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 Motown, Stax, James Brown, and Sly Stone highlighted by Butcher’s mastery of Hendrix-style psychedelia. It was recorded using a ’63 Princeton, a Vibrolux, and a…

Three-Band Man
The odds of any guitarist being in a highly successful rock band are long. Chances of being in two are slim. Three? Virtually unheard of. But guitarist Mark Tremonti is…

Prog Shred Ain’t Dead
After bursting onto the scene in 1995 with the screwball shred classic The Adventures of Bumblefoot, Ron Thal (a.k.a. Bumblefoot) has shape-shifted his playing, adapting to the hard rock of…

Still Familia
The music created by Los Lonely Boys – brothers Henry, Jojo, and Ringo Garza – is an amalgam resulting from a deeply musical upbringing fostered by boundless influences. Combining elements…
Steve Cropper was just 20 years old when his band, the Mar-Keys, began backing singers in the studios of Stax Records. They also scored a million-selling #1 hit with the instrumental, “Last Night” the scored a hit in ’62 as Booker T. & the MG’s with “Green Onions,” propelled by Cropper’s razor-sharp Esquire/Harvard licks. He…
Season 03 Episode 07 In Episode 3.7 of Buy That Guitar, presented by Vintage Guitar magazine, host Ram Tuli is joined by renowned guitar historian and author, Dave Hunter. Dave is without a doubt the most prolific writer in the field of guitar and amplifier tone. He’s also a musician, and has graced the pages…
Season 03 Episode 06 In Episode 3.6 of Buy That Guitar, presented by Vintage Guitar magazine, host Ram Tuli is joined by J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. Known for his “monolithic” riffs, extensive use of fuzz, feedback, and distortion, Mascis ranks #74 on Rolling Stone’s “100 Greatest Guitarists”. His guitar of choice has always been…

The MVP
Renowned studio guitarist Tim May played his first film-score session in 1974, for John Schlesinger’s Day of the Locust. Now a legitimate first-call session player, May has contributed to thousands…

Where Jazz Meets Folk
Jim Kweskin grew up in Stamford, Connecticut, and in 1958 entered Boston University, placing him near coffee houses at the height of the Folk Boom. Mixing early jazz with folk,…
Weekends and Warriors
Night Ranger came to prominence with the advent of MTV; guitarist Brad Gillis has played with Ozzy Osbourne and accumulated an admirable collection of vintage guitars to use in his…

Low-End Addendum
On the latest Cold Stares album, Voices, guitarist Chris Tapp did the unthinkable – he hired a bass player! With the addition of Bryce Klueh, the Stares made a record…

From Phenom To Blues Veteran
Twenty-seven years after his debut album at age 17, Monster Mike Welch delivers perhaps his best disc yet with Nothing But Time. Co-produced with multi-instrumentalist Kid Andersen, it features bass…

Looking Back at Stax
The gloriously soulful music recorded by Stax Records is still entertaining listeners six decades after its release, and the label has been celebrating its 60th anniversary with a reissue campaign.…
Recently, I stumbled onto one of those “reaction” videos by a New Zealander named Courtney, who wasn’t sure if she’d ever seen footage of the Beatles or even heard their songs. This shouldn’t be surprising. The video she watches of the Fab Four, playing “All My Loving” on Ed Sullivan in 1964, was created probably…
Most music fans who learn that the eclectic trio 3Below is all bass players will react with, “You gotta be kiddin’!” However, musicians who appreciate the unusual will stay for a listen, especially given the lineup – Michael Manring, Trey Gunn, and Alonso Arreola. Spearheaded by Alonso on his six-string or a hybrid ascoustic, their…
Whoever said, “Those who can’t do, teach” has never heard David Hamburger. Among his two dozen instructional books and videos, Beginning Blues Guitar, awarded Best New Educational Book or Video at NAMM in 1994, boasts more than 100,000 in sales. In addition to supplying music for advertising and TV, the 60-year-old has recorded with Freedy…
While guitarist Midge Ure was a member of Visage and was briefly in an early version of Thin Lizzy, he’s best known as the front man of the British power-prog band Ultravox. Ure has enjoyed an active solo career since Ultravox split three decades ago, and the recent three-CD/three-LP Royal Albert Hall 04-10-23 is a…
On The Good Fight, guitarist Allen Hinds finds the sweet spot between melodic fusion and good, earthy music for the soul. Joined by a stellar rhythm section, Hinds is a black-belt legato master and slide stylist with an ear for excitement. Strong songs prevail, but his influences go much deeper than your run-of-the-mill jazz guitarist.…
Steve Hackett is one of the busiest guitarists around, regularly issuing new studio and live albums. His latest, Live Magic at Trading Boundaries, focuses on his classical/acoustic compositions. Included are solo guitar pieces and group performances featuring music from his time in Genesis during its beloved ’70s “progressive” era. Trading Boundaries is an intimate venue…

Cat Out of the Bag
Changing genres after achieving great success can be a risky career move for a musician. But after making it big with Stray Cats, Brian Setzer did just that. With fellow…

Testifying for the Blues
Jerry Jeff Walker said it best. Describing David Bromberg’s contribution to Walker’s trademark 1968 song, “Mr. Bojangles,” he said simply that Bromberg was “the reason man created stringed instruments.” And…

Chicago Style
Dave Specter’s Message In Blue is chock full of imaginative instrumentals, great guest vocals, and blistering guitar work from Specter. But that’s not what he likes most about it. As…

Remembering Mississippi and Dr. Hook
George Cummings is best known as the original guitarist for Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show. Born in Meridian, Mississippi, his father’s amateur picking set a course. As a teenager…

Taking a spin with Chicago sons The Steepwater Band and their latest CD, Revelation Sunday, is an experience akin to traversing the backroads of American blues and rock, then maybe…
Stone Solo
“I’ve always wanted to rock,” gushes 63-year-old Ron Wood, whose journey from the shy 10-year-old washboard player in older brother Ted’s ’50s skiffle group to the renowned veteran guitarist in…

“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…
Unfinished Business
The route taken by Jeff Golub in making Train Keeps A Rolling is unlike that followed by any other artist. Just as his previous record, Three Kings, was released, Golub…

Perpetually Exceptional
Shred architect Vinnie Moore’s latest solo record, Double Exposure, holds the distinction of being both an instrumental solo album and a vocal-rock record. The glue that holds it together is…

Royal Handyman, Jazz Legend
Long before becoming Handyman Negri on “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” he had already been a teen guitar prodigy, first-generation bopper, and a peer of the giants of jazz guitar. Though New…

Midwest Expressive
Befitting a guitarist from America’s heartland, Charlie Ballantine’s mixes jazz, folk-rock, surf/instro, blues, pop, and country into a simmering pot of guitar sound and style. His instrumental work is beautiful…

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…

Maiden Voyager
After 46 years, Iron Maiden is still reinforcing its stature as a legendary heavy metal band. Senjutsu, the British juggernaut’s 17th studio album, has earned critical praise. It’s also the…

Spoonful of Sounds
If the Beatles were still around, chances are they’d be checking out Spoon. Like the Fab Four, the group revels in sonic exploration, creativity, and stunning pop tunes. Since forming…
Supersonic Guitarist Remembered
Guitar great Billy Mure (born November 4, 1915) passed away September 25, at the age of 97. He last performed on August 2, playing Dixieland banjo at Squid Lips, where…

Heaven Sent
It’s impossible to overstate the influence Led Zeppelin’s “untitled” fourth album – call it IV, ZoSo, Runes, Four Symbols, whatever – has had on musicians of all stripes. Released November…

Home Run with KXM
Creative chemistry is an under-discussed topic when it comes to a successful collaborative effort. With the right people, sparks can fly and the good stuff is born. George Lynch’s partnership…
In this series, Tyler Morris will perform music that inspires him, in a laid-back context using just a guitar and amp – much like the way the songs were written…

Sammy Ash, COO of the family-run Sam Ash Music chain, died September 16, 2023, after a year-long battle with stage four melanoma. He was 65. Named after the grandfather who…

Soulful Blues Beyond I-IV-V Sensational fingerstylist Eric Bibb uses the ’47 Levin Model 13 Ambassadör to honor us with a bit of Lead Belly’s “Bring Me a Little Water, Sylvie,”…
String Theory
If David Lindley played just one of the stringed instruments in his arsenal, and concentrated on just one of the styles he has mastered and/or mutated, he would doubtless be…