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Music
Smith/Kotzen
Black Light/White Noise
This is the third album from rock veterans Adrian Smith (Iron Maiden) and Richie Kotzen (The Winery Dogs). The busy axeslingers – especially Kotzen, who is always involved in solo and band projects – released their full-length debut and an EP in 2021. Smith-Kotzen has happily blossomed into a going concern. What’s interesting about Smith/Kotzen’s
Chris Thomas King – Me, My Guitar and the Blues
Chris Thomas King is the real deal: a modern-day blues revivalist with one foot firmly in the past and the other keeping time in the present. Born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, King grew…
Magic Sam’s Blues Band
Delmark
Magic Sam’s debut album had an immediate impact when it was released in late ’67 and has stood the test of time – cited as a seminal influence by such formidable guitarists as…
Luther Allison – Where Have You Been?
The title of this disc echoes the question many blues fans ask when they first hear Luther Allison’s amazing Alligator releases, Soul Fixin’ Man and Blue Streak, and learn that he walked away…
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Chris Walz
All I Got and Gone
This traditional folk singer/guitarist’s solo debut is impressive. He’s been an educator at Chicago’s Old Town School of Folk Music for three decades, but his approach is by no means academic. He not only reveals the influence of folk and blues legends such as Doc and Merle Watson, Elizabeth Cotten, Etta Baker, Dave Van Ronk,
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Nels Cline
Consentrik Quartet
ls Cline long ago established a parallel career as an eclectic instrumentalist and contemporary jazz virtuoso. His fourth Blue Note album is an extended set that unveils Consentrik Quartet, his new band with acoustic bassist Chris Lightcap, drummer Tom Rainey, and tenor/soprano saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock. Their concepts are ambitious and their sound is free, Cline
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Charlie Musselwhite
Lookout Highway
John Mayall is invariably cited for the succession of guitar greats who passed through his band. But Charlie Musselwhite just might be the American equivalent. In a 60-year career, his six-stringers have included Harvey Mandel, Luther Tucker, Louis Myers, Tim Kaihatsu, Robben Ford, Fenton Robinson, Johnny Heartsman, Junior Watson, Andrew “Jr. Boy” Jones, John Wedemeyer,
Raisin’ Cain: The Wild and Raucous Story of Johnny Winter
Backbeat Books
The biographer has a duty to get close to the subject in order to relay all the facts and get first-hand accounts of events while at the same time not getting so close…
Robert Cray – Time Will Tell
Time Will Tell
Can “Young Bob,” who slyly boasted about being a “Strong Persuader,” the proverbial back door man, be turning 50? Well, the good news is that Robert Cray hasn’t lost any of the original…
Faces
At the BBC: Complete BBC Concert & Session Recordings, 1970-1973
Rod Stewart & Faces were sloppy and raucous enough to make the Rolling Stones look like Air Supply. Okay, not really, but Stewart himself called them, “Five drunks who got away with murder…
Red Fang
Throughout 10 pummeling tracks, the Portland, Oregon-based Red Fang demonstrates everything that is right with heavy metal today, displaying an excellent array of influences, from Black Sabbath to Alice In Chains to Metallica.…
Wes Montgomery
Play It Hot
The social climate transformed the music: being a jazz musician of color in the 1950s forced you to express music differently in those days. Life and music were tumultuously intertwined. A factory worker…
Lil’ Jimmy Reed with Ben Levin
Back To Baton Rouge
Leon Atkins got a cigar box guitar at six, after already playing harmonica. After subbing when blues legend Jimmy Reed was too inebriated to play a Louisiana juke joint in the ’50s, the…
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Popa Chubby
I Love Freddie King
The latest from blues dynamo Popa Chubby is a star-studded tribute to the late great Freddie King. Produced by Mr. Chubby and Mike Zito, I Love Freddie King is a blues guitar love-fest covering some of King’s most potent and popular songs. With Popa fronting the band on guitar and vocals, guests include Eric Gales,
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Rush
Rush 50
The goal of any anthology is to capture the broad scope of an artist’s career. Rush 50 is a strong attempt, starting with their first singles (previously unreleased) all the way to their final live recordings in 2015. In between are reams of epic studio and stage recordings, summing up the band’s career in one
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Rik Emmett
Ten Telecaster Tales
At the risk of starting a brawl, Rik Emmett’s guitar work was arguably too good for Triumph. As evidence, his latest project centers on a custom-built Loucin that inspired both a book and accompanying music. “Magic Power” this is not. On Ten Telecaster Tunes, Emmett delivers 10 solo performances on the instrument he calls Babs,
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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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Greg Koch
Blues
The Gristle Master returns with scintillating blues and the influences that made him the six-string slayer he is today. On this live recording, Koch uses an array of guitars including his signature Reverend, a Deluxe Tele, Custom Shop Les Paul, and a Custom Shop Strat while sharing stages with Larry McCray, Jimmy Hall, Malford Milligan,
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2025 December Issue on Spotify
This month, we feature Rick Derringer, Kid Ramos, Booker T and The M.G.’s, Steve Stevens, Phil Manzanera, Doug Aldrich, Kenny Burrell, Eric Johanson, Gary Moore, 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
Ruby Rendrag – Wartime Favorites
Ruby Rendrag has definitely learned a lot from Chrissie Hynde, and it’s a good thing. She handles most of her own guitar work on this album (with a little harmonica thrown in) and…
John Pizzarelli
His 1998 mash-up album John Pizzarelli Meets The Beatles staked his claim as a hardcore fan, and he was subsequently invited to play on Paul McCartney’s 2012 pop standards album Kisses On The…
Grisman & Sebastian – Satisfied
John Sebastian and David Grisman first ran into each other in the early ’60s, when Greenwich Village’s Washington Square Park was the epicenter of the national Folk Boom. They were both recruited by…
Bill Frisell
Few jazz guitarists combine versatility, originality, and eclecticism like 59-yearold Bill Frisell. He’s such a unique guitar voice, “jazz” seems too confining a category. And thanks to his open-mindedness, he’s as likely to…
Mark Erelli
Signature Sounds
Fearing negative comparison, some singer/songwriters shy away from covering other writer’s material. Some, boring people by the dozens in coffeehouses across the country, feel it’s everyone else who comes up short. Mark Erelli…
Mike Zito
Resurrection
The very title of bluesman Mike Zito’s new album – and the fact it’s the follow-up to 2020’s Quarantine Blues – strongly suggests the arrival of songs celebrating post-pandemic life. There’s indeed a…
Evan Johns and The Hillbilly Soul Surfers – Moontan
Moontan
Roots rock wild man Evan Johns returns with a taut but tasty trick bag that should fire the faithful, and make a few new friends, too. The sensibility that infused “Ugly Man” is…
The Band
50th Anniversary
Released in 1971, Cahoots wasn’t a major hit, but it reaffirmed The Band’s songwriting prowess and gifted vocalists, Levon Helm, Rick Danko, and Richard Manuel. Fifty years later, guitarist Robbie Robertson asked legendary…
Greg Koch – Radio Free Gristle
Radio Free Gristle
Ya gotta love this stuff! Greg Koch, for those of you who haven’t run across him, is one of those guitarists who spark awe in other players. His chops are impeccable, and his…
The Wrecking Crew (soundtrack)
L.A.’s Red-Light Masters
The Wrecking Crew, the documentary about L.A.’s well-paid but largely anonymous session players ranks with the very best music documentaries. Director Denny Tedesco, son of legendary studio guitarist Tommy Tedesco, did a fantastic…
Red Allen, Frank Wakefield, and the Kentuckians
Washington, D.C. and vicinity, known for forward-thinking bluegrass bands like the Country Gentlemen and the Seldom Scene, also had staunch traditionalists, among them the team of mandolin virtuoso Frank Wakefield (a one-time Stanley…
Little Feat
By 1976, Little Feat had become a well-oiled live machine, its intoxicating polyglot gumbo of American music truly thriving on the stage. This new DVD and companion CD offers fans a peek at…
PRS Dragons – Jenna’s Eyes
Jenna's Eyes
Arty Hill
Self-distributed
Good musicians just might outnumber good songwriters, but don’t tell Arty Hill. This album of 11 originals out of 12 cuts sports snappy country swing and blues numbers like the energetic “Mae Dawn”…
B.B. King & Friends – 80
B.B. King & Friends – 80 To mark his 80th birthday, the King of the Blues has cut an album of duets with friends old and new. The gimmick is nothing new, but…
Tom Verlaine – Dreamtime
Collector’s Choice Music
In some circles, Tom Verlaine is a legendary musician. As a member of Television in the late ’70s, he and Richard Lloyd cut a swath of influence far and wide. Collector’s Choice is…
Tom Feldmann
There’s a good chance the opening licks of “Lone Wolf Blues” will knock you off your chair – or at least give you whiplash as you seek the source of such a wondrous…
Dave Hunter & Chuck Holley
A good guitar fits like a well-worn pair of sneakers. Players often christen them with names, mods, and wear and tear that’s carried like a badge of honor. These two new illustrated books…
Creedence Clearwater Revival
What band has ever had a year like Creedence Clearwater Revival did in 1969? After its debut in ’68, John Fogerty’s group released a followup, Bayou Country, in January ’69 and “Proud Mary”…
The Warren Hood Band
Not one but two royal bloodlines of Texas music flow through the Warren Hood Band. Violinist Hood’s father, the late Champ Hood, was one-third of Uncle Walt’s Band, along with David Ball and…
Steve Howe
It’s been 45 years since Steve Howe joined Yes, but in 1975, he launched a parallel solo career that’s still going strong. For this collection, Howe has picked 33 of his favorite solo…
Storyville – A Piece of Your Soul
A Piece of Your Soul
Storyville is an Austin, Texas, supergroup made up of SRV’s old Double Trouble pals Chris Layton (drums) and Tommy Shannon (bass), along with guitarslingers David Grissom and David Holt. The band is fronted…
