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

Keen to Collaborate
Spiritual beliefs and the power of music have helped Mark Farner deal with life’s inevitable highs and lows. The singer/songwriter/guitarist achieved astonishing success fronting Grand Funk Railroad in the ’70s;…

Zig Zag Back to the Top
Earl Slick landed his dream gig back in 1974, when a friend referred him for a gig with David Bowie, replacing Mick Ronson. During this period, Slick recorded three monumental…

Bruce Iglauer Recalls 50 Years of Blues Guitar
Anyone wondering why a young Bruce Iglauer was so impassioned about recording the raw, high-energy blues of Theodore Roosevelt “Hound Dog” Taylor can find context in the artists that captivated…
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
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
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

Solo Again
Ah, glorious cohesion. For guitarist Rich Robinson – who today records and tours solo after serving as co-founder and musical driving force in the Black Crowes – it’s been too…

Scotty Moore’s Gibson ES-295
Like a hound dog hit by lightning, the first notes of rock and roll blasted out of radios across the country in July of 1954, courtesy of Elvis Presley’s supercharged-hillbilly…

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…

For Ep 77 of “Have Guitar Will Travel,” host James Patrick Regan speaks with Patrick Davis, from Songwriters in Paradise. A native of South Carolina, Patrick was raised in a…

Guitarist, historian, and author John Teagle passed away March 26 in New York at age 66 after battling cancer. Teagle recalled being “Born at the height of the original rock-and-roll…

All-Original Blues
A member of the Blues Hall of Fame, Joe Louis Walker’s music always has unmistakable blues elements. His latest album, Weight of the World, also brings vintage soul, funk, jazz,…
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
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
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
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
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
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

Jangle All the Way
Marshall Crenshaw’s brief chart run remains a bright spot of 1980s rock – effectively, the final blast of New Wave before the genre was buried by Thriller, Purple Rain, and…

Black Label Soloist
Best known as Zakk Wylde’s right-hand man in Black Label Society, Dario Lorina is an accomplished shredder in his own right, as evidenced by his second solo/instrumental album, Death Grip…

Winston Brothers groove it up on “Drift” Sebastian Nagel and his band, The Winston Brothers, balance groove, melody, and space in their super-satisfying instrumental funk. Here, Sebastian runs his ’56…
Classified Recording
Photos courtesy Vinny Roth. Vinny Roth’s new record, 2 Stratz are Better Than 1, is a collection of his favorite styles. “It’s kind of a resume of what I do,”…

Buttons for a Buzzcock
Steve Garvey played bass in the seminal punk band Buzzcocks during its classic era – 1977 to ’81 – with guitarist Steve Diggle, drummer John Maher, and front man/guitarist Pete…

Red Hot On The Empyrean
Best known for his work with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, John Frusciante thoroughly enjoys every aspect of making music, and continuously experiments with new and unusual ways to create…

Peace, Love, and Rock & Roll
Warren Haynes and his Gov’t Mule crew aren’t the kind of guys to let something like a pandemic slow them down. During the height of the Covid lockdown, they hauled…

Ep 76 of “Have Guitar Will Travel” features Troy Johnson, Scott Lindsey, and Brett Boyette of the band Nashvillains. The guys have written and produced music for feature films, television…

The Bass Choir
Check out the credits on many jazz, pop, and Latin albums over the past four decades and you’ll see the name Lincoln Goines. As a session player, sideman, and teacher,…

1951-2020
Tony Rice, the guitar master and vocalist whose skills and eclecticism took him far beyond his bluegrass roots, died unexpectedly at his North Carolina home on December 25, 2020. He…

NYC Luminary Goes Avant-Garde! Ivan Julian does an experimental take on “Misty” before going into the solo from “Love Is Good,” followed by some of the title track from his…

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…

Eighteen Again
Before there was an Alice Cooper, man and solo artist, there was the band called Alice Cooper. From 1969 to ’74, it cranked out seven influential albums with the dual-guitar…

Switched-On Bach
Ever since Andrés Segovia elevated the nylon-string guitar to a serious classical instrument a century ago, players have been performing the music of J.S. Bach – the gold standard of classical-guitar…

Greg Martin’s infatuation with the sunburst Gibson Les Paul Standard started in 1966, when, “I saw the picture of John Sebastian of The Lovin’ Spoonful with his ’59 on the…
Big Bottom
Bass virtuoso Billy Sheehan made his mark in the rock world as a member of Talas. He left the group in 1985 when he was courted by former Van Halen…

Disciple of the Hook
Detroit native Pete Anderson made a name for himself in the ’80s, playing a ton of twang while Dwight Yoakam sang. In the last 20 years, though, he has become…

“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,…

Good Company
In 1972, one of Britain’s best bands, Mott The Hoople, still hadn’t made any impact on the charts. Its record company, Island Records, was getting impatient. Then, a future rock…

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…

Moxy at the Roxy
Steve Stevens earned stardom as Billy Idol’s songwriting partner and guitarist in the ’80s. The Grammy-winning New York City native has also recorded with other major artists and released his…