• Smith/Kotzen

    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

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Bob Marley & the Wailers

Ume/Tuff Gong

For such a guitar-driven genre, reggae doesn’t get many props from the six-string community, though its offbeat-chord trademark is as much a part of the rock lexicon as anything. For proof, check out…

Acoustic Alchemy

Heads Up

The knock against Acoustic Alchemy has always been that it’s background music, but the band has always created music that’s atmospheric in the best sense of the word. Granted, it’s not for guitarists…

Mike Morgan & the Crawl – Stronger Every Day

Texas-born Mike Morgan returns with his 13th album of original songs, layering blues with a funky rhythm that captures the essence of Muscle Shoals and Beale Street all at once, and does a…

Megan Slankard

(Self-distributed)

Megan Slankard is difficult to pigeonhole. Equal parts country soul, folk, pop, and alt rock, though still in her early 20s, Token of the Wreckage is her third disc, and amply demonstrates why…

Slim Harpo and Martin Hawkins

Mick Jagger admonished the world back in 1968, “What’s the point in listening to us doing ‘I’m A King Bee’ when you can listen to Slim Harpo doing it?” His statement not only…

Murry Hammond – I Don’t Know Where I’m Going But I’m On My Way

As a solo artist, Murry Hammond is a blend of Leonard Cohen and Jimmie Rogers. The acoustic-based songs on this album aren’t as lively as his work with his former band, Old 97s,…

Judas Priest and Deep Purple

Metal-Morphosis

This 30th-anniversary reissue of Judas Priest’s 1986 album is above average, but not for the reason you might think. Turbo itself was slick ’80s metal, festooned with guitar synthesizers and that ubiquitous “gated”…

Eric Gales

Schrapnel Records

Eric Gales has been cutting blues-rock records for 20 years, and here, he’s playing as well as ever. Lyrically, Transformation appears to address his effort at staying on the straight and narrow. But,…

Albert Ray

The Drifter Comes Back To Town

You might think Southern rockabilly would be the last style that could be co-opted by artists beyond America’s borders. But Italy’s Renzo Alberti, a.k.a. Albert Ray, has not only assimilated the genre, he’s…

Mark Knopfler

When it comes to inspired songwriting and guitar playing, Mark Knopfler’s not in dire straights. On his new solo album, he had so much material, he chose not to leave good songs on…

Guy King

Blues veteran Guy King steps out with a full big band on his latest and proves up to the task of doing justice to various forms of American music – blues, funk, soul,…

The Hellecasters – Essential Listening Volume 1

Essential Listening Volume 1

I’m sure it’s the same for everyone. You have certain players and bands that just can do no wrong. It’s that way for me with the Hellecasters. I just don’t know how you…

The Sonics

Sonics Boom Again

Sometimes, your memory of a favorite band is so locked in – and possibly blown out of proportion – that a reunion can’t possibly live up to its former self (or yours). And…

Robert Gordon with Chris Spedding

Hellafied

A legend out of time with the times, Robert Gordon should have been a star during the true rockabilly era of the late ’50s. Instead, he made his mark in the punky late…

Carrie Rodriguez – Seven Angels on A Bicycle

Carrie Rodriguez has blossomed from a reluctant background singer to a confident lead vocalist in just four albums. Her first solo release demonstrates that she has the chops to lead her own band.…

Doug Sahm – San Antonio Rock

It’s no big secret that rock and roll lost one of its real deals when Doug Sahm passed away. His history was long and varied, and he hadn’t had a rock hit in…

Eliza Gilkyson – Lost and Found

Lost and Found

Some great talents manage to operate for years just below the radar of the star-making machinery of the popular song. Eliza Gilkyson is a case in point. Lost and Found is her second…

Penelope Spheeris

Was the Germs’ incoherent Darby Crash, writhing on stage while fans write on his forehead with indelible marker, really so different from W.A.S.P.’s incoherent Chris Holmes, floating in his pool and chugging three…

Peter Case – Who’s Gonna Go Your Crooked Mile? Selected Tracks

Peter Case is one of those “folky” types who deserve more than a trite description. Yes, he plays acoustic guitar, occasional harmonica, and writes great songs. But he shows a background that encompasses…

Mark Cook – An Evening With The Blues

An Evening With The Blues

It’s obvious this Terre Haute-based guitarist is a talented individual. He’s got the chops and did all the writing and arranging on this disc. Not only the instrumental portions, but the vocal melodies,…

Ari Eisinger

Ari Eisinger doesn’t look like your typical bluesman. A science teacher, maybe, but not a blues singer/guitarist. Which proves Willie Dixon’s line – “You can’t judge a book by looking at the cover.”…

Charles Brown – A Life In The Blues

This is more than just an album by the late R&B great Charles Brown. It’s truly the story of a life – a scrapbook of history, photos, testimonials, music, vintage film clips, a…

Dale Watson

What is there not to love about Dale Watson? He flies the flag for real country music in a day and age when real country isn’t accepted by country radio. His latest is…

Bruce Molsky – Soon Be Time

Bruce Molsky proves that you can be scholarly about American roots music without being boring. On Soon Be Time he entertains his listeners on fiddle, banjo, and finger-picked guitar. All solo, no overdubbing,…

The Bottle Rockets – Brand New Year and Leftovers

Brand New Year and Leftovers

If you didn’t know better, you’d swear after hearing the first few bars of “Nancy Sinatra,” the opening song on the Bottle Rockets’ Brand New Year, that you were listening to an unearthed…

John Németh

May Be The Last Time

When John Németh hit the blues scene in 2002, one couldn’t help but take notice. In addition to solo albums, he lent his big vocals and powerful harmonica to Junior Watson, Anson Funderburgh,…

James Burton, Albert Lee,Amos Garrett, David Wilcox

Recorded live in 2013, this album is exactly what you’d think given the players: an onslaught of guitar playing that would make even the most cynical music fan smile. All four players are…

  • Yes

    Yes

    Close to the Edge: Super Deluxe Edition

The Rolling Stones

Chrome Dreams/MVD

Despite the title, the focus of this “unauthorized” Stones documentary is not directly on Mick Taylor nor his guitar playing, but a general analysis of the band’s heyday. That said, there’s a lot…

Cream – BBC Sessions

BBC Sessions

These cuts were recorded over a 15-month period from late 1966 to early ’68. They were cut for the British Broadcasting Corporation. Because of strict regulations on the number of phonograph records that…

Joe Bonamassa

Achievement Blues

On disc 2 of Joe Bonamassa’s latest, there’s an interview with Howlin’ Wolf: “I’m gonna tell you what the blues is,” the Wolf says. “A lot of people holler about, ‘I don’t like…


Elizabeth Cook

31 Tigers Records

Roger Waters

Is This the Life We Really Want?

Oz Noy & Andrew Synowiec

Recreational Substance

Bill Frisell

Music Is

Robert Cray

Universal Music