• 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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Greg Skaff

The only thing traditional about the organ trio featuring guitarist Greg Skaff, organist Pat Bianchi, and drummer Ralph Peterson Jr. is that there are three of them in the band. From there, they…

Harvey Dalton Arnold Blues Band

Music Mania Studios

Named for its founder, this band is steeped in the blues and modern interpretations of classics. An album of covers? Not inasmuch as the arrangements are completely different which provides an unexpected character…

Ron Wood Keith Richards Rolling stone Blues and Lonesome Vintage Guitar Magazine

The Rolling Stones

Mick Jagger’s famous 1968 statement – “What’s the point in listening to us doing ‘I’m A King Bee’ when you can hear Slim Harpo do it?” – has been a (sometimes) credo for…

Golden State-Lone Star Blues Revue

Welcome to a cross-country meeting of blues minds. The first release from this group of veteran California and Texas bluesmen features guitarists Little Charlie Baty, an Alabama-to-California transplant grounded originally in Chicago blues…

Russell Malone

MaxJazz

Triple Play is a trio record, with Russell Malone’s guitar being the only harmonic instrument. Many guitarists would shy from the challenge of keeping the harmony and melody while soloing. It’s not a…

Phil Lynott

Songs For While I’m Away

A rock-doc of Thin Lizzy’s fabled frontman, this film traces the singer/bassist’s life through interviews from bandmates, family, and friends. A half-black child in 1950s and ’60s Dublin, Lynott grew into a tough,…

Pete Anderson – Daredevil

Daredevil

Pete is best known as Dwight Yoakam’s guitarist and producer of many talents. He enlivened many a Dwight tune with solos that didn’t fit convention. He also released a couple of fine solo…

Don Rigsby – Empty Old Mailbox

From Jerry Douglas’ opening dobro licks to the last ensemble G chord, Empty Old Mailbox is a nearly perfect bluegrass album. Nearly perfect because it lacks the late great fiddler Randy Howard, to…

The Love Dogs – New Tricks

New Tricks

Loveable? I guess. Dogs? Maybe. They’ve got all the musical tricks new and old, and they’re not jumping through hoops to get their rootsy message across. Elegant arrangements, diverse tunes, strong presentation, and…

Kombo – Cookin’ out

Kombo is Ron Pedley on keyboards, and Jon Pondel on guitars. They’ve got lots of great help too, with guys like Steve Ferrone, Matt Bissonette, and Sharon Hendrix. The music is the same…

Kirk Fletcher

Blues gets a bad rap because of a preponderance of mediocre imposters who lack the magic. The great stuff will stir you and mesmerize. Two-time WC Handy Award nominee Kirk Fletcher has the…

Cousin Harley

Blue Smoke: The Music Of Merle Travis

Canadian guitarslinger Paul Pigat has recorded under his own name (Boxcar Campfire) and with his wild, infectious rockabilly trio, Cousin Harley. The latter’s tribute to Merle Travis may be the group’s best effort…

Wilco

Roger That

Tough to believe it’s been two decades since Jeff Tweedy reluctantly took the remains of the critically adored but ultimately doomed alt-country standard-bearers Uncle Tupelo and laid down roots for a Chicago-based band…

Bola Sete

Samba In Seattle

The uninitiated will wonder why they’re just now hearing such a guitar genius, while aficionados bemoan the fact Bola Sete isn’t a household name. Previously unreleased, this triple-CD, subtitled Live At The Penthouse…

The Move, Santana, Derringer

Under the Radar

Sometimes great bands and albums don’t bubble to the surface of fame, depriving fans of brilliant music. The Move is one of those acts and its wondrous pop is compiled in the 2-disc…

Eric Clapton

Eric Clapton Anniversary Deluxe Edition

Recorded following the demise of Blind Faith, Clapton’s 1970 debut found the 24-year-old guitarist discovering his own voice as he morphed into a solo artist. We also witness Slowhand’s conversion to Fender; the…

Burton Garr – Home of the Blues

I’ve been chomping at the bit to get the word out on this articulate, contemporary Louisiana blues man. There must be something in the water that runs between Memphis and Baton Rouge, ‘cuz…

Yes

Yes fans have long been waiting for the legendary prog band to deliver a comeback album. Rest assured, this is not it. Even with platinum producer Roy Thomas Baker and a Jon Anderson…

Paul Brown

A lot of people paint the smooth jazz world with a broad brush that sometimes ignores the players who play with soul, intensity, and smartness. Paul Brown would be one such player. While…

Deke Dickerson

Guitarchaeology

When Deke Dickerson’s first Strat In The Attic book debuted in 2013, it was an instant best-seller among guitarists in the smart set. Beer parties were abuzz; jam sessions dissolved into ersatz book…

Jeff Golub – Do It Again

I can hear the naysayers already. They’ll call this album a boring, derivative, smooth jazz standerbearer. That’s fine. Listen closely, though, and you’ll hear a soulful guitarist doing heartfelt covers of some of…

Robert Gordon: Memphis Rent Party

There’s no city like Memphis when it comes to music. And thankfully, there’s Robert Gordon to chronicle its story. Gordon has written books and helmed documentaries about Muddy Waters, Stax Records, and, of…

John Cowan

E1 Entertainment

John Cowan’s latest is taken from sessions recorded four years ago by George Massenburg. Cowan’s music combines traditional bluegrass with rock-influenced players and the songs here show Cowan’s talents as a singer and…

Toulouse Engelhardt

Lost Grove Records

Acoustic-guitar pioneer John Fahey influenced a generation of fingerpickers, and none sound more like a genuine musical heir than Toulouse Engelhardt This is a solo guitar album, and its tunes, with titles such…

The Jimmy Bruno Group – Midnight Blue

I dunno… sometimes it seems silly to review things like this. Everyone who follows jazz guitar knows Jimmy Bruno is a knock-down monster player with both chops and soul. In fact, technically, he’s…

David Bromberg – Demon in Disguise

Not to be confused with a live DVD of the same name, which was released in 2008 and quickly vanished, this is part of Stefan Grossman’s “Guitar Artistry Of” series. Playing only his…

Damn Straight We’ve Got the Blues

Various artists

This carefully curated 60-track, digital-only compilation draws deeply from the catalogs of New West and Antones Records as well as New West’s “Live from Austin” series. The focus? Blues numbers from a swath…

  • Yes

    Yes

    Close to the Edge: Super Deluxe Edition

Deke Dickerson

Guitarchaeology

When Deke Dickerson’s first Strat In The Attic book debuted in 2013, it was an instant best-seller among guitarists in the smart set. Beer parties were abuzz; jam sessions dissolved into ersatz book…

Chip Taylor & Carrie Rodriguez – The Trouble With Humans

The Trouble With Humans

Some famous musical duos originate in the womb, like The Louvin or Everly brothers. Others are created by love, like Ian and Silvia, Richard and Mimi Farina, and Buddy and Julie Miller. Finally…

Holden

Think of Holden as the Velvet Underground with a French accent. This noise-pop duo differs, however, in chronicling not the wild side of the ’60s, but the existential estrangement of modern-day life –…