• 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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Dwight Yoakam

Brighter Days

Nearly 40 years ago, as audiences wearied of frothy ’80s country-pop, Dwight Yoakam was in the vanguard of country’s New Traditional movement. His stripped-down spin on the twang-driven Bakersfield sound of the ’60s…

Shooter Jennings & the Werewolves of Los Angeles

Do Zevon

He may not have found a home in a certain institution in Cleveland, despite overwhelming “fan votes,” but the late Warren Zevon was highly respected among fellow artists. Linda Ronstadt, Dwight Yoakam, the…

Sue Foley

Live in Austin Vol. 1

 Foley is an award-winning blues veteran, yet this is her first electric live album. It includes 11 songs primarily from the Canadian-born/longtime Texan’s 14 studio albums. Of course, no live album (this one…

Nineteen Hand Horse

Revel

This Northern California unit, led by vocalist/songwriter Nathalie Archangel and husband, singer/guitarist Mark Montijo, both former pop-rockers, focus on twang-filled country with obvious pop overtones. Behind her smoky, aggressive voice and Montijo’s more-relaxed…

Kelly Richey – Carry the Light

Kelly Richey’s live shows are full-tilt affairs where Richey wrenches blistering lines from her Stratocaster, occasionally using a beer bottle as a slide. At the end, everyone is sweaty and satisfied. That’s the…

Indigenous

Vanguard Records

Indigenous is a highenergy blues-rock band fronted by Mato Nanji, disciple of Vaughan and Hendrix; its sound is defined by the chugging rhythms and fat tones squeezed from his Stratocaster. For this album,…

Tony Joe White

Tony Joe White When Tony Joe White’s “Polk Salad Annie” came out in ’69, it was about the greasiest thing to hit the Top 40 since Slim Harpo’s “Scratch My Back.” But over…

The Andy Poxon Band

Poxon might present a dilemma for some listeners. He was only 16 years old when this material was recorded, and considering the mix of blues, country, rock, and funk he presents, it’s easy…

Hot Tuna

Live at Sweetwater / Live in Japan

Jorma Kaukonen, who started as an acoustic folk-blues guitarist, returned to that style in 1969 when he and bassist Jack Casady formed Hot Tuna. Recordings from their early gigs at Bay Area clubs…

Burton Gaar – Mighty Long Road

This is one of those releases that makes it exciting to be a reviewer. Gaar is a blues vet with highly seasoned vocal chops, and I’d be willing to bet (and I’m not…

Mike Stern & Yellowjackets – Lifecycle

The Yellowjackets (Russell Ferrante, Jimmy Haslip, Bob Mintzer, and Marcus Baylor) are all great players in their own right, though they benefit from the occasional contributions of friends. On this disc, they’re joined…

Flatt & Scruggs and Earl Scruggs – Foggy Mountain Jamboree, Gospel and I Saw The Light

Flatt & Scruggs and Earl Scruggs – Foggy Mountain Jamboree, Gospel and I Saw The Ligh It’s surprising that Legacy didn’t issue this bluegrass treasure trove closer to the heels of O Brother,…

Planet X – Quantum

The genetically superior team of drummer Virgil Donati and keyboardist Derek Sherinian return to continue the next chapter in their metal-fusion saga. It’s been five Earth years since the release of Moon Babies,…

Ruby Dee and the Snakehandlers

Full-Throttle Rockabilly

Ruby Dee, guitarman Jorge Harada, and crew serve up 200-proof rockabilly. Their brand of music is not Stray Cats glitz or Reverend Horton Heat psychobilly; instead, this is traditional rockabilly – a little…

Crowsong – Shelter

Crowsong offers a couple of atmospheric new records that feature founder Randy Clark’s guitar playing and interaction with bandmates Joshua Zucker (bass) and Vince Littleton (drums). Here, they use one disc to highlight…

Nick Lowe – Quiet Please

At Any Age

  Like his longtime associate (as both producer and producee) Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe may have come onto the scene via punk rock, but soon proved he was much more. In hindsight, Costello’s…

Check This Action: One Sax, Three Guitars

It starts with a tenor saxophone floating above spare electric guitar arpeggios. After a dipsy-doodle cadenza, the sax states a slow, deliberate melody and the guitar asserts itself more, while upright bass makes…

Rory Block – The Guitar of Robert Johnson

Rory Block has been involved with the music of Robert Johnson most of her life. At a young age, she apprenticed directly with Son House, Skip James, Reverend Gary Davis and other seminal…

The Allman Brothers Band

Live at the Atlanta International Pop Festival

The Allman Brothers Band is one of those groups guitarists identify after just a handful of notes.  First released in 2003, this reissue was recorded during ABB’s two performances at the 1970 festival,…

Thin Lizzy

The cool thing about the vinyl revolution is that strange and wonderful albums are being reissued by the score. Take Thin Lizzy’s 1971 debut, back when they were a power trio and five…

Larkin Poe

Blood Harmony

The latest from the Nashville-based multi-instrumentalist Lovell sisters continues to fashion elements of Southern rock, blues, and wicked slide guitar into a creative juggernaut. Megan wields enviable feel and sensuous perfect pitch and…

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…

Written In Their Soul: The Stax Songwriter Demos

Various artists

You may think you know Stax, but this seven-CD set of 146 tracks (140 never before released) proves again how much creative genius was contained in that old Memphis theater turned recording studio.…

Ruth Moody

Red House Records

Founding member of the The Wailin’ Jennys, here, Ruth Moody asserts her musical individuality. Using a cast of 27 musicians, she embraces a breadth of musical genres – old timey, Celtic, and even…

Evan Johns and The Hillbilly Soul Surfers – Moontan

Moontan

Roots rock wild man Evan Johns returns with a taut but tasty trick bag that should fire the faithful, and make a few new friends, too. The sensibility that infused “Ugly Man” is…

David Grisman and Doc Watson – Doc and Dawg

Let’s face it. If David Grisman’s name is attached, and it’s put out by his label, it’s going to be a great listen. This one’s no exception. Grisman, along with the legendary guitarist…

Mark Hummel – Golden State Blues

A great album by a harp virtuoso sums this one up. Mark Hummel is part of that West Coast batch of guys who just have their pulse on the jump-blues and shuffles of…

Dion – Son of Skip James

James offers his own tunes (including a wonderful title cut) as well as classic covers of songs by Sleepy John Estes, Robert Johnson, and Willie Dixon, among others. He even manages to slip…

The Ian Siegal Band – Meat and Potatoes

The Ian Siegal Band – Meat and Potatoes Ian is a big deal with blues fans in Europe, including Jeff Beck and Ronnie Wood. One listen to Meat and Potatoes makes it easy…

Big Jack Johnson and the Oilers – We Got to Stop This Killin’

Big Jack “Oilman” Johnson lays down modern-day Mississippi Delta blues at their best. Hailing from Clarksdale, some of his songs come straight from his front porch, such as “Lonesome Road;” others are hot…