• 2025 December Issue on Spotify

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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

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Bob Dylan

The Complete Budokan 1978

The original double-live album culled from Bob Dylan’s 1978 Tokyo shows was a Japan-only release until Dylan-mania demanded a global offering the next year; reviews were lukewarm. After the fiercely inspired Rolling Thunder…

Experience Hendrix

Had fate and negligence not interfered, Jimi Hendrix would have turned 65 in 2008 – only five years older than Bruce Springsteen, four older than Carlos Santana, two older than John Fogerty, and…

Jimi Hendrix

Experience Hendrix/Legacy

To overlook Hendrix’ blues roots would be as misguided as to categorize him (as some do) as simply “a blues guitarist.” If that were the case, there’d no doubt be more than 11…

Pat Metheny – Metheny with Mehldau

Guitarist Pat Metheny and pianist Brad Mehldau need little introduction, thus the near-cryptic titling of this new duet collection of jazz originals. The meeting of minds here brings back memories of guitarist Jim…

Frank Moriarty – Seventies Rock: A Decade of Creative Chaos

Seventies Rock: A Decade of Creative Chaos

It’s the music many of us grew up on. But it was different from the ’60s. The Beatles were over, Jimi and Janis were dead, and the feel-good ethos of Woodstock had given…

Alan Jackson

This three-disc set should be subtitled “The Arista Years,” since it only spans the 20 years Jackson was with that label – the first artist signed to its country division. He followed in…

Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Tompall Glaser – Wanted! The Outlaws

The Outlaws set is a reissue of the classic 1976 LP featuring Waylon, Willie Nelson, Tompall Glaser, and Waylon’s wife, Jessi Colter. The original album blew the lid off of conservative country and…

The Clutter Family

(Self-distributed)

Whatever else happens to The Clutters, they will never be invited to Sarah Palin’s house for Thanksgiving dinner – the name of their song about her can’t even be printed. But they are…

Chris Cain

Raisin’ Cain

Chris Cain returns with his 15th solo album, and it’s marvelous. Joining forces with Alligator Records, Cain continues his musical path with troubled stories and a guitar style that combines Albert King with…

Martin Taylor – In Concert

In Concert

After finishing Gershwin’s “I Got Rhythm” – following his tongue-in-cheek, herky jerky, impossible-to-snap-your-fingers-to intro with a laughably fast walking bass figure, over which he somehow threads both melody and comping chords (simultaneously) –…

Pat Conte – Gravest Hits

Long Island’s Pat Conte is a rarity among record and instrument collectors in that he can really play. Actually, that’s an understatement. One of the foremost experts on “world music,” Conte compiled and…

Wanda Jackson

Third Man/Nonesuch

If you listen to Wanda Jackson’s ’50s rockabilly and country recordings, you know she didn’t need Jack White. Cuts like “Let’s Have a Party” were shockers to mainstream decorum – especially when they…

Steepwater Band – Revelation Sunday

Precision, Passion, and Soul

The Steepwater Band’s 2004 release, Dharmakaya, was a very strong effort, and this is an equally strong followup. The band is a modern version of the classic rock trio many grew up loving.…

John Gorka – Gypsy Life

It was good news, hearing that audiophile record label AIX was releasing a deluxe John Gorka performance DVD/CD. But this disc is surprisingly somber given that Gorka is normally an animated, highly amusing…

Josh Smith

Josh Smith takes the soul stylings that marked his earlier work and puts it on the back burner here. In its place is a return to his first love – high-octane, supercharged blues-rock.…

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…

Michael Burks – Iron Man

Michael “Iron Man” Burks isn’t the first or last talented musician to have to work a straight gig for most of his adult life, delaying the doing of what he was obviously born…

Scott Holt – Angels in Exile

Scott Holt isn’t exactly a newcomer to the music buzz. He served in Buddy Guy’s band for 10 years and, not surprisingly, calls it a “…trip to the university.” That schooling has definitely…

Andy Brown Quartet and Brian Bromberg

Two of the Best in Jazz

Not every jazz guitarist who plays solo can also blow in a group context, and vice versa. Some adept at both include Tuck Andress, Joe Pass, Johnny Smith, George Van Eps, and Earl…

Jinx Jones – Live in Finland

San Francisco’s Jinx Jones teams with two terrific Finnish musicians for the making of this fine live record. Henry Valanne (drums) and Ari Sjöblom (bass) are both adept at the various forms of…

Wes Montgomery

Concord Music Group

The re-release of this brilliant album shows the man many consider the finest guitarist to ever live guiding Mel Rhyne (on Hammond B-3) and Jimmy Cobb (drums) through a set of tunes that…

Hellecasters – Live…Raw…In Germany On…The Filter

Yikes! Here’s a truly awe-inspiring display of guitar playing. Recorded live on German television, Jerry Donahue, John Jorgenson, and Will Ray take you on a roller-coaster ride that will leave you sitting on…

Rod Piazza & The Mighty Flyers – Beyond The Source

There is no group more dedicated to the blues idiom then Rod Piazza and the Mighty Flyers. And they are a group. You can rest assured this it not some off-the-cuff aggregation. These…

Cedric Burnside

Be Trying

One of 35 grandchildren of the late R.L. Burnside, Cedric grew up in the rundown Holly Springs, Mississippi, home that housed four generations of Burnsides. An award-winning drummer, he was behind a kit…

Jimmy “Duck” Holmes

Mississippi Blues Holdout

The unique and insular Bentonia style may be the deepest and darkest of all blues. Skip James personified the music: he sang haunted songs in an eerie, high-pitched voice that would send a…

Nashville Pussy

Nashville Pussy marks its territory of trailer-park Southern rock with lowbrow humor and infectious charisma. The band consists of the husband-and-wife team of Blaine Cartwright on vocals and guitar and Ruyter Suys on…

ZZ Top – Tres Hombres & Fandango

Amazingly, in its 36-year existence, ZZ Top has released only 14 albums. But what’s more amazing is how well all of them still hold up. No less than seven “best of” reconfigurations have…

The George Benson Quartet – It’s Uptown and The George Benson Cookbook

It's Uptown and The George Benson Cookbook

George Benson was another of A&R legend John Hammond’s famous discoveries, alongside the likes of Count Basie, Charlie Christian, Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, and Bruce Springsteen. This put Benson in a tough position…

Fu Manchu – Go For It… Live!

Britain’s NME magazine nailed Fu Manchu’s oeuvre when it dubbed them “damn near the most conceptually perfect rock band since the Ramones.” Now comes a damn near perfect double live album. Fu’s concept:…

Betty Davis and Mahalia Barnes

Nasty Girl

Betty Mabry was known far and wide by the sobriquet of the Nasty Girl. She earned the moniker for being too wild for her men to handle – and among her men were…