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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
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…
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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,
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…
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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
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…
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…
