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Music
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
Eiiza Gilkyson – Beautiful World
Few folksingers, even those from the original folk revival, have been able to combine social consciousness with musicality as well as Eliza Gilkyson. She merges strong songwriting talent with commanding vocals to create…
Bryan Sutton – Secrets for Flatpickers
Grab any top-selling country CD produced in the last five years that has acoustic instruments on it and chances are you’ll find Bryan Sutton credited with playing acoustic guitar. On Homespun Video’s latest…
Gov’t Mule
Peace… Like a Rive
It’s fortunate the world still has artists like Gov’t Mule to influence aspiring musicians and prove that it’s possible to have a long, fruitful career playing this kind of music. The creation of…
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Paul Johnson
The Hepcats Live at the Ajax Novelty Company
This isn’t live, there may not be an Ajax Novelty Company, and the three felines known as the Hepcats are actually the brainchild of Paul Johnson, whose Belairs were early-’60s pioneers of surf music. Suspend reality and dig how the “trio” expertly articulates layers of acoustic guitar. Across decades, Johnson has embraced folk-rock, psychedelia, and
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Yes
Close to the Edge: Super Deluxe Edition
Are you a high-fidelity audio geek? If the answer is, well, yes, this Rhino release brings together an HD experience of Close to the Edge in no fewer than four versions, plus rarities and a ’72 concert. For starters, the 2025 remaster sounds as close to the analog 1972 mix as you’re going to get
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Pink Floyd
Have You Got It Yet? – The Story of Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd
It’s understandable that fans warily approach the flood of pseudo-documentaries and biopics. Add the fact that the late Syd Barrett, Floyd’s original guitarist/leader, suffered from mental illness, and exploitation alarms are sure to go off. But this documentary handles the subject with dignity instead of sensationalism. Interviews by longtime Floyd cover artist Storm Thorgerson with
David Reinhardt, Levis Adel-Reinhardt & various artists
Label Ouest
In honor of the centenary of Django Reinhardt’s 1910 birth, the tribute albums are being released as quickly as Django ever played a two-fingered arpeggio. This one from France may be the most…
Anson Funderburgh and The Rockets – Which Way Is Texas?
Which Way Is Texas?
Anson Funderburgh is one of the few – if not only – blues guitarists I’ve ever seen get an ovation for a chorus solo. Such applause might be common for jazz shows, but…
David Grissom – Loud Music
When you’ve made your living and reputation as a hired gun, and finally decide to cut a solo album, what do you do? In the case of David Grissom, the question is particularly…
The Cactus Blossoms
In an age when cultural currency seems measured in units of irony, brothers Page Burkum and Jack Torrey are an astonishing revelation. The duo fronts the Twin Cities-based Cactus Blossoms, drawing inspiration from…
The No Refund Band
Lead singer/guitarist Ricky Jackson sings with a brassiness and strength that doesn’t come along often in pop music. He’s also an impressive guitarist, partly in debt to the crotch-rock styles of Slash and…
Double Trouble – Been A Long Time
This celebratory debut release lays testament to the resilient talent of drummer Chris Layton and bassist Tommy Shannon, renowned as Stevie Ray Vaughan’s rhythm section, Double Trouble. Losing a front person of such…
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The Wildhearts
In the raging ’90s, The Wildhearts blasted out of Newcastle upon Tyne like some unholy melding of Guns ’N Roses, Cheap Trick, and The Replacements. Hard rock, power pop, and punk still make up their secret sauce, heard on this latest effort with original singer/guitarist Ginger Wildheart. Ben Marsden plays lead, while Kavus Torabi adds
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Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band
Honeysuckle
Resonator-slide specialist Reverend Peyton returns to his primary influences – early 20th-century African-American music – compelling him to shout from the hollers and the hills. Rootsy, acoustic, inter-war blues is the specific genre, and Peyton doesn’t hold back. With top-tier tutelage from the likes of David “Honeyboy” Edwards, T-Model Ford, and Robert Belfour, he masterfully
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Mike Campbell with Ari Surdoval
Heartbreaker: A Memoir
In his autobiography, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers guitarist Campbell admits he’s quiet and shy. Self-doubt plagued him his entire life, and when problems arose in the Heartbreakers, a lack of confidence had him blaming himself first, even when he wasn’t responsible. Perhaps his attitude was psychologically rooted in his impoverished childhood and coming from
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Alan Gogoll
Lioness Lullabies
Venture online and watch a few videos by Tasmanian guitarist Alan Gogoll and you’ll see he’s nothing short of a phenomenon. On acoustic, he conjures artificial harmonics in a manner that almost defies gravity. Better still, he never shows off these chops – everything on Lioness Lullabies is in the service of the song and
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Jimmy Vivino
Gonna Be 2 of Those Days
A veteran vocalist/guitarist/keyboardist and purveyor of blues, R&B, and rock’, Jimmy Vivino has an incredible résumé. A longtime fixture in Conan O’Brien’s house band, he has played on movie, radio, and Broadway projects and worked with Levon Helm, Hubert Sumlin, Al Kooper, Jimmie Vaughan, Donald Fagen, Warren Haynes, Laura Nyro, along with innumerable others. He’s
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Thin Lizzy
The Acoustic Sessions
Thin Lizzy’s first studio release in decades, this album reimagines tracks recorded 50+ years ago by the trio of vocalist/bassist Phil Lynott, guitarist Eric Bell, and drummer Brian Downey. The songs are from Lizzy’s first three albums – 1971’s Thin Lizzy, ’72’s Shades of a Blue Orphanage, and ’73’s Vagabonds of the Western World. Recently,
Last In Line
This album reunites Mark 1 of the late Ronnie James Dio’s solo band, including Vinny Appice, the late Jimmy Bain, and Vivian Campbell. With the group’s name taken from Dio’s second album released…
Little Wing: The Jimmy McCulloch Story
Paul Salley
When a former Beatle name-checks you before a guitar solo on your very first recording with the band, you must be special. And Jimmy McCulloch was, as evidenced by Paul McCartney’s exuberant “Take…
The Eliminators
Eliminator Records
There are many veins of surf rock; traditional, punk, classic instro, fusion, and many more. The SoCal-based Eliminators fit comfortably into the traditional instro/surf sound, presenting a wall of Fender-fueled reverb that would…
THE ATOMIC BITCHWAX – II
Ed Mundell – my choice for Guitar God 2001. Although Mundell, lead guitarist for Monster Magnet (his day gig) and the Atomic Bitchwax (his side gig), might lack name recognition, he certainly doesn’t…
Johnny Winter – Deluxe Edition
When you think about it, Johnny Winter has had quite a career. And here, from Alligator Records, just to let you know it continues strong, is a set of cuts from his stint…
Son House – Revisited
Revisited
There were blues guitarists before him – such as Charley Patton – and perhaps better blues guitarists that followed him, but there were few as soulful, deep, and downright bonechilling as Eddie “Son”…
Surfin’ Djangos – Go Man Go!
It’s doubtful Django Reinhardt ever caught a wave to sit on top of the world. But as these two new CDs prove, Django’s music proves ideal for a surfing safari. Both collections of…
Skip James, Bukka White, R.L. Burnside, and Others
Worried Blues
The famed Fat Possum label strikes again! This series of separate CDs/LPs reissues 10 out-of-print albums and long-forgotten sessions of classic blues from 1963 through ’72, each offered under the title Worried Blues.…
Peter Bardens
Long Ago, Far Away: The Recordings (1968-1971)
Following a sort of carousel-calliope intro, with one unmistakable bend, Peter Green enters “The Answer” and quickly transforms the proceedings. Keyboardist Peter Bardens released an album of the same name in 1970, featuring…
Jack Nitzsche – Hearing Is Believing
It may have only reached number 39 on Billboard‘s Pop Singles chart in 1963, but “The Lonely Surfer” is as perfect as any 21/2 minutes in rock history. Bill Pittman’s Danelectro six-string bass…
Diana Krall
Fans familiar with Krall’s records featuring swinging tunes and gentle ballads might be more than a little surprised when they hear Glad Rag Doll. It wouldn’t be fair to say she’s left the…
Barry Levenson – Heart to Hand
Barry Levenson has most all the tools; the heart, the hands, the chops, and experience. What places this release a step ahead is the production, which in this is also the work of…
Lukas Nelson & the Promise of the Real
A Few Stars Apart
Steve Howe – Elements
Elements
Some would say progressive rock, art rock, whatever you want to call it, has always seemed a little too pompous for it’s own good. Despite that, I’ve always loved Yes, and a good…
Charles Sawtelle – Music from Rancho DeVille
Music from Rancho DeVille
Music from Rancho DeVille is a loveletter from across the grave. Charles Sawtelle passed away Mach 21, 1999, of complications from leukemia. The last several years of his life were spent recuperating from…
Herb Ellis – Ellis In Wonderland
For his 1956 debut as a leader, jazz guitarist Herb Ellis enlisted pianist Oscar Peterson, bassist Ray Brown, drummer Alvin Stoller, trumpeter Sweets Edison, and saxophonists Jimmy Giuffre and Charlie Mariano. Too bad…
Chicago
It’s simplistic to say, but as these two box-sets of 10 discs apiece show, Chicago’s history really consists of two bands: one with Terry Kath as lead guitarist, one of the vocalists, a…
Tomo Fujita – Right Place, Right Time
Fujita is a professor at Berklee College of Music, and the music here flies in the face of the old adage, “Those who can’t do, teach.” Fujita proves himself a true player’s player;…
Pink Floyd & The Dark Side of the Moon
Martin Popoff
This book marks the 50th anniversary of Pink Floyd’s masterwork – composer/bassist Roger Waters’ meditation on madness set over angsty, slow-tempo rock. The narrative digs into the weeds of their 1973 breakthrough, accompanied…
Johnny Winter
Roots, from 2011, ended an almost 10-year drought for Winter, and in fine style, featuring excellent playing from Derek Trucks, Sonny Landreth, Vince Gill, and especially Winter himself. Step Back was to be…
Eric Clapton and Friends
After Midnight
Eric Clapton has worn many a hat during his career. English bluesman, psychedelic guitar god, downhome roots rocker, even ’80s big-suited popmeister. In recent decades, he’s added another chapeau to the curious collection:…
Judas Priest
Heavy Metal Validation
In the early ’80s, heavy metal was mainstream fare and competition was fierce. Thanks to MTV, the genre received tremendous exposure. The New Wave of British Heavy Metal was in full swing, but…
