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Music
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,
Jay Jay French and Steve Farber
Twisted Business: Lessons from My Life in Rock ’N Roll
Twisted Sister co-guitarist Jay Jay French is a resilient man; the see-saw of personal and professional triumphs along with troubles he has endured would’ve destroyed most people. His new autobiography is also a…
Prasanna
The highly decorated Prasanna embellishes his artistry with a style that fuses elements of jazz and Indian music. The ancient Indian art of Carnatic music weaves throughout, bringing much-needed pizazz, panache, and fearless…
Pete Seeger/Bruce Springsteen – Give Us Your Poor
The fascinating, and moving, concept behind Give Us Your Poor differs from previous fundraising, conscious-awareness efforts, in that established musicians are teamed with talented people who have been, or are currently, homeless. So…
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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
The Slambovian Circus of Dreams
Here is a “best of” album by a band that’s not exactly a household name, nor does it have any hit songs. But don’t let that dissuade you. They’re a tight ensemble that…
Charles Sawtelle – Music from Rancho DeVille
Music from Rancho DeVille
Music from Rancho DeVille is a loveletter from across the grave. Charles Sawtelle passed away Mach 21, 1999, of complications from leukemia. The last several years of his life were spent recuperating from…
Joe Pass – The Best of Joe Pass
Here’s a set of music from the early ’60s from the brilliant Joe Pass. It starts with some tunes recorded with fellow musicians from the drug rehab center Synanon House and carries through…
Dave Alvin – West of the West
The Great American Music Galaxy
Dave Alvin is one of America’s best songwriters, and as such runs the risk of alienating casual fans when he does an album of covers. But then again, maybe not… The idea with…
SimakDialog
Hailing from Indonesia, SimakDialog is one of the best jazz-rock bands on the planet and this two-CD live set proves it. This performance features virtuosic playing from lead guitarist Tohpati and electric-piano master…
Willie Nelson – The Complete Atlantic Sessions
It’s ironic that one of the terms coined to describe the music various singer/songwriters were making in Austin in the early 1970s was “progressive country” (others being “redneck rock” and the more marketable…
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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
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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
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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
Robert Plant and the Strange Sensation – Soundstage
Robert Plant and his band, The Strange Sensation, play 11 songs; covers, old Zep songs, and newer Plant tunes. The band is the perfect complement, anchored by guitarists Liam “Skin” Tyson and the…
Pink Floyd
All The Songs
At nearly 600 pages, this massive coffee-table book will send Floydians into paroxysms of pleasure. Authors Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon craft encyclopedic entries on every single Pink Floyd song, including personnel, tracking…
Johnny Bush – Kashmere Gardens Mud
Johnny Bush is a true Texas original and one of the best living examples of real honky-tonk music. Looking back on all aspects of his 50-year career, he cut much of Kashmere Gardens,…
Elvin Bishop and Little Smoky Smothers – That’s My Partner
Elvin Bishop should receive some sort of award. How many years now has he been serving up killer blues-rock and having more fun that any one person should be allowed to have? Here…
Biography of a Phantom: A Robert Johnson Blues Odyssey
Robert “Mack” McCormick
The legend of Robert Johnson looms large, from his music to the myth of the Faustian bargain made at the crossroads, and his death at 27, ostensibly murdered by poisoning. Author McCormick, who…
Los Lobos – El Cancionero – Mas y Mas
There’s a new four-CD retrospective containing 86 tracks, clocking in at five hours, spanning a dozen albums by one of the greatest bands in rock history. These guys reveal deep roots without pickling…
Paxton Norris
Norris is an unabashed acolyte of Duane Allman. “Your My Girl” (sic) is a soul ballad that has the late guitarist’s stamp all over it. “It’s Alright,” an uptempo boogie, and “Hard Luck…
Tom Jones
A Tom Jones gospel album? The image that first comes to mind is probably something like Elvis’ How Great Thou Art – big production, choirs – and Jones certainly has the lungs to…
Mike Morgan & the Crawl – Stronger Every Day
Texas-born Mike Morgan returns with his 13th album of original songs, layering blues with a funky rhythm that captures the essence of Muscle Shoals and Beale Street all at once, and does a…
Popa Chubby – Stealing the Devil’s Guitar
Good ol’ Popa Chubby – a.k.a. Ted Horowitz – keeps chuggin’ along and making solid records, especially when it comes to guitarslinging. A couple of tunes here seem like mere excuses to jam…
Dave Hole – Outside Looking In
Dave Hole’s new album is a firebreathing slide extravaganza. Armed with a ’72 Gibson ES-345, Hole returns to his fat, bluesy guitar tone. Backed by bass, keyboards and drums, Hole sings lead on…
Swississippi Chris Harp
Swississippi Records
It’s not often the man who starts a record label is featured on one of its first releases, but that’s the case with Chris Harper. And when you’re backed by players like Jimmy…
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…
Dave Rawlings Machine
Americana fans are no strangers to guitarist Dave Rawlings. Largely building his rep on several releases by his musical partner Gillian Welch, Rawlings and his flatpicked Epiphone Olympic first stepped out as the…
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…
Stan Martin: Long Nights
You’d think guitar man Kenny Vaughan had been playing with this combo for years. He has musical history with the rhythm section of drummer Dave Roe and bassist Jerry Roe. But it’s a…
Robert Cray – Time Will Tell
Time Will Tell
Can “Young Bob,” who slyly boasted about being a “Strong Persuader,” the proverbial back door man, be turning 50? Well, the good news is that Robert Cray hasn’t lost any of the original…
Gene Bertoncini – Concerti
Bertoncini hits the jackpot; the nylon-string guitar whiz is joined by a string quartet for a set of music that is both challenging and exquisite to hear. Familiar tunes like “East of the…
Bob Schneider – I’m Good Now
I'm Good Now
Singer/songwriter whose subject matter spans love to hate, happiness to abject despair. While not exactly lighthearted, anyone who likes their music with a bit of meat on it will find plenty to chew…
The Who – BBC Sessions
Let’s face it; The Who deserves to be mentioned in the same breath with the Beatles and the Stones. Yes, you’ll like one more than the other, but Pete Townshend and company were…
Joe Pass – Resonance
In the history of jazz there have no doubt been numerous creative rolls like the one the late Joe Pass experienced in the early 1970s. But in Pass’ case, his DiMaggio-like streak was…
