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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
Roine Stolt – Wall Street Voodoo
Roine Stolt – Wall Street Voodoo Roine Stolt is best known for fronting the acclaimed progressive band The Flower Kings. But in the back of his mind, the Swedish guitarist has long wanted…
Luther Allison – Luther’s Blues
Originally released by Motown in 1973, Luther’s Blues was not a big seller. Not that it’s not a great album. It is. But maybe Motown at that time wasn’t the best place to…
Santana IV
Describing Carlos Santana’s guitar playing, Greg Rolie, the Santana band’s original keyboardist, declares, “It’s real music; it’s not just a bunch of notes put together.” Truer words were never spoken. They’re just part…
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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,
Bill Frisell
Out of Sight
It’s almost impossible to pigeonhole Bill Frisell, and his latest album will make it even harder. The guitarist and his band reinterpret some of the pop and rock songs here that made Frisell…
Rory Gallagher
Rory Gallagher 50th Anniversary Edition
Rising appreciation for the late Irish guitar wizard continues with a 50th anniversary/five-disc box of his 1971 solo debut. With pristine sound quality, the collection includes a new mix of the original album;…
Black Valley Moon
Songs from the Black Valley
If you think you know surf music, the monster-movie themes of Black Valley Moon will surprise and thrill you. Using Reverend planks, guitarist Sam Williams delivers garage-rock goods on “Proxima Centauri Calling,” which…
Miles Davis
Columbia/Legacy
Debates will forever rage regarding the dawn of jazz-rock fusion – its birth attributed to everyone from vibraphonist Gary Burton (and/or his guitarist, Larry Coryell) to Cream. There were definitely examples prior to…
Russell Malone – Heartstrings
Heartstrings
It’s the age-old question, does the use of strings somehow cheapen the music? Wes Montgomery is still to this day vilified for using strings. Wrongly, I might add. George Benson takes grief. Even…
Summer of Soul
Various artists
Buried for 50 years, the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival is now recognized as an historic concert series, thanks to the recent film, which won the Grammy for Best Music Film and Oscar for…
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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
Honeydogs – 10,000 Years
Here’s an early favorite for album of the year. And what’s odd is, lyrically, I have very little interest. It’s set up as a sort of rock-and-roll opera that covers 10,000 years of…
Dave Alvin – West of the West
Dave Alvin is one of America’s best songwriters, and as such runs the risk of alienating casual fans when he does an album of covers. But then again, maybe not… The idea with…
John Thomas
Intrigued by that “Only A Gibson Is Good Enough” decal on the headstock of his World War II-era Gibson Southern Jumbo, musician and writer John Thomas began delving into the story behind the…
Graham Parker – Don’t Tell Columbus
Graham Parker has stepped it up a notch in recent years. Always a fine songwriter and singer, he hit a lull in the late ’80s and most of the ’90s. This is his…
Motorhead – Stone Deaf Forever (Box Set)
If bands got paychecks for being influential, Motorhead would buy your town. And then, of course, all the lawns would up and die. Founded in the mid 1970s by steel-wool throated bassist Lemmy…
Sunny War
Anarchist Gospel
Sunny War’s latest record blurs stylistic boundaries, rejecting fatuous labeling. Instead, it’s a document of the human experience – a hypnotic montage of black folk, acoustic blues, country, urban, and avant-garde. It’s lived…
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…
João Erbetta & Adam Levy and Panamericans!
A glimpse at João Erbetta’s résumé brings to mind Harry Belafonte’s tongue-in-cheek introduction of Carlos Santana at the 2013 Kennedy Center Honors, begging for immigration reform because the Mexican native had squelched his…
Z.Z. Top – Chrome, Smoke, and B. B. Q.
Chrome, Smoke, and B. B. Q.
Well, Z.Z. Top’s music has been released in a lot of forms on CD. I confess, I didn’t scarf up the other releases, even though I grew up on this stuff and love…
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…
Pete Levin
Self-distributed
The past few Pete Levin albums have featured his fine organ playing, great songs, and lots of room for whatever guitarist was working with him. Jump! is no different, with Dave Stryker on…
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…
Shawn Mullins – Honeydew
Vanguard Records
Walter Becker – Circus Money
Mailboat Records
Laurie Lewis
Laurie Lewis is a bluegrass pioneer, and her latest release showcases the breadth of her musical talent – singing, songwriting, and playing guitar and fiddle. Lewis enlists the help of longtime musical partner…
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…
Kid Ramos – Kid Ramos
If you can call his ongoing stint with the Fabulous Thunderbirds “woodshedding,” then guitarist David “Kid” Ramos has definitely paid his dues. He replaced Jimmie Vaughan – Texas-sized shoes to fill, if ever…
Lissa Schneckenburger
Footprint Records
Lissa Schneckenburger plays “progressive” New England/Celtic music that combines equal parts traditional harmonic textures with a modern acoustic sensibility. Her voice has a pristine directness that perfectly suits these traditional tunes. Song is…
Joanne Shaw Taylor
Joanne Shaw Taylor is a young British guitarist who, with this album, is moving beyond the blues. While her guitar style is certainly rooted in familiar ground, she writes songs more on the…
Sonny Landreth – Levee Town
Let’s just say it. Sonny Landreth is one of the best slide guitarists in the history of rock and roll. The title cut, which opens the album, is proof of that. After a…
Bearfoot Bluegrass – Follow Me
Bluegrass bands are often male-only affairs. But the women in Bearfoot Bluegrass are in a majority position. Annalisa Tornfelt plays fiddle, sings lead, and is responsible for seven of the songs. Kate Hamre…
Greg Renoff
This is not just another salacious rock biography full of debauchery and drug-fueled excesses; this is the saga of European immigrants and their struggle to find the American dream. It’s also an underdog…
Sex Pistols: I Wanna Be Me
Dave Simpson
1977’s Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols LP was an atomic bomb dropped on rock music and culture. To commemorate the explosion, Simpson’s short, photo-packed, book examines this seismic blast. Even…
