• Smith/Kotzen

    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

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Duke Robillard and Scott Hamilton

Swingin’ Again

The association of blues guitar great Robillard and jazz sax champ Hamilton goes back to ’69, before Duke formed the horn-led Roomful Of Blues and Scott was hailed as a swing-jazz savior. Years…

Julius Pittman & the Revival

JPR

Southern soul singer Julius Pittman, whose smooth vocal style brings to mind Al Green or Teddy Pendergrass, is a key performer, songwriter, and vocalist for the band that features Randy Moss on guitar.…

Darcy Kuronen – Dangerous Curves: The Art of the Guitar

Dangerous Curves: The Art of the Guitar

The Museum of Fine Arts is mounting a retrospective outlining 400 years of guitar design and history (VG November ’00). Although the guitar has become the dominant instrument in popular music over the…

Lil’ Jimmy Reed with Ben Levin

Back To Baton Rouge

Leon Atkins got a cigar box guitar at six, after already playing harmonica. After subbing when blues legend Jimmy Reed was too inebriated to play a Louisiana juke joint in the ’50s, the…

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…

Roy Buchanan and Tom Principato

Masters of the Telecaster

In 1972, Roy Buchanan shook up the guitar world with his self-titled debut album. The tones he extracted from his ’53 Tele, his facility with eclectic repertoire and techniques, from country to blues…

Greg Olliver

Johnny's Blues

In an intimate scene in this DVD’s bonus features, after a short interview and solo slide performance at home (“Murdering Blues” on his ’64 Gibson Firebird V), Winter says, “I love playing guitar.…

Danny Caron – How Sweet It Is

Danny Caron is a veteran guitarist whose playing with the late Charles Brown helped keep the tradition of the “uptown” guitarist alive and well. Brown, a pianist, featured Caron whenever possible, and with…

Gary Clark Jr.

Postmodern Soul

If listeners haven’t figured out that Gary Clark Jr. is more than a blues revivalist, his second full-length studio album should provide a cold hard slap of reality. This disc shows fans –…

Pete Anderson – Dogs in Heaven

Pete Anderson is no stranger to these pages, having been featured in an interview, performance review, and record review for his first release on Little Dog. This time around, Pete has come up…

Nate Najar

This Is Nate Najar

Nate Najar plays accessible jazz on a classical guitar and applies classical technique to match. This album showcases the music veteran playing a variety of tunes that range from Chopin’s “Prelude in E…

Mark Pickerel – Cody’s Dream

This is the second solo album by the former Screaming Trees drummer turned singer/songwriter/front man, who went on to record with Neko Case, Jim Carroll, and Nirvana. There’s a cinematic vibe to the…

Charlie Apicella

Organ-ized

The organ trio – or in the case of the Charlie Apicella album, the organ quartet – is alive and well. Each of these new releases features organ and guitar, and to anyone…

Pokey LaFarge

In The Blossom of Their Shade

The 2020 pandemic left an impact on Pokey LaFarge, who was about to tour behind his newly released Rock Bottom Rhapsody. During the ample downtime, he wrote an album’s worth of new tunes,…

Jinx Jones

Whether navigating rockabilly, swing, or hardcore country, Jinx Jones puts on a fiery guitar display that leaves you breathless. The reverb-drenched twang of “Metalflake Sky” is a surf-music delight featuring blistering chromatic runs.…

Ronnie Earl & the Broadcasters

Stony Plain Records

Starting like a number of instrumental albums Ronnie Earl has produced over the past 15 years, this one opens with a mid-tempo (Albert Collinspenned) track, then slows for some blues and a cool…

Tav Falco & the Unapproachable Panther Burns

Conjurations: Seance for Deranged Lovers

“Unapproachable” is right. “Indescribable” may also be justified. Just like the myriad musics of Memphis, from where Tav Falco hails, his longtime band Panther Burns remains a fascinating and ongoing conundrum. The band…

David Rawlings

Poor David’s Almanack

Beginning with the 1996 debut of his musical partner Gillian Welch, David Rawlings has quietly become an Americana guitar hero, flatpicking his ’35 Epiphone Olympic across Welch’s five critically acclaimed albums and his…

Don Latarski & Rue D’ Acoustic

Don Latarski is a fine guitarist who has produced recordings to go along with his wonderful live work. His work with Rue de Blues was a great mix of R&B and soul. Here,…

Dan Hicks & The Hot Licks – Tangled Tales

Surfdog

The hype around Tangled Tales screams “Dan Hicks is back!” Which was the same line when he released Beatin’ The Heat in 2000 and no doubt Selected Shorts four years later. Granted, Heat…

Warren Haynes

Million Voices Whisper

Warren Haynes’ first solo album since 2011 is an uplifting set that reflects am optimistic spirit of change and hope. With Haynes at the height of his superpowers on guitar and vocals, he…

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…

Black Sabbath

Live Evil 40th Anniversary

Four decades on, Ronnie James Dio’s stint in Black Sabbath is revered almost as much as the Ozzy epoch. This was their last Sab album before Dio went solo; now there’s a 2023…

Black Sabbath

Cynicism wouldn’t be out of place on your first listen to Sabbath’s first album with Ozzy Osbourne in 35 years. Before you even spin it, you can bet that the band won’t stray…

Tedeschi Trucks Band feat. Trey Anastasio

Layla Revisited

A live recording of Derek & the Dominos’ masterpiece? Featuring Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi – plus Doyle Bramhall, II and Trey Anastasio on guitars? Did Christmas come early? The answer is, resoundingly,…

Beauty and the Bastards

This album is a set of songs beautifully assembled by guitarist Danny Mangold. He recruits various friends, including his former Minneapolis–St. Paul buddy Charlie Bingham on guitar. Bingham was the lead guitarist in…

Boulou & Elios Ferré

Fathers & Sons

 Alongside Django Reinhardt, the music of the Ferré family is at the heart of Gypsy jazz. And it’s still beating strong thanks to Boulou and Elios Ferré. The Paris-based brothers are the sons…

  • Yes

    Yes

    Close to the Edge: Super Deluxe Edition

Carolyn Sills Combo

On the Draw

Listening to the Carolyn Sills Combo, you might do a double-take: Is this newly fashioned country music, or a long-lost 1950s or ’60s band coming out of the ether? The combo is indeed…

Strange Angels: In Flight With Elmore James

Dusting Off Elmo

In an essay for Guitar Player magazine in 1977, Frank Zappa said of Elmore James, “Even though Elmore tended to play the same famous lick on every record, I got the feeling that…

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…