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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
Oli Brown
Guitarist Oli Brown is a bright light in the world of blues guitar. While plenty of youngsters are playing, not many in their mid 20s are carving a sound and feel of their…
Jake Armerding – Walking on the World
Jake Armerding’s third solo release has a wider musical scope than his earlier releases, but his songwriting is more focused, articulate, and poignant. Like many talented young songwriters, the traditional genres of folk,…
The Doors with Albert King
DMC/Rhino
Speaking of his work on David Bowie’s Let’s Dance, Steve Ray Vaughan once admitted that he wanted to see just how many places Albert King’s licks would work. “You know, they always fit,”…
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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,
Muddy Waters & Big Bill Morganfield – Rollin’ Stone: The Golden Anniversary Collection &
These two CDs mark two generations of bluesmen covering the roots and the future of the blues. McKinley Morganfield, better known by his grandmother’s nickname for him as Muddy Waters, is the father…
Phil Upchurch – Tell the Truth
Tell the Truth
Phil Upchurch is no stranger. He’s been around a long time, playing sessions with everyone from Jimmy Reed to Cannonball Adderly to Sheena Easton. And he was the rhythm guitarist for George Benson’s…
Gina Villalobos – Miles Away
Gina Villalobos proves that a contemporary artist of the female persuasion doesn’t have to possess an “American Idol” voice to create powerful music. Remember Kim Carnes or Bonnie Tyler? At times, Villalobos’ voice…
Tab Benoit – Live: Swampland Jam
I was familiar with Benoit (pronounced Ben-wah) from a killer blues tune called “Nice and Warm” a few years back. The Louisiana guitarist recorded this, his fourth album, live in a couple of…
Basily – Swing for the Gipsies
The Dutch Gypsy group Basily has been prolific in releasing recordings and playing concert dates on the Dutch scene, but remains virtually unknown in the rest of the world. This new album will…
Pete McCann – Most Folks
Pete McCann is not one of those jazz guitarists who can be placed in a column and left there. For instance, the title cut of his new disc, Most Folks, is a fine…
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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
Ronnie Lane
Anymore for Anymore
In 1974, Faces bassist Lane left the rat race of arena rock for the Welsh countryside and recorded his magnum opus. Remastered at Abbey Road and now reissued on vinyl with download codes,…
Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin, Paco de Lucía
Saturday Night in San Francisco
Recorded in December, 1980, Friday Night in San Francisco was a genre-busting album of acoustic guitar, and a surprise best-seller. The following night’s gig at the Warfield Theater is here, resurrected from 16-track…
Dinosaur Jr.
Though he introduced unabashed (and deafening) guitar heroics to the indie slacker nation, Dinosaur Jr.’s J Mascis is more often cast as an impossible misanthrope. This stunning new coffee-table book, though brimming with…
REM – Murmur
Some CDs deserve to be remastered and reissued. And though vocalist Michael Stipe’s mumbled vocals contributed greatly to the atmosphere and underground appeal of the original release, if you were the type who…
Patty Larkin – 25
Signature Sounds
When faced with the task of creating a retrospective album, Patty Larkin took a novel approach. Instead of creating a “best of” album, she re-recorded her favorite 25 love songs while enlisting 25…
Shooter Jennings, Ryan Bingham, and Various Artists
Outlaw: Celebrating The Music Of Waylon Jennings
Waylon Jennings, who died in 2002, would have turned 80 in 2017. He and compadre Willie Nelson still personify country’s early-’70s Outlaw movement, focused on gaining creative control of their records after years…
Alberto Lombardi
Through the Years
The Italian guitarist’s third acoustic-fingerstyle album brings a pleasurable mix of covers with two originals. Primarily a solo set, it overdubs keyboards, drum patterns, and he even sings on the title track. An…
The Magpie Salute
The Magpie Salute
This debut album from a 10-piece band is woven together from the smoldering embers of the Black Crowes. Vocalist Rich Robinson, guitarist Marc Ford, bassist Sven Pipien, and the late keyboardist Eddie Harsch…
Pasquale Grasso
Be-Bop!
A genuine six-string phenomenon, Pasquale Grasso (VG, November ’21) is redefining jazz guitar with a radical approach, making one instrument sound like two. Your ears may hear a duo at the opening of…
Greg Nagy
Blues rocker Greg Nagy makes the Northern industrial equivalent to Southern country of the 1950s and ’60s. He melds ’70s West Coast R&B, British blues rock, Albert King tones, dollops of Steely Dan,…
Nick Forster – Country Swing Back-up Guitar
Country Swing Back-up Guitar
Country Swing Back-up Guitar Taught by Nick Forster, with guest fiddle by Tim O’Brien Homespun I see Nick Forster face to face nearly every week in my role as the official E-Town photographer…
Joe Goldmark – Strong Like Bull… But Sensitive Like Squirrel
God, you’ve got to love Joe Goldmark. A pedal steel player who is willing to tackle pretty much any style of music, and not only tackle it, but do a bang-up job on…
Emmylou Harris – Red Dirt Girl
Emmylou Harris seems to have finally found her freedom. It’s rare to follow an artist who, after almost three decades of recording, still has something new and fresh to say – and who…
Long Train Runnin’: Our Story of the Doobie Brothers
Tom Johnston, Pat Simmons, Chris Epting
For 50 years, the Doobie Brothers’ feel-good hits have been radio staples. In these pages, vocalists/guitarists Tom Johnston and Pat Simmons share memories and insights such as how the much-hyped psychedelic band Moby…
James Blood Ulmer – Bad Blood in the City: The Piety Street Sessions
A collection of songs inspired by Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, this is one of the best albums of the year. Vernon Reid returns to produce (and supply guitar in spots), and the…
Allan Holdsworth
The Man Who Changed Guitar Forever!
With a career spanning 45 years, Allan Holdsworth’s blistering, bop-fueled legato radically altered our approach to electric guitar, and he’s now the recipient of this 12-CD retrospective (for those in the cheap seats,…
Southern Culture On the Skids – Countrypolitan Favorites
Once again, Southern Culture On The Skids proves itself the ultimate party band with the ultimate party record. In other hands, the concept behind Countrypolitan Favorites (Yep Roc) might come off as sheer…
Jody Williams – Return of a Legend
Return of a Legend
Rarely has an album been more aptly named. Williams was one of the key Chicago sessionmen in the ’50s and ’60s, the musically sophisticated guitarist who added the licks and solos to Chess,…
Otis Taylor
Otis Taylor has no concern for your discomfort with racial issues. It’s an artist’s duty to reflect the times, and there’s plenty to reflect upon. He skips the antiquated blues coding about devils…
The Aristocrats
The rock-fusion trio known as the Aristocrats are back with a second album fortified with artistic maturity from gigging around the world. With a stronger, more-cohesive musical vision, bassist Bryan Beller, drummer Marco…
American Folk Blues Festival – Various Artists
This is the British TV counterpart to the German broadcasts that were unearthed on three stunning volumes of The American Folk Blues Festival, in 2003. If you saw those, you’ve probably already stopped…
Muddy Waters
The Montreux Years
