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Harp Legend Charlie Musselwhite

Harp legend Charlie Musselwhite has recorded and performed with a stunning array of guitarists in his band – Harvey Mandel, Luther Tucker, Robben Ford, Junior Watson, Charlie Sexton, Kid Anderson, and steeler Freddie Roulette to name but a few. Here, he takes the reins (strings?) himself, using his Gibson Nighthawk plugged into a Magnatone Varsity Deluxe to play a bit. In the May issue, we review his latest album, “Lookout Highway.” Here’s our review. Read Now!

Harp Legend Charlie Musselwhite

Harp legend Charlie Musselwhite has recorded and performed with a stunning array of guitarists in his band – Harvey Mandel, Luther Tucker, Robben Ford, Junior Watson, Charlie Sexton, Kid Anderson, and steeler Freddie Roulette to name but a few. Here, he takes the reins (strings?) himself, using his Gibson Nighthawk plugged into a Magnatone Varsity Deluxe to play a bit. In the May issue, we review his latest album, “Lookout Highway.” Here’s our review. Read Now!

Artists

This month, we feature The Meters’ George Porter, Tommy Emmanuel, Jedd Hughes, Dudley Taft, Lari Basilio, Ally Venable, The Police, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Dave Mason, Kenny Burrell, 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 […]

by Vintage Guitar
VG Approved Gear

Keeley Electronics Compressor Mini

The Tighten-Up

One entry in Keeley’s next-gen pedals, the Compressor Mini is an automatic “Manhattan-style” compression. The tiny tool’s secret is an Automatic Tone Recovery Circuit that ensures signal maintains clear high frequencies during the heaviest compression. The purported result is a wider range of tonal possibilities and a transparent signal that won’t mask the subtleties of […]

by Oscar Jordan
Artists

Noshir Mody’s Elegant Flow

 Contemporary-jazzer sets the mood with “The Yards” Noshir Mody’s new album, “A Love Song,” is highlighted by his elegant lines and flowing compositions. Here he offers a sample with “The Yards,” played on his ’95 Gibson Howard Roberts Fusion III. Catch our review of the album in the November issue. Read Now!

VG Approved Gear

Seymour Duncan ’78 Model

Upscale Touch

In the late ’70s, rock guitarists fell down the rabbit hole trying to achieve more sustain, harmonics, and extra crunch via pickup swaps. Seymour Duncan has created a new PAF that flashes back to those days, but designed to be more-sensitive to harmonics. Previously only made to order for Custom Shop customers, the Duncan ’78 […]

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Artists

Randy Bachman

The Album Title Says It All

Canadian guitarist/guitar collector Randy Bachman is known worldwide for his classic licks in songs by the Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive, but he has also recorded jazz with the likes of Duke Robillard, J. Geils, and Gerry Beaudoin. “Those albums got great reviews, but I eventually realized I’m really a rockin’ blues guy,” Bachman reflected. […]

Classic Instruments

The Gretsch 6169 Electromatic Twin Western

What good was selling a newfangled electric guitar back at the dawn of the revolution if you didn’t have an electric guitar amplifier to go along with it? Any significant brand that offered a lap steel or electro-Spanish model in the early days of rock and roll also needed to offer an amp in order […]

deLisle Nickel Box
VG Approved Gear

deLisle Nickel Box

A Nickel For Your Chops

deLisle Nickel Box Price: $609 (list); $729 (as tested) Info: www.delisleguitar.com Low-watt amplifiers have enjoyed a run of popularity. Offering saturated power-tube distortion at volumes that should keep the neighbors from showing up at midnight with tallow torches and pitchforks, they can be ideal for practice and recording. Given the number of choices available, one […]

Charis Acoustic SJ
VG Approved Gear

Charis Acoustic SJ

Spirit in the Wood

Charis Acoustic SJ Price: $4,800 (base); $7,100 (as reviewed) Info: www.charisacoustic.com. The spiritual aspects of music perhaps originate with the creation of the musical instrument. To that end, Charis Acoustic builds guitars under luthier Bill Wise’s stated mission to reflect his spiritual commitment with the love and care that he puts into his craft. The […]

Music

Seth Walker

Gotta Get Back

Seth Walker has issued a string of fine records that come together in his latest. Walker and Dave Gross man the six-strings on a collection of strong cuts, and while the approach offers plenty for guitar-music fans, it’s subtle. Electric licks are prominent on the funky “Fire In The Belly” and the funky New Orleans […]

Music

The Metallica Blacklist Album

Various artists

Conquering the charts 30 years ago with their “black album,” Metallica has become the global ambassador for heavy metal – and this 52-track tribute set confirms it. Artists from nearly every genre, from pop rebel Miley Cyrus to jazz-soul wizard Kamasi Washington, bring unique interpretations, many of them inventive and surprising. Chris Stapleton weaves a […]

Artists

Billy Gibbons

On The Move

Before ZZ Top, Billy Gibbons launched his career as guitarist and front man with a Texas-based group called the Moving Sidewalks. The band also included bassist Don Summers, keyboardist Tom Moore, and drummer Dan Mitchell. The group’s sound was brewed from a mix of blues and early California psychedelia, sprinkled with the influence of Jimi […]

Artists

GA-20 blends R&B, Blues, Hendrix, and much more

VG Exclusive “Dry Run” GA-20 blends influences from Hendrix to the guitar Kings to East Coast Family cassettes. Here, Matt Stubbs and Pat Faherty do an exclusive take on “Dry Run,” from their new album, “Crackdown.” Matt is playing a Jazzmaster ’62 Thin Skin through a Catalinbread Topanga Spring Reverb into a 1950 Gibson GA-20 […]

Artists

Bill Nelson

Still Deluxe

Most people remember Bill Nelson as the front man/guitar hero in the English band Be Bop Deluxe. Since folding that outfit 35 years ago, he has led a fertile solo career, releasing dozens of solo albums ranging from guitar rock to pop electronica. His latest, Blip!, showcases his hot playing with lush pop. Who were […]

Guitar Show Photos

Summer NAMM ’18

Robin Basses
Classic Instruments

Robin Basses

A Photo Retrospective

Alamo Music Products holds a unique place in the history of electric guitars and basses. The Houston-based company began its journey in the early ’80s as Robin Guitars, importing retro-influenced instruments from Japan. By the end of the decade, it began U.S. production of instruments and soon after changed its name as it began making […]

Classic Instruments

The “Okie Dokie Stomp” Esquire

Gate’s Swing

As a high-school student and emerging guitarist in Houston in the early ’60s, John Andrews couldn’t get a club gig without knowing “Okie Dokie Stomp.” The famed track by Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown was the most requested instrumental on the Gulf Coast club circuit at the time – more, even, than Bill Doggett’s “Honky Tonk.” Gatemouth […]

Roland Cube Lite
VG Approved Gear

Roland Cube Lite

High-Calorie Tone

Roland Cube Lite Price: $169 (street) Info: www.rolandus.com. At just under four pounds, and with a 10″ x 6″ footprint, the Roland Cube Lite is about as compact and lightweight as an amp can get while still being considered a real amp and not just another one of those gimmicky battery-operated units. The Cube Lite […]

Brian Ray
Artists

Brian Ray

From Blues to Beatles

Brian Ray spent the last 11 years playing guitar as Paul McCartney’s side man. While such duty would be a career topper for pretty much any player, Ray is also thrilled about his new band, The Bayonets, and his forthcoming signature-model Gibson. How does one get a gig with a Beatle? Well, the gig came […]

Music

SRV Behind The Scenes

Four Years In Pictures: Offstage With Stevie Ray Vaughan, 1986-1990

The life of blues-rock icon Stevie Ray Vaughan was under a microscope even before his tragic death in a helicopter accident in 1990. Four years prior, a breakdown put him in a hospital while on tour in Germany, then in drug and alcohol rehab facilities in London and Atlanta, and few celebrities were as open […]

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