This month, we feature Tinsley Wllis, Jimmy Aaughan, Duke Levine, Joshua Hedley, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Pink Floyd, Coyote Motel, Julian Lage, Jocelyn Gould, and more! Spotify is free or available without ads via a paid subscription. Go to www.spotify.com and search “Vintage Guitar magazine,” or if you already have an account Listen to the complete
Rose Lee Talks About Joe Maphis
Virginia-born Otis Wilson Maphis was truly a one-of-a-kind individual. From his earliest days in the 1930s as a guitarist and piano player for The Railsplitters, to his experience with Blackie…
Main Man to the Blues Man
Paul Nelson is not only Johnny Winter’s second guitarist, but the blues icon’s musical director, producer, songwriter, and – many say – life saver. Fans who have recently seen Winter…

Shakedown front man offers taste of “Shake The Roots” Tyler Bryant grabbed his super-cool 1934 National Duolian to play a solo version of “Bare Bones,” from “Shake The Roots,” the…
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
When Hubert Sumlin sideman Sean Chambers played a gig with Savoy Brown bassist Pat DeSalvo and drummer Garnet Grimm, the result was blues-rock ecstasy. Live From Daryl’s House Club is the next best thing to being there. Fans of incendiary slide playing and Rory Gallagher, look no further. How did you meet Pat and Garnet?I
On Lari Basilio’s latest record, Redemption, art and life collide to make beautiful music. Effortless instrumental guitar techniques merge with rib-sticking melodies to captivate and astonish. Bassist Leland Sklar and drummer Vinnie Colaiuta are back to add rhythmic fire, but Basilio’s muse is life’s challenges and, of course, super cool gear. You became a mother.

Back to Big
Though there’s no denying Billy Sheehan’s exceptional technical talents on the bass, he has always kept sight on the importance of the song – as evidenced by his work with…

Righteous and Raucous
Guitarist Albert Castiglia’s blues-based music has gone through a lot of changes since VG first interviewed him in 2008. In that span, he has released five more albums, including this…
Remembering Phil Lynott
Moore with his signature model Gibson Les Paul. Photo: Rob Verhorst/Redferns Music Picture Library. Irish guitarist Gary Moore is a man in perpetual motion, onstage and in the studio. A…

Better Days Coming
Richie Kotzen is one of today’s busiest rock guitarists. In addition to being a long-time solo artist (and possessing an awesome singing voice), he manages his time between the Winery…
Bruce Hastell, guitarist and vintage-instrument dealer, passed away October 24, after a 10-year battle with polycystic kidney disease that led to kidney failure. He was 68. Hastell performed and recorded…
Guitar Talk
Photos by John Peden. Though bandied about haphazardly and almost always inappropriate, when applied to the life and times of Steve Earle, the adjective “extreme” is not hyperbole. The acclaimed…
A songwriting blues-rocker in the purist sense, Dudley Taft is succeeding in an era when nothing comes easy for his ilk. His new album, The Speed of Life, required a departure from the norm; while his previous three were recorded at his own studio in Cincinnati, this one used down time during a European tour
Acclaimed as bassist for The Flower Kings, Jonas Reingold is a master four-stringer. He’s recorded with many artists, including Jon Anderson (of Yes), and has become an integral part of Steve Hackett’s band, re-creating the complex bottom of early Genesis. Twenty years ago, Reingold started the prog group Karmakanic (repeat it slowly a few times),
Tommy Emmanuel is a real guitarist in its truest sense. On Live At The Sydney Opera House, he stands onstage with only an acoustic guitar, and mesmerizes a packed house. His virtuosity employs country, Celtic, and folk fingerpicking styles that lift the spirit. The set is loaded with fan favorites, but a song suggestion from
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 rewarding – path as A-list session player and touring sideman. While being busy tempered his flow of original music, in 2014, he returned to songwriting.
As a teenager who just wanted to play music, Norm Harris lived with the reality that he and his band weren’t going to be millionaires anytime soon. So he did what musicians do – side-hustled. But when most were manning the counter at a music shop or serving tables, Harris was up at the crack
If you’re making a list of beloved bands with a long string of hook-heavy hits, the Doobie Brothers will surely be on it. Their new album, Walk This Road, features the creative core of vocalist/guitarist Patrick Simmons, vocalist/guitarist Tom Johnston, multi-instrumentalist John McFee, and vocalist/keyboardist Michael McDonald. The news of Walk This Road generated significant

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…

Glam Jam
Some 50 years ago, glam-rock hero Phil Manzanera made his name as the flashy axeman for Roxy Music – and he’s been busy ever since. His latest is AM.PM, a…

Vintage Attitude Required
The term “vintage” isn’t always literal when it comes to gear, but it certainly can be used to describe attitude. Michael Johnny Walker has spent his career chasing tone and…

Lights-Out Blues
Blues is the beating heart of Gov’t Mule, and guitarist/bandleader Warren Haynes can play them lights-out. Standing as evidence is his work on their latest album, Heavy Load Blues, a…

Indisputable Cred
Joe Louis Walker has enjoyed a long and enviable career making artistically satisfying music while entertaining audiences all over the world. He’s a genre-busting artist who knows how to please…
Trancendental Blues
A bonafide British rock guitar great, Robin Trower needs little introduction. His career began in the '60s, and he's one of a handful of artists from his generation who has…

Chart Topper
Sitting with his TV Jones custom archtop, exploring “Unit 7” – the tune made famous by Cannonball Adderley and Wes Montgomery – Thom Rotella says, “For years, I played everything…

Art & War
Sunny War’s latest album, Simple Syrup, digs deep into the complexities of the human experience. As an acoustic fingerstylist who draws inspiration from the world, being quarantined has been a…
The Silent Giant
His name may be unfamiliar to even the most shrewd audiophile and TV/movie buff, but his clean, economic, and tasteful guitar style has filled the ears and hearts of millions.…
Digs in Deep
Since his debut in 1989 with Let Love Rule, Lenny Kravitz has established an authentic retro sound by employing the classic tones of fine vintage instruments from the ’50s, ’60s,…

Country Roots Master
For 30-plus years, Marty Stuart has blended traditional country, rockabilly, and honky-tonk into a potent mix. Following stints as a sideman with Lester Flatt, Vassar Clements, and Roland White, he…

Country-Jazz Genius, Terrific Texas Troubadour
Leon Rhodes 1932-2017 We are saddened to hear of the passing of guitar legend Leon Rhodes, one of the most-beloved players from the golden age of country music. Leon emerged…

Folk Guru: 1936-2024
On July 17, folk music lost one of its guiding lights with the death of Happy Traum at age 86. A major player in the Greenwich Village and Woodstock scenes,…

Bridges to Toto’s Past
Discussing his ninth solo album, Steve Lukather is a ball of energy – reflective, witty, ready with a joke. “I have the humor of a 16-year-old, shoved in an old…
Blowin Down the Road
It’s fitting that The Road To Escondido, the long-awaited collaboration between Eric Clapton and J.J. Cale – a concept that seems, on the surface, to be so obvious, at least…

Guitarists Reflect on the Passing of B.B. King
B.B. King was truly peerless. Beyond his ability to pull an audience up via a single long, vibratoed note, he exhibited an incomparable charisma and style, and his influence carried…

Akron’s Finest
On Things Eternal, jazz-guitar wizard Dan Wilson fuses post-bop, spirituality, and the songs of Stevie Wonder into a satisfying musical journey. The album is a celebration of those who have…

Jazz Big-Leaguer
Howard Roberts and Tommy Tedesco were his mentors; both recognized his extraordinary talent and relentless work ethic. When L.A. session guitarist Mike Anthony elected to leave the studio life after…

The creation of great music is almost always a collaborative effort. From session players to engineers, producers, arrangers, and marketing teams, many talents meld in the fulfillment of a performer’s…

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,…

Mojo Thunder’s Collective Consciousness
Kentucky’s favorite alternative Southern rockers, Mojo Thunder, extrapolate fresh ideas from disparate genres to produce an album as passionate as it is musically satisfying. The twin-guitar assault of Sean Sullivan…