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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
Cheetah Chrome
The Dead Boys Live Again
As the punk rebellion exploded in 1977, the New York scene became dominated by the Ramones, Television, Patti Smith, Richard Hell & the Voidoids, and (newly transplanted from Cleveland) a…
Fretprints: Steve Khan
Khan-sequential Guitar
Steve Khan is an internationally acclaimed guitarist with a career spanning more than 50 years. Japan’s Jazz Life proclaimed him one of the 22 greatest jazz guitarists and Musico Pro’s…
Tom Principato
Bridging the Big Pond
Tom Principato’s 18th album, Live and Still Kickin’! portrays the energy of its title and was recorded on two continents. A follow-up to Live & Kickin’ (from 1999), the majority…
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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
Richie Kotzen
Fight For Familiarity
So he’s not burning up the Top 40, but Richie Kotzen has been a soul-crooning monster guitarist for a very long time. With almost 20 solo albums and group projects…
Tony Valentino
75, Still Rockin’
Most fans of classic-rock radio know The Standells garage-punk classic “Dirty Water,” which was listed in Rolling Stone’s “Top 500 Songs That Shaped Rock Music.” The guitarist who created that…
Jimi Bell
Lord of Shred
Recognized worldwide as a master technician, southpaw shredder Jimi Bell first received widespread notoriety for his role sharing a nightclub stage with Joan Jett in the 1986 film Light of…
Buck Dharma
Regarding the Reaper and Other Recollections
During the hard rock decade of the ’70s, Long Island’s Blue Oyster Cult proffered a decidedly different approach to loud, guitar-based music. The combo’s dark ruminations garnered it a controversial…
John 5
In the Hands
On his latest album, John 5 stays true to himself as he dips into his famous bag of Tele tricks with mastery and humor. Mr 5 does it all, from…
Graham Clise
Bay Area Blaster
Graham Clise is one of the most-heralded underground rock guitarists of the past 15 years. A mashup of Chuck Berry, BOC’s Buck Dharma, and Black Flag’s Greg Ginn, his style…
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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
Wendy Melvoin
Beyond Controversy
As a guitarist backing Prince on the world-dominant Purple Rain along with Parade and Around The World In A Day, Wendy Melvoin helped crystallize a musical vision known as The…
John Wetton
1949-2017
Born June 12, 1949, British bassist and front man John Wetton died of colon cancer on January 31 at the age of 67. In a career lasting more than four…
Rose Sinclair Swings on a Stringmaster D-8!
Steel Guitar Beyond Country on “Secret Love” Rose Sinclair used her ’61 Fender Stringmaster D-8 to play this exclusive piece of “Secret Love,” from her new album, “Wave.” She calls…
Vic Flick
007 Guitar Man
You may not know the name Vic Flick, but you know his signature motif–that reverby lick from the James Bond theme, recorded in 1962 for Dr. No, the first in…
Steve Howell Fingerpicks “Stocking Feet Blues”
Solo acoustic homage to rural-blues great Steve Howell is a veteran of blues, rock, and jazz. Here, he fingerpicks a terrific rendition of Blind Lemon Jefferson’s “Stocking Feet Blues” using…
Dave Amato
Collect 'Em and Smile
This year marks Boston-born Dave Amato’s 19th annum with REO Speedwagon. The guitarist moved to California in 1980 and became a working session player before gigging with Ted Nugent, Jimmy…
Kenny Wayne Shepherd
Into The Future
Kenny Wayne Shepherd’s Dirt On My Diamonds Volume One finds the Strat-wielding blues-rocker blending the best elements of pop country, Southern rock, and the blues. Composed at FAME Recording Studios…
Phil “Big Dez” Fernandez
Blues Is Everywhere
6’2″/300-pound Phil “Big Dez” Fernandez is an international emissary of the blues. The French-born son of a Bosnian mother and Spanish father is a favorite at European blues clubs and…
Pop ’N Hiss: Be Bop Deluxe’s Live! In the Air Age
Atmospheric Axes
For a shining moment, the eclectic British quartet Be Bop Deluxe rose above an upheaval in rock and pop in the late ’70s, as fresh hard rock and Southern bands…
Foghat’s Scott Holt And Roger Earl Go “Drivin’ On”
Latest Lick From Legends Of Boogie-Rock Foghat guitarist/frontman Scott Holt and founding drummer Roger Earl peeled off this exclusive take on “Drivin’ On,” the first single from the band’s…
George Lynch
The Return Of KXM
Musical chemistry is a rare thing. It’s not easily attainable, but when you have it, the fruits are magical. If you haven’t heard the project featuring George Lynch, drummer Ray…
Aaron Moreland
Where Zeppelin Meets Son House
Growing up in a small Kansas town, 38-year-old Aaron Moreland took up guitar at 15, and his first garage band played classic-rock throwbacks like “Tush” and “China Grove,” occasionally getting…
Nancy Wilson
One Heart
The Covid-19 pandemic halted much of our lives, but there was a silver lining. Many musicians who couldn’t tour or record normally were able to make new music, including long-dreamed-of…
Nils Lofgren Shines Solo – Again
Star Grabs Vintage J-50 for “Ain’t the Truth Enough? An in-demand sideman for more than 50 years, guitar wizard Nils Lofgren has worked with Bruce Springsteen & the E Street…
Travis Stever
A Conceptual Break
Few rock bands have explored the “concept album” format as thoroughly as Coheed and Cambria; the band’s first seven full-length discs followed a sci-fi story line (known as “The Armory…
Alan Lancaster
Alan Lancaster, co-founder and longtime bassist in Status Quo, died September 26. He was 72 and had been living with multiple sclerosis. At age 13, Lancaster formed The Scorpions with…
Kirk Douglas
Music In a Blender
As guitarist on “The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon,” “Captain” Kirk Douglas has an enviable gig. He also performs on albums and stages around the world while backing everyone from…
Pop ’N Hiss: Eric Johnson
Eric Johnson’s Ah Via Musicom
There were innovative Stratocaster records before Ah Via Musicom, but Eric Johnson’s 1990 opus changed the rules of the game – this was not your father’s funky quack-toned Fender. After…
Check This Action: Folk Festival of Blues
I heard blues records earlier than I can remember. My dad had Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee albums, and a family friend had records by Lead Belly and Jesse Fuller.…
The Steepwater Band
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…
Marcus King
Swamp Guide
Marcus King is a guitar slingin’ powerhouse barnstormer. Unlike most contemporary pop music – heavy on production, low on everything else – King’s new album, Young Blood, propels music fans…
