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Artists
Joey Molland
The word “underrated” is belabored in music journalism, but Joey Molland was just that. As co-guitarist in Badfinger, he was part of a quartet signed to the Beatles’ Apple Records, yielding glorious AM hits like “Come and Get It,” “Day After Day,” and “No Matter What.” The foursome fell into obscurity and tragedy a few
Jedd Hughes
More Personal
After landing on American shores in 2002 to study bluegrass, then shifting into a career as a country singer/songwriter/picker, Jedd Hughes has spent 20 years on an alternate – but…
Steve Hillage
Echoes of Earlier Times
Steve Hillage has followed his muse through 40 years making music as a member of the psychedelic band Gong, a solo career, and a partnership with Miquette Giraudy as the…
Nick Perri
Constant Creator
The elements of life that mold a person are constant and ever-evolving. Influence is all about perspective. Philadelphia-born Nick Perri grew up in a strict Catholic household where pop music…
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Duke Robillard – Lowdown
Vintage Guitar is happy to offer the premier of the new music video by Grammy nominee Duke Robillard. “Lowdown” is the first single from his upcoming album, Blast Off!, set for release February 20 on Nola Blue Records. “When thinking about a powerful song to launch the album, I chose a hard-rocking Tom Waits tune
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David Bowie’s Young Americans
David Bowie was always creatively restless. The English musician decided to step away from the glam rock he’d recorded for a few albums concluding with 1974’s Diamond Dogs, which included a few songs with tinges of soul, R&B, and funk. On tour promoting the album, he played a handful of soul covers. Bowie had long
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Fretprints: Cream’s Disraeli Gears
Supergroup Alpha
Jack Bruce claimed Cream was two bands – live trio and studio group. Live, bassist Bruce, guitarist Eric Clapton, and drummer Ginger Baker were renowned for their highly improvisatory, powerful performance that was unprecedented in rock. Moreover, they were actually a jazz group (“…we just didn’t tell Eric,” Bruce said), as exemplified by their excursions
Jedd Hughes
More Personal
After landing on American shores in 2002 to study bluegrass, then shifting into a career as a country singer/songwriter/picker, Jedd Hughes has spent 20 years on an alternate – but…
VG Q&A: A Gilded ’63 Jazz Bass
Plus, Swappable Pickups, Bartell Guitars, and a Mystery Lap Steel
I am the third owner of a 1963 Jazz Bass with a neck stamp “7Jan63A,” pots dated that May, and serial number from that spring. It also has original gold…
John And Jake Andrews
The Family that Frets Together…
The “father and son” idea of musical lineage isn’t anything new, and it shouldn’t be surprising that more than one generation of electric guitarists has attained notice in the popular…
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…
Tony Levin
Stick Craft
Between the Sting/Peter Gabriel tour, a revitalized King Crimson, and a new album and tour with Stick Men, Tony Levin is busier than ever. Early 2016 saw him using a…
Tinsley Ellis
Screaming On The Inside
“Red clay is what you see here in Georgia,” says Tinsley Ellis of the inspiration behind his new album, Red Clay Soul. “That’s what the ground looks like. I wanted…
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Check This Action: Up Jumped Elmore
When someone recently asked me to recommend the most essential Elmore James album, I answered, “Any and all.” I’ve never heard a bad Elmore cut, and I’ve heard nearly everything he recorded. Everybody knows that he set the standard for slide guitar in electric blues, but he was also a fantastic singer and wrote some
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Javier Batiz
Mexican guitarist Javier Batiz, a teacher and inspiration to Carlos Santana and other musicians, passed away December 14 at his home in Tijuana, Baja California. He was 80. Known as the “Godfather of Mexican Rock,” “La Layenda” (The Legend) and other sobriquets, Batiz came to appreciate American blues guitarists such as B.B. King and John
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Josh Meader
Jazz Evolution
Josh Meader is a jazz and fusion player who breaks ground with virtuosity that’s never flashy for its own sake. On his new album, Tide of Times, the young Aussie ace blends styles on a dime, hybridizing music before our eyes; videos online include an especially stunning non-album rendition of “Misty.” It’s fascinating, seeing Meader
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Chris Walz
Debut, Long Time Coming
Chris Walz has done his share of performing. He played young Woody in the stage production of Woody Guthrie’s American Song. From the late ’90s to 2001, Walz toured and recorded with banjo player Greg Cahill’s Special Consensus bluegrass band. And for 10 years he took the role of guitarist Fred Hellerman in Weavermania, a
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Greg Koch
Way Of The Gristle
On Blues, Greg Koch reaches the outskirts of infinity with an album that showcases his wicked guitar skills and love for Muddy Waters. Flying V blues master Larry McCray drops by with the Memphis Horns, and the result is a passionate pentatonic party with soul and fireworks. How did this album come about?Devon Allman had
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Rik Emmett
Canadian Custom
Rik Emmett is a master of many guitar styles and other artistic endeavors. As co-lead vocalist/guitarist in the hard-rock trio Triumph from 1975 to ’88, he experienced life as a rock star, then released a string of solo albums, a book of poetry, and an autobiography. His latest project, Ten Telecaster Tales, is a book
Nick Perri
Constant Creator
The elements of life that mold a person are constant and ever-evolving. Influence is all about perspective. Philadelphia-born Nick Perri grew up in a strict Catholic household where pop music…
Fretprints: Billy Duffy
Personality of The Cult
Co-founder of The Cult, Billy Duffy was Britain’s last ’80s guitar hero, with an attitude and sound that embodied the essence of rock guitar. While lauded, that X factor was…
Return of the Trashmen
Bird Is Still The Word
Surf’s up – again! Thanks to the prodding of guitarist/impresario Deke Dickerson, The Trashmen recently recorded their first album in 25 years. “I was an obsessed fan,” Dickerson says of…
Joanna Connor
Going Viral
Her overnight success was decades in the making, but a video gone viral of a jaw-dropping slide guitar performance at the 2014 North Atlantic Blues Festival has helped bring Joanna…
“Buy That Guitar” podcast with special guest Tommie James
“Buy That Guitar” podcast with special guest Tommie James Season 01 Episode 05 In Episode 5 of “Buy That Guitar,” presented by Vintage Guitar mag, host Ram Tuli speaks with…
Oz Noy & Andrew Synowiec
Musical Combustion
New from Oz Noy and Andrew Synowiec is a guitar team-up highlighting hot licks, high energy, and strong songwriting. The album is Recreational Substance, and post-bop note density is the…
John Notto
L.A. Burner
Dirty Honey is one of the most-exciting bands to emerge in the past few years. The Los Angeles quartet stands out by playing straight-up guitar-based rock and roll with a…
Danny Kortchmar
Family Reunion
Fifty years ago, singer/songwriters like James Taylor, Carole King, and Jackson Browne were busy conquering the rock charts; behind them, you could hear crack guitarists like Danny Kortchmar and Waddy…
Greg Martin honors Dickey Betts
Tribute licks Kentucky Headhunters co-founder Greg Martin was a senior in high school when he first heard the Allman Brothers Band “At Fillmore East.” Like so many guitarists, for Martin,…
Fretprints: Earl Hooker
Unsung Blues-Guitar Legend
Chicago, 1959. Ask any blues musician where to go, and the answer was likely, “Wherever Earl Hooker is playing.” Earl was the blues-guitarist’s guitarist, a commanding presence on the city’s…
Collection of Jonathan Kellerman
Talent for mysteries, passion for guitars, best-selling Novelist Jonathan Kellerman is a lifelong lover of the guitar. A player for 46 years, to him, the guitar is not only a…
Will Ray
Gets the blues and Pays Homage to his inspirations
The life and times of country/rock/blues/allstylesinone guitar genius Will Ray are well-documented. Born in Virginia, raised on the music of Peter, Paul, and Mary, Ian and Sylvia, Elvis, and Ray…
“Buy That Guitar” podcast with special guest Tony Nagy
Season 03 Episode 05 In Episode 3.5 of “Buy That Guitar,” host Ram Tuli is joined by Tony Nagy, manager of the repair shop at Gruhn Guitars. Vintage instruments, prized…
Les Paul
Birth of a Guitar Icon
Fifty years ago, Gibson’s new Les Paul Model was quickly becoming one of the company’s most popular guitars, and (though there was no way of knowing it at the time)…
J.D. Simo
Playing for Elvis
Psych-blues guitar maestro J.D. Simo was the wizard behind the guitar work heard on Elvis, the new Baz Luhrmann film starring Tom Hanks and Austin Butler. Unlike the actors who…
Seth Lee Jones
Pedal Pusher
Thanks to giants like Derek Trucks, Warren Haynes, and Sonny Landreth, we’re living in a golden age of bottleneck guitar, with exceptional young sliders arriving regularly. Tulsa guitarist and builder…
Elvin Bishop
Havin' the Cake…
Ventura Fairgrounds, Ventura, California – is Elvin Bishop the infamous Pigboy Crabshaw? Well, many agree he is the guitar and the soul behind the birth of country rock – and…
Chris Bergson: Heartfelt Pandemic Picking
Chris Bergson: Heartfelt Pandemic Picking Chris Bergson used his ’60s Teisco to play a bit of his tune, “Hector and Donna,” one of the tracks from his new lockdown-inspired album,…
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…
Larry Reinhardt
Waxes Sufficiently
Larry Reinhardt’s world nearly collapsed in 1991, when a car accident mangled his left hand. The former guitarist for Captain Beyond and Iron Butterfly hadn’t known anything else since the…
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…
