Bill Kirchen

Seeds, Stems, and a Tele-fied Legacy

There’s ample revisiting in Seeds and Stems, Telecaster slinger Bill Kirchen’s third album for Proper America. Five of the 13 songs hearken back to his late-’60s/mid-’70s days with pioneer country-rockers…

Phil Manzanera’s “Magdalena”

Roxy Music legend solo instrumental Roxy Music guitarist Phil Manzanera used his beloved ’64 Gibson Firebird VII to create this exclusive run through “Magdalena,” one of five new tunes on…

Pop ’N Hiss: Deep Purple’s Machine Head

Definitive Riffs

Now regarded as the “Beethoven’s 5th” of rock and roll, “Smoke on the Water” became a surprise hit in the summer of ’73 thanks to its simple, massive guitar riff.…

In Memoriam: Jack Sonni

Jack Sonni, best known as “the other guitarist” in Dire Straits, died August 30. He was 68 and suffered a stroke at his home in Mississippi. A Pennsylvania native, Sonni…

Warren Haynes

G-Mule Shout!

Gov’t Mule’s blues-based rock has never followed a formula, opting instead for an improvisational modus operandi that gives its music unique breadth and scope – a fact supremely illustrated in…

Recording King Ray Whitley

As a maker of high-quality instruments, Gibson was hit hard by the onset of the Depression in the 1930s. Company president Guy Hart, a former accountant, recognized that Gibson could…

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…

Jesse Ed Davis

Guitar Hero's Guitar Hero

Photo: Neil Zlozower. The term “musician’s musician” gets bandied about a lot, but in the case of the late Jesse Ed Davis, “guitar hero’s guitar hero” might be more accurate.…

Fretprints: Jeff Beck

The JBG: Birth of Heavy Metal?

The proverbial chicken-or-egg conundrum has an equivalent in the spirited debate over the Jeff Beck Group versus Led Zeppelin as progenitors of heavy metal. There’s a bit of truth in…

J Mascis

Heavy Steps : Dinosaur Jr. Journey

Fans recognize the first three albums by Dinosaur Jr. – Dinosaur, You’re Living All Over Me, and Bug – as alternative-rock touchstones. Propelled by J Mascis’ dynamic, alternating clean/distorted guitar…

Robert Cray

Looking Forward (in a Loose Sort of Way)

Vintage Guitar first interviewed guitarist Robert Cray in 1997, and since then he has maintained a consistent pace in recording and performing. His albums in the interim include Take Your…

Adam Levy

Staying Spry

As an accomplished sideman, Adam Levy is famous for supplying charismatic guitar sounds for Nora Jones and Tracy Chapman. On his latest solo album, Spry, Levy positions his trusty 335…

Humble Pie At the Fillmore

Frampton Reflects

By the time Humble Pie reached “breakthrough” status in the U.S. thanks to its live album, Performance – Rockin’ the Fillmore, Peter Frampton had departed and begun to beat the…

Molly Martin

D-35 Savior

Sometimes, it’s better to beg forgiveness than ask permission. Such was the case with singer/songwriter Molly Martin. As the summer of 2005 came to an end, Martin left her hometown…

Jim Lauderdale

Sweet Music

“I consciously did not want to make a knockoff of a Gram record or an Elvis record.” Jim Lauderdale is on a roll this year. And he’s rolling in several…

Bobby Womack

Playin' with Soul

If James Brown is the Godfather of Soul, then Bobby Womack is the Emperor. Gifted with the most enviable voice a male singer could ever want, Womack has the down-home…

Peter Stroud and Audley Freed

Two Guys, Many Guitars, One Big Hat

Many a noteworthy rock and roll band from the Cotton Belt has been propelled by guitar-playin’ good ol’ boys with names that ring through music lore in (sometimes) poetic-sounding tandems…

Glenn Phillips

Cult-Guitar Icon

For more than 40 years, Glenn Phillips has been an underground hero of the guitar. His solo albums, unusual choices of gear, radical effects usage, and wild live shows broke…

Fretprints: Stevie Ray Vaughan

The Blues Man’s Jazzy Side

Stevie Ray Vaughan is the uncontested blues champion of the new age. Though he’s been gone more than 30 years, his music still reverberates and much continues to be written…

It was 50 years ago today…

Vintage Guitar magazine Presents Greg Martin's Head Shop

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. It was 50 years…

John Tropea

A Life in the Studios

John Tropea has spent much of his life in a studio, playing guitar, helping make hit records for people with names other than his own. Why? One reason is his…

Freddie King’s Gibson ES-345 Keeps on Playin’

Family Ties

Watching her baby boy become rapt whenever his grandma played country blues on her guitar, Ella May King had a notion… So, as soon as his tiny hands could fret…

Donald “Duck” Dunn

"Duck’s" Gaggle: The Basses of Donald Dunn

Nearly every musician who plays popular music – be it soul, R&B, pop, or the others – has been influenced by Donald “Duck” Dunn. And certainly, every person who has…

Jeff Hanna

A Half-Century of Dirt

Equal parts anniversary party, all-star jam, and “you really needed to be there” celebration, a September ’15 performance by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band at the Ryman Auditorium kicked off…

In Memoriam: Guitar Shorty

David Kearney, a.k.a. Guitar Shorty, passed away April 20. The award-winning blues guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist who brought joy to the world with his showmanship, humor, and emotional artistry was…

Les Paul Remembered

When news of the passing of Les Paul spread through the guitar community August 13, 2009, reaction was swift and heartfelt. Claimed by complications of severe pneumonia at a hospital…

Ceil Thompson and her self-made guitar

“Dan’s Guitar Rx”: VG’s Rock-and-Roll High School(er)! In 2022, Dan Erlewine’s “Guitar Rx” column walked readers through a class-project guitar build by Ceil Thompson. It’s the epitome of custom-made cool,…

Ted McCarty

I'm Not a Musician

…but the innovations wrought during his tenure with the Gibson guitar company from 1948 to 1965 forever changed the musical landscape for fretted instrument players. As President of Gibson during…

Pop ’N Hiss: UFO’s Lights Out

Shining Bright

Most critics and fans agree that the finest studio album by British hard-rockers UFO was 1977’s Lights Out. The group’s sixth studio effort is renowned as a cohesive yet varied…

Mike Campbell

Little Movies

Longtime Tom Petty right-hand man Mike Campbell’s new album, Vagabonds, Virgins & Misfits, is a cinematic, guitar-heavy offering with irresistible hooks, gritty tales, and special guests. His third album as…