.…

Matteo Mancuso

Journey Into the Future

Emerging as a social-media sensation several years ago, Matteo Mancuso is changing the way we see and hear guitar. Using a radical fingerstyle attack, the Italian ace handles his electric…

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…

Hadden Sayers Feature home

Hadden Sayers

All the Way Back

If Hadden Sayers’ 2011 release, Hard Dollar, was a way to get his feet wet again, his latest, Rolling Soul, represents a full return to the music world. The guitarist…

B.J. Baartmans shares his “Cabin Fever”

The Space Age Travellers: Eclectic Instro B.J. Baartmans’ trio, The Space Age Travellers, defies genre labelling. Here, he uses his ’73 Fender Strat (tuned down a full step) with a…

Chris Avey’s cosmic riffs!

Sample from Avey Grouws Band’s “Tell Tale Heart” Chris Avey grabbed a very special PRS. DGT and plugged into a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe to play this take on “Mariana,”…

Stephen Bruton

In the Spirt of the Ft. Worth Tradition

You’ve likely heard Stephen Bruton without knowing who he is. He has backed up luminaries like Kris Kristofferson and Bonnie Raitt, and appeared in numerous movies. While Bruton was raised…

Jimmy James’ Psychedelic R&B

“Parlor Strut” on a vintage Harmony! Proving that ’60s import guitars can make cool sounds, Parlor Greens guitarist Jimmy James plugged in to demonstrate. Yes, he modded his Harmony H54…

Ram Tuli Crunches Numbers for The Guide

Strats and Data

Combine a knack for numbers with a love of old guitars and you get… well, you might get any of a thousand babyboomer accountants/collectors. But one is a supercharged version…

Zakk Wylde

Wylde's Kingdom

As a teenager, Zakk Wylde gained notoriety as one of the hottest young guitarists playing the New Jersey Shore bar circuit. He got his big break in ’87, when he…

Richie Kotzen

Solo and Salty

Richie Kotzen was one of those kids – always entertaining the family with song and dance, usually in a crazy costume. “I wanted long hair like a rocker, so I…

Sue Foley: Tribute to Female Pickers

 Revisiting the Work of Pioneers From Austin by way of Ottawa, Sue Foley is known worldwide as a blues artist, but her new album “One Guitar Woman,” exhibits great…

Gwenifer Goes “Cattywomp”

Fierce fingerstyle! Hailing from Wales, former punk-rock drummer Gwenifer Raymond’s fingerstyle playing is inspired by greats like John Fahey and Mississippi John Hurt. Her latest, “Last Night I Heard the…

Dave Alvin

Return of the Battlin’ Brothers

“The title says it all,” explains Dave Alvin of his reunion with older brother Phil on Lost Time. Known for a long-standing sibling rivalry, they hadn’t recorded new music together…

Chris Cain

Tales to Tell

Armed with a new deal with Alligator Records and producer Kid Andersen (of Rick Estrin & The Night Cats), Chris Cain recently recorded Raisin’ Cain, an impassioned blues masterpiece full…

John Hammond

Ripe to Write

John Hammond has been in the music business for 44 years and is respected and revered by colleagues everywhere. So it may be a surprise to hear that he has…

Ernie Hawkins

Pittsburgh's own acoustic bluesman

For a guy who’s released several of the best country blues albums in the past decade, Ernie Hawkins is relatively unknown. Ernie caught the blues bug back in his teens,…

The Collins Kids

Mostly-Moseley Memories

Siblings Lorrie and Larry Collins sprang into the public eye in the mid 1950s – dawn of the television era – on a program called “Town Hall Party.” The big-sister/little-brother…

Depression-era classic by Roger McNamee

Moonalice guitarist on a ’42 000-21 Roger McNamee used his ’42 Martin 000-21 to play the Depression-era classic “Brother Can You Spare a Dime,” then gives a tour of the…

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…

James Elkington

Windy City Diversity

James Elkington tweaked the paradigm when he began working at a luthier shop before hitting his stride as a guitarist. Born and raised in a small English village northwest of…

Vinny Roth

Classified Recording

Photos courtesy Vinny Roth. Vinny Roth’s new record, 2 Stratz are Better Than 1, is a collection of his favorite styles. “It’s kind of a resume of what I do,”…

Nancy Wilson

Beautifully Unbroken

Responsible for guitar-laden classics such as “Crazy On You,” “Love Alive,” and “Devil Delight,” Nancy Wilson has been inspiring musicians for decades. Nancy and her sister, Ann, have churned out…

Molly Miller – top-flight instrumental rock, jazz, and twang

Trio rips on “2 West” Instrumental guitar music is having a moment. Offering a stellar example, Molly Miller and her trio show us “2 West,” filmed during soundcheck on their…

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…

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;…

Christone “Kingfish” Ingram

Heart & Soul Blues

Born and raised in Clarksdale, Mississippi – homeland of the Delta blues – Christone Ingram learned gospel music in the church where his family sang and played instruments. By age…

Ray Benson

Swing Ambassador: 50 Years of Asleep at the Wheel

“Why are you all playin’ that modern music?” Asleep at the Wheel guitarist Ray Benson fielded the question from Harry, a regular at the Sportsmen’s Club in rural Paw Paw,…

John McFee

Standing in the Shadows

John McFee John McFee isn’t a household name in music, but he has been a major player for more than 35 years. But his attitude (“I never really wanted to…

Fretprints: John Abercrombie

Modern-Jazz Innovator

John Abercrombie operated in four dimensions. A guitarist of unbounded breadth and depth, he redefined space in long, improvised flights and bent time like a rubber band. Jazz is too-narrow…