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Music
Paul Johnson
The Hepcats Live at the Ajax Novelty Company
This isn’t live, there may not be an Ajax Novelty Company, and the three felines known as the Hepcats are actually the brainchild of Paul Johnson, whose Belairs were early-’60s pioneers of surf music. Suspend reality and dig how the “trio” expertly articulates layers of acoustic guitar. Across decades, Johnson has embraced folk-rock, psychedelia, and
Marshall Crenshaw – The 9-Volt Years
I’ve always thought of Marshall Crenshaw as one of the true pop-rock geniuses. His music follows a direct line from Lennon and McCartney to Brian Wilson to everyone who ever has jangled a…
Kilborn Alley – Tear Chicago Down
There may not have been a blues bandleader since at least the mid ’60s who has not turned to his rhythm section and asked, accusingly; “Do you guys even know how to play…
Asphalt Jungle – Electro Ave.
I know this kind of music raises the hackles of some guitarists. It’s a rock/electronica mix that sounds a little different. Jeff Beck drew the ire of lots of players doing this stuff.…
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Yes
Close to the Edge: Super Deluxe Edition
Are you a high-fidelity audio geek? If the answer is, well, yes, this Rhino release brings together an HD experience of Close to the Edge in no fewer than four versions, plus rarities and a ’72 concert. For starters, the 2025 remaster sounds as close to the analog 1972 mix as you’re going to get
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Pink Floyd
Have You Got It Yet? – The Story of Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd
It’s understandable that fans warily approach the flood of pseudo-documentaries and biopics. Add the fact that the late Syd Barrett, Floyd’s original guitarist/leader, suffered from mental illness, and exploitation alarms are sure to go off. But this documentary handles the subject with dignity instead of sensationalism. Interviews by longtime Floyd cover artist Storm Thorgerson with
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The Wildhearts
In the raging ’90s, The Wildhearts blasted out of Newcastle upon Tyne like some unholy melding of Guns ’N Roses, Cheap Trick, and The Replacements. Hard rock, power pop, and punk still make up their secret sauce, heard on this latest effort with original singer/guitarist Ginger Wildheart. Ben Marsden plays lead, while Kavus Torabi adds
Dion
Dion DiMucci, the Bronx doo-wop singer who became immortal in 1961 with Dion and the Belmonts (“Teenager In Love”), and on solo rock hits like “The Wanderer” re-invented himself as a folk-blues singer…
Sturgill Simpson
Breaking Out Of The Lines
Parental advisory: this ain’t no country album. Rather, Sturgill Simpson – hailed far and wide as the (latest) savior of that good ol’ Nashville sound – is back with his third disc, and…
Closer to My Home
Mark Farner
Grand Funk Railroad, the hard-rock “people’s band,” earned little critical respect. But there’s no denying GFR’s massive influence – led primarily by Farner’s vocals and primal guitar – considering their level of early-’70s…
Black Country Communion
Afterglow is the third album by Black Country Communion, which features bassist Glenn Hughes, drummer Jason Bonham, keyboard player Derek Sherinian, and Joe Bonamassa on guitar. Their sound continues to fill the void…
Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators
Slash and his rock and roll posse have released their third solo album with Alter Bridge vocalist Myles Kennedy. This is a mean, heart-resuscitating rock machine with driving tempos, crunchy chord work, and…
Nels Cline
Blues Notes and So Much More
Nels Cline has quite the musical resumé, and yet has always been hard to pin down. Whether doing some form of fusion, manning the lead-guitar chair in Wilco, or serving up dissonance and…
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Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band
Honeysuckle
Resonator-slide specialist Reverend Peyton returns to his primary influences – early 20th-century African-American music – compelling him to shout from the hollers and the hills. Rootsy, acoustic, inter-war blues is the specific genre, and Peyton doesn’t hold back. With top-tier tutelage from the likes of David “Honeyboy” Edwards, T-Model Ford, and Robert Belfour, he masterfully
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Mike Campbell with Ari Surdoval
Heartbreaker: A Memoir
In his autobiography, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers guitarist Campbell admits he’s quiet and shy. Self-doubt plagued him his entire life, and when problems arose in the Heartbreakers, a lack of confidence had him blaming himself first, even when he wasn’t responsible. Perhaps his attitude was psychologically rooted in his impoverished childhood and coming from
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Alan Gogoll
Lioness Lullabies
Venture online and watch a few videos by Tasmanian guitarist Alan Gogoll and you’ll see he’s nothing short of a phenomenon. On acoustic, he conjures artificial harmonics in a manner that almost defies gravity. Better still, he never shows off these chops – everything on Lioness Lullabies is in the service of the song and
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Jimmy Vivino
Gonna Be 2 of Those Days
A veteran vocalist/guitarist/keyboardist and purveyor of blues, R&B, and rock’, Jimmy Vivino has an incredible résumé. A longtime fixture in Conan O’Brien’s house band, he has played on movie, radio, and Broadway projects and worked with Levon Helm, Hubert Sumlin, Al Kooper, Jimmie Vaughan, Donald Fagen, Warren Haynes, Laura Nyro, along with innumerable others. He’s
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Thin Lizzy
The Acoustic Sessions
Thin Lizzy’s first studio release in decades, this album reimagines tracks recorded 50+ years ago by the trio of vocalist/bassist Phil Lynott, guitarist Eric Bell, and drummer Brian Downey. The songs are from Lizzy’s first three albums – 1971’s Thin Lizzy, ’72’s Shades of a Blue Orphanage, and ’73’s Vagabonds of the Western World. Recently,
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Eve Monsees and Mike Buck
& Their Groovy Orbit
This is not a solo album as much as an anthology of Austin artists and styles – from blues to country to ’60s garage and psych, demonstrating the versatility of singer/guitarist Monsees (Eve & the Exiles, Blue Bonnets) and her husband, drummer Buck (LeRoi Brothers), as producers/organizers. The tracks span three years, but the names
John Basile
By many standards, this shouldn’t work: a group of songs by the Beatles done in jazz arrangements. Not only that, it’s one guitarist, using MIDI technology, playing all the parts – guitar, drums,…
Homemade Jamz Blues Band – Pay Me No MInd
Two of pop music’s finest – Steve Winwood and Alex Chilton – hit the big time while still in their teens; Stevie Wonder even earlier, and Shuggie Otis and Kenny Wayne Shepherd were…
Steve Hillage Band
VoicePrint
An icon of Britain’s famed “Canterbury Scene” of the late ’60s and ’70s, Steve Hillage made his mark mixing psychedelia, pop, and Hendrix-fueled guitar solos with thrilling abandon. Thirty years after his heyday,…
Lee Roy Parnell- Midnight Believer
Remember the days when Lee Roy Parnell was seen as a country artist? His last album – 11 years ago! – was a blues-based affair. This latest puts him squarely in the corner…
Paul “Mayo” Mayasich
The latest from guitarist Paul Mayasich and his band of buddies is an eclectic mix of American music. You get blues of all kinds, country, folk, and lots more – all of it…
UFO
Lights Out 2024 Remaster
UFO was a ferocious live band, but had trouble translating that hard-rock excitement to the studio. They got close on 1977’s Lights Out, and this remaster is proof, delivering chunky, restored bass tracks…
Tommy McLain
I Ran Down Every Dream
Louisiana is all about food and music, sporting New Orleans jazz, zydeco, and Cajun music. But another indigenous style combines R&B, country, and rock and roll. It’s called swamp pop, and Tommy McLain…
Jim Lauderdale – Honey Songs
Yep Roc Records
When Gram Parsons, Mike Nesmith, and Gene Clark were making their best music, major country radio stations ignored them. It wasn’t much of a jump from Hank Williams Jr. and Charlie Daniels to…
Tony Savarino
Naked Ear Records
Tony Savarino proves himself in many styles and shows a fine sense of humor on an album guitarists will certainly appreciate. His “Barrelhaus Gutbucket Chicken Pickin” starts things off, with chromatic licks, killer…
The Ultimate Book of Blues Guitar Legends
The Ultimate Book of Blues Guitar Legends
The blues is the foundation of nearly all American popular music, and this book by Vintage Guitar’s music editor covers the genre’s giants, from the founders to present-day practitioners. Its emphasis is…
The Aristocrats
Duck
Featuring Guthrie Govan on guitar and Bryan Beller on bass plus über-drummer Marco Minnemann, this terrifying trio blows minds every other bar. Like a modern-day Dixie Dregs or fusiony Satch/Vai project, they attack…
Wes Montgomery – Live in ’65
Jazz guitar was forever split into two schools early in its development, each defined by a stylistic genius – the bop-anticipating, electric lines of Charlie Christian and the acoustic swing of Gypsy Django…
The Immediate Family
The Immediate Family
The Rolling Stones
Rolling In The Blues
Mick Jagger’s famous 1968 statement – “What’s the point in listening to us doing ‘I’m A King Bee’ when you can hear Slim Harpo do it?” – has been a (sometimes) credo for…
The Relatives
Original guitarist Charles Ray “Gypsy” Mitchell returns to the band from a decades-long break to open this new album with sweet, understated Pops Staples-like licks to underscore an eerie reading of Tim Maia’s…
Simo
Rise and Shine
Blues-rock phenom J.D. Simo and his band continue to push boundaries as they explore everything from slow-burn soul and psychedelia to greasy funk-blues that would make Albert King smile. This album also has…
Steely Dan – Steely Dan, AJA
The Classic Albums video is a treat for Dan fans too. It features current interviews with Fagen and Becker and some great talk with players on this 1976 classic. You get to hear…
Jim Walsh and Dennis Pernu
Of all the cool ’80s alternative rock bands, the loveable ramshackle jag-offs in the Replacements were the least likely to give a toss about, oh, anything much at all. That attitude permeated everything…
The Replacements – Reissues
They came, they saw, they conquered… sort of. Minneapolis’ Replacements were one of the great rock and roll bands that never quite was. And happily so. In the 1980s, after punk fizzled and…
Brian Setzer
The Devil Always Collects
We can always rely on Brian Setzer records to bring the swagger, no matter the project – solo, Brian Setzer Orchestra, or Stray Cats. This new solo release brings his trademark steamroller blend…
Jinx Jones – License to Twang
Alrighty, then. This is some fun stuff. Not sure of Jinx’ background, but he sure can play the heck out of a Gretsch. Elements of country, rock, blues, and everything in between make…
ZZ Top
RAW
The latest from ZZ Top is the soundtrack from the Netflix documentary That Little Ol’ Band From Texas, released in 2019. Recorded live at Gruene Hall in New Braunfels, Texas, this 12-track release…
