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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
Cody Canada and the Departed
Cody Canada and company have delivered a record that adds to his work with his former band, Cross Canadian Ragweed, mixing country and rock with lyrics that deal with real life. Seth James,…
Steve Howe Trio
HoweSound Records
The idea of a straight jazz album from Steve Howe might bring out the skeptic in proggers and beboppers alike, but Travelling is a pleasant surprise. Certainly, Howe’s jazzflavored leads were prominent in…
The Minus 5 and the Monkees
Monkee Business
The 1960s – that halcyon decade which Americans today are most inclined to reconsider with dewy eyes – is in the midst of a retrospective heyday. Assuming the Stones’ ill-fated NorCal bacchanalia in…
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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,
Jimmy Gaudreau – 2:10 Train
Rebel records
Jimmy Gaudreau and Moondi Klein have been playing together for more than 10 years. They first met when T. Michael Coleman, Mike Auldridge, and Klein asked Gaudreau to join them in Chesapeake. When…
The Stray Cats
Unearthed Stray Cats
Formed in ’79, the Tomcats – singer/guitarist Brian Setzer, drummer Slim Jim Phantom, and bassist Lee Rocker – had only marginal success playing rockabilly at punk clubs like Manhattan’s CBGB. Reasoning that they’d…
Omar And The Howlers – Swingland
I first ran across Omar Dykes in the mid ’80s when I heard a bluesy radio-ready rock album called Hard Times In The Land Of Plenty. I liked it, and some quick research…
Led Zeppelin: Goin’ To California
How the West Was Won
The members of Led Zeppelin were of course British, but loved American culture and had a special relationship with southern California – both for epic gigs at the L.A. Forum and Long Beach…
Carsie Blanton
Love & Rage
Carsie Blanton is a stick of dynamite disguised as a firecracker. Her website applies terms like anthems, moxie, and mischief – and they fit. In 2020, Blanton’s online rent parties became monthly events…
Skunk Baxter
Speed of Heat
In no apparent hurry, Jeff “Skunk” Baxter just released his first solo album – at age 73. The guitar flash from Steely Dan and The Doobie Brothers brings his six-stringing to the fore,…
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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
Asleep At The Wheel – Live at Billy Bob’s Texas
Live at Billy Bob's Texas
Asleep at the Wheel has carved a niche almost as big as Texas by playing western swing. Begun in 1969, Asleep at the Wheel has stayed true to leader Ray Benson’s vision of…
Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble – Live At Montreux 1982 & 1985
By now, every guitar fan worth his salt knows the story behind these two concerts by Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble at the legendary Montreux Jazz Festival. Appearing in 1982, the boys…
Jools Holland & his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra – Jools Holland’s Big Band Rhythm & Blues
If the term “big band,” especially tied to a pop star, conjures the dreaded image of one of those zoot-suited groups with the word “Daddy” in its name, fear not. Ex-Squeeze keyboardist Holland’s…
Rick Berlin and the Nickel and Dime Band
It’s not glam rock, although “(I’m A) Slut” sparkles with a certain Bowie/ Roxy Music sexual ambiguity. It’s not Captain Beefheart’s industrial-strength experimental rock, though “Karaoke,” with a West Coast cool sax solo…
Surfin’ Djangos – Go Man Go!
It’s doubtful Django Reinhardt ever caught a wave to sit on top of the world. But as these two new CDs prove, Django’s music proves ideal for a surfing safari. Both collections of…
Adrian Ingram – Jazz Guitar Greats
Jazz Guitar Greats
Looking for a key to unlock your jazz solos or comping? Jazz Guitar Greats offer fine entries to the playing of several great jazzers. Jazz Guitar Greats is a look at the jazz…
Groovy Eyes – High Flyin’ But No Foolin’
High Flyin' But No Foolin'
What the hell’s going on in Finland? It seems like every act I hear from there is amazing, regardless of genre – from the instrumental surf of Laika & The Cosmonauts to the…
Michael Bloomfield – If You Love These Blues, Play ‘Em As You Please
I’ve had more than one conversation with a colleague when The Paul Butterfield Blues Band album came up, and we said in unison, “That album changed my life.” A big reason for the…
Joe Bonamassa
Joe Bonamassa may not be pushing the blues genre forward, but his fans don’t care. His latest opus features 75 minutes of blistering blues-rock. The CD comes with a DVD and features both…
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
Déjà Vu 50th Anniversary
The essential tragedy of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young is that they never recorded a sequel to Déjà Vu. Instead, the quartet resorted to fractious live reunions and disappointing studio albums cut decades…
Joan Osborne – Pretty Little Stranger
“Versatile” doesn’t quite do justice to Joan Osborne’s uncanny range. One minute she’s guesting with the Chieftains, the next she’s touring with the Dead. Then she utterly steals the show in the Funk…
Kenny Wayne Shepherd
Roadrunner Records
While we may wish he’d step further out of the shadows of his influences (especially Stevie Ray Vaughan), there’s no denying the guitar skills of one Kenny Wayne Shepherd. That said, his latest…
Various Artists – Power Of Soul: A Tribute To Jimi Hendrix
Power Of Soul: A Tribute To Jimi Hendrix
Queensrÿche
Operation: Mindcrime and Empire Deluxe Editions
Emmylou Harris – 5 Recording Review
Pieces Of Sky, Elite Hotel, Luxury Liner, Quarter Moon In A Ten Cent Town and Blue Kentucky Girl As huge a star as Emmylou Harris is, and as long and varied as her…
Larry Campbell & Teresa Williams
Multi-instrumentalist Larry Campbell is the consummate hired gun. He picked his licks as part of Bob Dylan’s eight-year-long Never Ending Tour, led the Levon Helm Band’s Midnight Rambles, and served as a sideman…
B.B. King
In France
By 1977, when this French live album was recorded at the Nancy Jazz Pulsations Festival, the “King of the Blues” had truly crossed over. He’d played Fillmores West and East and won a…
Hayes Carll
You Get It All
Over nearly two decades, Hayes Carll established himself with an astute amalgam of original material reflecting humor, heart, and an independent spirit befitting his Texas roots. His flair for blending the grittier side…
Gil Parris – Gil Parris and Friends Live
We’ve discussed Gil’s playing in these pages several times, and this DVD reinforces that use of ink. Shot at the Irvington Town Hall Theater in Irvington, New York, it’s obvious Parris is among…
Darol Anger/Mike Marshall – The Duo
Darol Anger and Mike Marshall’s 1983 The Duo marks another acoustic-music first – a violin-mandolin duet. Joined by Rob Wasserman on acoustic bass for one cut, The Duo is just that – two…
Yawpers
Fans of four-barrel, huevos-to-the-wall roots rock will do well to investigate the latest from this Denver-based trio. Foregoing bass in favor of guitars and drums (à la Jon Spencer Blues Explosion), Yawpers ply…
Various Artists – Ruf Records 12 Year Anthology
Ruf Records’ mix of blues, soul, and rock can be a welcome addition to any record collection, and this CD/DVD expands its reach. The CD features 13 cuts from the likes of Aynsley…
Doyle Bramhall – Is It News?
Yes, it is! Any re-lease by Texas blues stalwart Doyle Bramhall is something to get hot and bothered about. But from the first big bang of his bass drum to the last reverberations…
Albert Ray
The Drifter Comes Back To Town
Songcatcher – Music from the Motion Picture
Music from the Motion Picture