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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
Albert King
Soul Men (and Women)
“Play it, Steve!” Just a bend, four notes, and it’s instantly recognizable that Sam Moore is summoning Steve Cropper in the Sam & Dave hit, “Soul Man.” And it’s equally recognizable that this…
Dennis Jones
About Time
On About Time, bluesman Dennis Jones turns up the heat with blistering guitar, impassioned vocals, and epic tales of 21st-century woe and triumphant comeuppance. Produced by Jones and Brian O’Neal of The BusBoys,…
Mem Shannon – Memphis In The Morning
Once everyone’s favorite cabby in the Cresent City, Mem Shannon is now rapidly making tracks toward the same level of popularity in the contemporary blues idiom. Making his home in Memphis (where is…
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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,
Foghat
Sonic Mojo
Few things in life are guaranteed – but one is that drummer Roger Earl will keep Foghat truckin’. For 50-plus years, he’s been weathering lineup changes and members passing, bringing its people-pleasing blues-rock…
James “Blood” Ulmer
In and Out Records
Sometimes called a “modern bluesman,” James “Blood” Ulmer covers ground from Hendrix to Ornette Coleman to John Lee Hooker. His music is never dull; always a bit challenging, it’s also fun. His new…
Al Di Meola: Opus
At this point in his career, Al Di Meola easily moves between his cranked jazz-rock mode or quieter Latin-world fusion. This latest explores the latter, with compositions that delve into South American, Spanish,…
Nick Russo +11 – Ro
Nick Russo’s Ro is not an easy listen, but it sure is rewarding once you’re able to digest it. It’s somewhat indescribable; one could point out how it’s got hard-swinging post-bop, some free…
Eric Clapton
Still Slowhand
There’s a lot of looking back going on here. For his 23rd solo album, Eric Clapton reunites with producer Glyn Johns, who not only worked with the Rolling Stones on Sticky Fingers and…
Dustin Hofsess
After years of performing in myriad musical arrangements, Dustin Hofsess debuts his first solo album, offering a window into the mind of a very talented guitarist. With an assist from keyboardist Lovell Bradford,…
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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
Deadstring Brothers – Silver Mountain
The Deadstring Brothers hail from Detroit and bring a mix of crunchy rock and roll and rootsy country – think Rolling Stones. Cuts like “Ain’t No Hidin’ Love,” and “Queen of the Scene”…
JD Wilkes- Fire Dream
Best known as leader of the Legendary Shack Shakers for the past 20 years, JD Wilkes has a storied reputation for honoring Appalachia’s musical heritage and traditions in general, especially those of his…
Richie Allen And The Pacific Surfers – The Rising Surf and Surfer’s Slide
Of all the bandwagons to infiltrate rock and roll, surf music would have to rank as one of the shortest lived but most widespread. I’m not talking about Dick Dale, the Belairs, the…
Kiss
Destroyer 45
Following their Alive! breakout, Kiss hired producer to the superstars Bob Ezrin and cut what became their first platinum album, expanded here into a four CD/Blu-Ray box. The 1976 LP also launched the…
Tony Furtado
Funzalo Records
If you had picked up Golden without hearing one of Tony Furtado’s previous 14 albums, you’d never guess he was once a banjo prodigy. After winning the National Bluegrass Banjo competition at 19,…
Wilco – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
The album opens with static. The distortion bleeds into a sonic maelstrom of competing radio signals before a backbeat of drums launches the first song, “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart.” Welcome…
Drew Zingg
Best known for stints with Steely Dan, Donald Fagen’s New York Rock and Soul Revue, and Boz Scaggs, Drew Zingg is a complete guitarist. And he has gone a unique route with this…
Biller & Horton – Texotica
Apparently, Dave Biller ran out of existing styles to master and had to start making up new ones. His work as leader and sideman – all of the highest order – has ranged…
Diunna Greenleaf
Texas blues singer Greenleaf has gathered a host of noteworthy guest guitarists to help highlight her considerable virtues and versatility as a writer and singer. Three of the tunes here – “The Beautiful…
Adriana Balboa – Guitar Music From the Rio de la Plata
The tango is a music of melancholy, and Uruguayan Adriana Balboa’s guitar weeps with the sound on this solo album. Based now in Germany, Balboa offers a tribute to the Rio de la…
U2 – How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
U2 has hit another home run. Try and think of another major rock and roll band this far into it and still making consistently good albums. Hell, at this point in their career,…
Duke Levine – Beneath the Blue
As a player, Duke Levine is unclassifiable. He calls his style “country-soul” guitar, and that’s fair. But what do you call a guy who opens his latest record with a twangy version of…
Ernest Ranglin
Standing at a crossroads of reggae and jazz, Ernest Ranglin has crafted a unique voice. His mellow-toned and laidback fusion is singular. And stunning. To anyone familiar with Jamaican music and reggae, Ranglin…
Snarky Puppy
Empire Central
The latest from the Texas-based 19-piece jazz-funk orchestra pays homage to the city of Dallas. Recorded live in front of a studio audience, Empire Central was captured over eight days and delivers 16…
Blue Lunch
Bob Frank’s Band Blue Lunch prowls the musical alleys haunted by the spirits of Bill Doggett, Dave Bartholomew, and the Five Royals, whose “Monkey Hips and Rice” makes for some of the finest…
Sheryl Crow
Sheryl Crow’s gone country. That’s the line on Feels Like Home, the popular singersongwriter’s eighth studio album. It shouldn’t come as a surprise. Crow moved to Nashville a decade ago and now counts…
Eric Johnson and Mike Stern
Two iconic players joining forces can soar or falter depending on material, the players’ adaptability, the number of guest performers, and many other factors. Eric Johnson and Mike Stern certainly arrived at the…
Joecephus & the George Jonestown Massacre
Heirs of the Dog: A Tribute to Nazareth
Nazareth rarely gets credit as an influential hard-rock band, though original guitarist Manny Charlton laid down killer riffs. This tribute features the loose collective Joecephus & the George Jonestown Massacre – led by…
Sacred Steel Convention – Train Don’t Leave Me
Train Don't Leave Me
When Arhoolie Records’ Chris Strachwitz stumbled onto Mance Lipscomb, the amazing 65-year-old Texas bluesman and songster who had never recorded, in 1960, it was a bit like an anthropologist coming across a saber-toothed…
The Grateful Dead
Every true Deadhead had the bootleg tape: a cassette too many generations removed from the original recording, notated innocently enough as “Kesey’s Ranch ’72.” That show – played as a benefit for author…
Yes – Yesspeak: 35th Anniversary DVD
While many music DVDs contain mostly concert material, the 2-disc Yesspeak takes an alternate approach – it features the famous members of the prog-rock giant Yes talking about the music created during its…
Tim Fitzgerald’s Full House
The Wes Montgomery Project
