Each year, VG asks readers to select Readers’ Choice winners for Album of the Year, Artist of the Year, and Player of the Year in four musical categories, based on artists and recordings featured in the magazine between July 1, 2015, and June 30, 2016. Included in the annual vote are nominees for the VG Hall of Fame; each year, the magazine adds two players, an innovator, and an instrument. Hundreds of votes are tallied via the magazine’s traditional written ballot, while hundreds more participate at VintageGuitar.com. Here, we proudly present the 2016 inductees to the VG Hall of Fame.

Carlos Santana

2016 Player

“I grew up in the ’60s, when the first thing you heard in music was feeling, emotion, and passion,” said Carlos Santana, discussing his Shape Shifter album in a 2012 interview with VG. “Now, that’s the first thing they take out!”

That disc and its 2014 follow-up, Corazon, were Santana’s vow to raise the proverbial bar of a modern music biz that is “…so shallow we have to take it to a place where you hear a song and it gives you chills or makes you cry and laugh.”

Such philosophical bits are among the elements that have long endeared fans to the music and life of Santana.

Born in Autlan de Navarro, Mexico, the music of B.B. King, Javier Bátiz, John Lee Hooker, and Gábor Szabó pushed him away from his first instrument – violin – to his true calling. In his 2006 VG interview with Dan Forte, he equated playing guitar to breathing, and cited its ability to help him convert universal energy to notes on a fretboard.

Not yet a teen when his band began jamming in Tijuana strip clubs, a few years later he moved to San Francisco with his family, but returned and (at age 15) supported himself with the guitar. At 19, he re-joined his family and jumped fully into the vibrant Bay Area music scene with the Carlos Santana Blues Band. Soon, though, Carlos’ playing and the band’s increasing use of Afro-Cuban rhythms put them outside any musical mold. Dropping the blues reference, they started going by “Santana” and quickly gained an audience at the Fillmore, then famously played Woodstock a few months before releasing its first album. The band’s set, as portrayed in the 1970 documentary film, Woodstock, fully displays the exuberance of his connection with every note. Fillmore owner Bill Graham once said there were only two guitarists he could pick out among a thousand – Santana and Albert King. The late J.J. Cale called him, “the most identifiable guitarist in the world.” And though the years since have seen him experience unparalleled commercial and critical success, it hasn’t dampened his spirit or enthusiasm.

Many players in Santana’s position are said to have reached their true purpose. Along the way, many experience events that reinforce that belief; Carlos jammed with Jaco Pastorius on the night the esteemed bassist died, and also recalls a recording session late one night in the summer of 2001 when word reached the studio that John Lee Hooker had died.

“When I went home, [the answering machine] was blinking,” he recalled in 2012. “It was him: ‘Wh-wh-what’re doing young man? C-c-call me sometime; I wanna hear your voice.’”

Santana’s makeup is further revealed in the fact that like any true hero, he doesn’t put himself on a pedestal, but continually emanates respect for those he sees as great. In this case, that’s Otis Rush, Buddy Guy, B.B./Freddie/Albert King, Jimmy Reed, John Lee Hooker, Hubert Sumlin, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Peter Green, Michael Bloomfield, and others.

“We all know who to go to and what to listen to so we can soak ourselves,” he told Forte. “We don’t want to sound like them, but we want to be drenched with the same things that they’re drenched with.”

Varied and diverse, his discography is marked by early work with the band, later by introspective solo projects interspersed with collaborations alongside icons in many genres – blues on 1969’s The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper, jazz with John McLaughlin (1973’s Love Devotion Surrender), classic rock covers on 2010’s Guitar Heaven: The Greatest Guitar Classics of All Time, featuring high-profile vocalists of the genre. The aforementioned commercial success came via 1999’s Supernatural (which claimed nine Grammy awards including Album Of The Year and Record Of The Year and went 25 times platinum) and the follow-up, 2002’s Shaman. Afterward, Santana began to use his profile to shed light on social causes, as on Shape Shifter, which honored Native Americans and focused on instrumentals, and Corazon, a true Latin record on which his guitar drives guest vocals on covers and new material. Santana’s touch and tone are ever-present and unmistakable.

Santana has donated considerable time and energy to groups that aid the underprivileged. In 1998, he founded the Milagro Foundation to support underrepresented and vulnerable children and youth in the areas of arts, education, and health. All of the proceeds from his 2003 American tour went to Artists for New South Africa (ANSA), to help fight the AIDS pandemic, and he supports several causes including the Rainforest Action Network and Amnesty International. In late 2016, he teamed with drummer/producer Narada Michael Walden, singer/songwriter Jennifer Saran, and Ladysmith Black Mambazo on “Wake Up,” a song that appealed for the world to address inequality and impoverishment. – Ward Meeker

Joe Walsh

2016 Player

The ability to adapt and grow – diversity – is a substantial element in the career of any musician whose career manages to span five decades. That rare ilk includes Joe Walsh, the guy who hardened the Eagles’ edge and in the late ’70s made rock fans aware of the coolness of a talkbox.

Beyond changes in musical styles and the company he kept while creating it, Walsh has continually pushed himself as a songwriter, composer, singer, producer, and player on his own work as well as that for others including Dan Fogelberg, John Entwistle, Don Henley, Ringo Starr, America, REO Speedwagon, Jay Ferguson, Andy Gibb, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Steve Winwood, and Richard Marx.

Walsh’s ball started rolling while he was a student at Kent State University in 1965, where his band, The Measles, started jamming in local clubs. In early ’68, he step-stoned into a Cleveland band called James Gang and within a few months his innovative playing was pushing it to newfound recognition. The band had a handful of hits before Walsh bailed in late ’71 to help assemble what was essentially a backing act called Barnstorm. Its self-titled ’72 debut album was followed by The Smoker You Drink, the Player You Get and the single, “Rocky Mountain Way,” which reached the Top 40 in ’73.

In ’74, Walsh emerged as a true solo performer, releasing So What and the single “Turn To Stone.” In this period, Walsh was working with producer Bill Szymczyk, who had also taken on the Eagles; it was Szymczyk who introduced them, and in ’75 Walsh became the Eagles’ keyboardist/guitarist after founding member Bernie Leadon became disillusioned as the band drifted away from the country-rock that had brought it notable success.

As always, Walsh made an immediate impact, jumping in as the band recorded its 1976 landmark, Hotel California, where on the title track he famously went lick-for-lick with lead guitarist Don Felder. Walsh also contributed the riff on Glenn Frey’s “Life in the Fast Lane” and brought the song “Pretty Maids All in a Row,” which he had co-written with Barnstorm drummer Joe Vitale.

Hotel California achieved the sort of success that can derail a band – and it did, as some Eagles fell into the traps conveyed by the album’s underlying theme. The follow-up, The Long Run, took nearly three years to record and produce. Walsh used that time to record But Seriously, Folks… and the single “Life’s Been Good,” which parodied rock stardom and the inherent pitfalls he’d recently witnessed and/or lived through. Amongst his other work at the time was “In the City” for the sound track to Walter Hill’s 1979 cult film The Warriors.

The Eagles broke up in July of 1980, pushing Walsh back to solo performance. In ’81, he released There Goes the Neighborhood with the single “A Life of Illusion,” which had also been written in the Barnstorm era eight years earlier and would become one of his most popular songs. Three more albums – You Bought It – You Name It, The Confessor, and Got Any Gum? were made before the close of the decade.

Walsh twice toured with Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band (1989 and ’92), and otherwise stayed busy exploring a mix of styles in various acts. He performed with a band called the Best, with keyboardist Keith Emerson, bassist John Entwistle, and guitarist Jeff “Skunk” Baxter. In ’93, he and Glenn Frey did their Party of Two tour, his ’94 single “Ordinary Average Guy” was originally recorded by Herbs, a noted reggae band from New Zealand that for a time counted Walsh as a member, and in ’96 he was part of a one-show James Gang reunion requested by then-President Bill Clinton.

Also in ’94, the Eagles ended their “14-year vacation” to reunite for the first of what would be several tours with the lineup from The Long Run. In ’98, Walsh re-tooled “Rocky Mountain Way” for ABC to use during its “Monday Night Football” broadcasts that season. Later that year, the Eagles were inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The 21st century saw Walsh perform at Eric Clapton’s first Crossroads Guitar Festival in ’04, reunite with the James Gang in ’06, and become a Carvin endorser in ’08. His 2012 album, Analog Man, was his first studio solo effort in two decades and was largely reflective of his life. One of its overriding themes involved Walsh’s battles with alcoholism, which for a time kept him away from music.

“I went out and explored [sobriety],” he said in an interview with VG at the time. “Until I had enough sobriety to be able to do music that way, I just didn’t want to mess with creative stuff or writing because there were still a lot of triggers.” Produced by Jeff Lynne and Walsh, the album included songs with co-writer Tommy Lee James, featured his brother-in-law, Ringo Starr, on drums for one track, and was named Vintage Guitar’s first Album of the Year.

Beyond fame, fortune (/misfortune), and all the great licks, Walsh’s cred in vintage guitardom is punctuated by the fact he sold to Jimmy Page the ’59 Les Paul Standard that would become iconic in Led Zeppelin. – Ward Meeker

Gibson Explorer

2016 Instrument

In 1957, Gibson President Ted McCarty took it upon himself to jump-start sales of his company’s electric guitars.

While his company firmly controlled the market for archtops and big-bodied acoustics, the kids who played rock and roll and the latest country music were flocking to Leo Fender’s solidbodied Tele and Strat; Ted’s crew needed to move beyond the Les Paul that had become so un-hip.

Inspired by the world in which he lived – Sputnik, concept cars, trends in music and fashion, etc. – he plopped himself down with pencil and graph paper, and swung for the fences. From this brainstorm emerged three designs – far-ranging departures he called the Flying V, Futura, and Moderne. Turned over to builders and marketing (which dubbed them the “Modernistic” line), a prototype Futura with a mahogany body emerged in time for that summer’s big Music Industry Trade Show (predecessor to NAMM). Though history doesn’t recount its reception at the event, within a couple months, Gibson was ready to start sending them to dealers.

The orders trickled in.

Maybe their shapes were too odd and their finishes – left natural over the korina wood chosen to further separate them from anything else – didn’t strike mass fancies. Whatever the reasons, fewer than 100 Flying Vs were ordered along with even smaller numbers of Explorers (19 in 1958, three in ’59). One of guitardom’s great debates revolves around whether even one Moderne ever left the factory.

Uncle Ted’s concept was a resounding failure, and by ’59, none of the korinas remained in the line (in ’63, it shipped a handful of Vs and Explorers using leftover bodies). If there was solace to be found, it was that McCarty’s other big idea at the time – the semi-hollow ES-335 – proved immediately popular and is now a drop-dead classic.

In the mid ’70s, Gibson reintroduced the Explorer, looking to capitalize on rockers’ desire to play something different. It has been offered in many forms ever since. The original, meanwhile – once an ugly stepchild of the guitar community – today bathes in the limelight of “golden era” Gibsons, and because so few were made, its status has been elevated to that of “preeminent collectible,” commanding a half-million dollars. – Ward Meeker

Tom Scholz

2016 Innovator

There’s a healthy dose of do-it-yourself grit involved in learning to play an instrument, write songs, and create music. Search far and wide, you likely won’t find a bigger DIY guy than Tom Scholz.

After his 1969 graduation from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) with a Master’s degree in mechanical engineering, Scholz became a product-design engineer for camera/electronics maker Polaroid. A big-time tinkerer, his free time was spent writing and recording songs; and it wasn’t just him and keyboard or acoustic guitar. No. Scholz played guitar, bass, and keys, then recruited local talent to play drums and sing. By ’74, he had a half-dozen songs ready for screening by record labels; CBS/Epic helped turn the tapes into Boston’s self-titled debut and follow-up, Don’t Look Back.

While making the albums, Scholz grew to appreciate the sounds made by a 100-watt Marshall amp turned up to its “sweet spot” – that place where tubes and transformers produce magical overtones that are such a part of loud rock and roll. But those tones come at a price, mainly ear-damaging sound-pressure levels. His fix was the first “power soak,” a.k.a. an attenuator – a device that allows an amplifier to produce full-volume tone while sending less output signal to a speaker, thus making for a quieter studio/environment. It would be the first of many devices he’d create in the pursuit of consistent, usable tone.

In 1982, Scholz founded Scholz Research & Development to manufacture the gear he was developing, including amps (the best known of which are the Rockman series of headphone amps) and later, the Rockmodules line of modular/rackmount effects. All told, Scholz’s name is on the patents of 34 devices. The company produced gear until being acquired by effects/accessories maker Dunlop in 1995.

And while some would see irony in the fact that, when asked his thoughts on modeling amps as part of his 2012 feature in VG, Scholz surprisingly described them as, “Useless,” it’s easy to appreciate that while the Rockman amps had a certain “cleansing” effect, their intent was inspired by a desire for every player to be able to consistently re-create their perfect tone.

Today, Scholz continues to play almost every instrument while writing and recording Boston songs. When time allows, he takes the band out for summer tours. – Ward Meeker

Eric Clapton, I Still Do

2016 Album

Emerging in a year that saw genuine, legit efforts issued by fellow legends Jeff Beck and Carlos Santana along with contemporary heavyweights like Joe Bonamassa, Eric Clapton’s 23rd solo album stands out in part due to his reconnection with famed producer Glyn Johns (whose resumé includes the Stones and Zeppelin in the heyday, and Clapton on Slowhand in 1977). Nearly four decades on, they created sounds and songs that adoring fans simply ate up.

More mature than Slowhand, it offered deep blues, pop, a Bob Dylan cover, and closed with an impassioned version of “I’ll Be Seeing You” that recalls old friends and good times.

Shaking off the questionable opening track – a take on Leroy Carr’s “Alabama Woman Blues” that plods, backed by accordion – the album offers several highlights. A couple of J.J. Cale songs remind the ears of classic Slowhand-era E.C. – “Can’t Let You Down” and a version of “Somebody’s Knockin’” replete with a relentless groove reminiscent of “After Midnight.” The pop tune is “I Will Be There,” and it’s a lovely bit written by Paul Brady. In Clapton’s hands, it’s heartfelt and full of soul.

His Dylan cover, “I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine,” gets a full-on gospel treatment that jumps with new life. Finally, Skip James’ “Cypress Groove” and Robert Johnson’s “Stones In My Passway” feature Clapton most definitely plugged-in; the latter blends classic Mississippi Delta blues with gritty, overdriven guitars (though not to the extent of Cream on “Crossroads”).

Listed among the guest musicians is Angelo Mysterioso, on the E.C.-penned “I Will Be There.” George Harrison used that pseudonym while guesting over the years and there was a bit of media frenzy speculating Harrison indeed had made an appearance. Alas, the part was played by Harrison’s son, Dhani. At least the DNA was present.

I Still Do was reviewed by Michael Dregni, Music Editor, in the October ’16 issue.

Brian Setzer

2016 Artist

For 35 years, Brian Setzer has embodied American retro rock, whether with the Stray Cats or his roots-rock solo work in the ’80s, the jazzy/big-band tinge of the Brian Setzer Orchestra he started in 1990, his annual Christmas forays, or the recall in his recent work.

When the Stray Cats hit the American scene in 1982, the music biz was unsure how to react, so it slapped the band with the “punk” label because, ya’ know… “rock” bands didn’t wear pompadours. Little could they know the band’s front man was a true devotee who would ultimately prove that when it comes to old-school guitar-driven music, there’s always an audience.

Setzer proved that with his most recent album, Rockabilly Riot: All Original, on which he proudly reminded us of his roots, playing scorching rockabilly on his trusted vintage gear. Pure from start to finish, the disc was, VG’s Michael Dregni wrote, “some of the most inventive, far-reaching rockabilly ever cast in wax – all with his trademark twang and high-octane fretwork.”

Setzer is unabashed in his appreciation for Scotty Moore, Eddie Cochran, George Harrison, and other guitarists who paved the path. But he’s far from stylistically stuck – never constrained by I-IV-V blues structures or traditional arrangements, throughout his career, he has incorporated influences alien to the ’50s, as exhibited on everything from “Ugambi Stomp” from the Stray Cats’ 1981 debut album to songs like “Stilleto Cool” on Rockabilly Riot.

“If you turned that up really loud, you could make that a heavy metal song,” he said. “But me playing it the way I do, with stand-up bass and all that, it becomes rockabilly.”

The album’s sound and approach also benefitted from the patience and attention of producer Peter Collins, which Setzer likened to Dave Edmunds effort on the first Cats album.

He still records and performs with his treasured ’59 Gretsch 6120, ’63 Fender Bassman amp, and a Roland Space Echo. When a different sort of tone is desired or required, he keeps a late-’50s Magnatone or some such close at hand. His collection includes nearly 40 guitars, most vintage and including his first two 6120s along with a super-clean ’59, a Silver Jet, and a White Falcon or two.

That authenticity is part of the reason why every time Setzer takes the stage or a turntable needle drops on one of his albums somewhere in the world, his style, tone, and showmanship send 6120s flying off store hangers. – Ward Meeker

Vince Gill

2016 Country Player

For decades, Vince Gill has stood as one of a handful of contemporary country stars (Brad Paisley, Steve Wariner and Keith Urban being the others) blending vocal and guitar virtuosity with powerful, eloquent songwriting. Despite changing trends, Gill, a Grand Ole Opry member since 1991, retains a steadfast belief in the enduring power of traditional, basic country.

His beginnings, however, were far from rural. Born in Norman, Oklahoma in 1957, Vincent Grant Gill’s father, a Federal appellate judge, started his son playing golf and guitar. At age 10, his parents gave him a new Gibson ES-335. As a teen, young Vince absorbed the region’s eclectic music scene, encompassing country, Western swing, bluegrass and rock. He played with two local bands – Bluegrass Revue and Mountain Smoke. He recorded with the latter in 1975, the year he graduated high school, turned professional, moved to Louisville, and joined the Bluegrass Alliance.

A year later, he moved to the band Boone Creek, playing alongside Ricky Skaggs, and was part of Sundance, led by bluegrass fiddler and Oklahoma native Byron Berline. The late ’70s saw him with the pioneering country-rock band Pure Prairie League, singing lead on their 1980 hit “Let Me Love You Tonight.” In ’81, he joined Rodney Crowell’s backup band (the Cherry Bombs), which included bassist Emory Gordy and ex-Elvis/Emmylou Harris keyboard player Tony Brown.

When Brown joined RCA Nashville’s A&R department in ’83, he signed Gill as a vocalist. His earliest Top 10 hits came with “If It Weren’t For Him” (’85) and “Oklahoma Borderline” (’86), but his stature as a guitarist loomed large; he turned down Mark Knopfler’s offer to join Dire Straits. Brown’s move to a top A&R position at MCA Nashville brought Gill to the label and launched a run of Top 10 and #1 singles that began with “When I Call Your Name” (1990) and spanned most of the decade. Most were songs he wrote or co-wrote.

Simultaneously, Gill’s fame as a player exploded. Amid his many Grammy Awards, he won five for instrumental work on albums by Asleep at the Wheel (two of their Bob Wills tribute albums), Randy Scruggs, Earl Scruggs, and Brad Paisley’s 2008 all-star jam “Cluster Pluck.” His four-CD box set, These Days (2006,) allowed Gill to explore his diverse musical passions – vocal and instrumental – in unprecedented depth with various guests. Five years passed until the Guitar Slinger album.

Over the years, Gill accumulated a formidable stash of rare vintage equipment. Despite heavy losses (including around 50 guitars) in the 2010 Nashville flood, he reconstituted an arsenal. Feeling great older gear is meant to be played, he uses his holdings in the studio and at concerts, switching instruments several times during a performance. In a 2012 interview, he joked how some in Nashville nicknamed him the “Guitar Whisperer” for his ability to find older instruments and press them back into active duty.

Amid all this, while recording solo albums like the wildly eclectic Down To My Last Bad Habit (2016), he has used his voice and guitar to honor sounds and players of the past. On Bakersfield (2013), he and pedal-steel great Paul Franklin had fun with the music and twang of Buck Owens and Merle Haggard. Since 2010, he has been part of the Nashville-based Western swing band The Time Jumpers, whose 2016 album, Kid Sister, earned two Grammy nominations.

But leave it to a fellow picker and friend to summarize Gill. Guitarist Al Anderson told Songfacts, “I’m intimidated by Vince. He’s a great guitar player and a great mandolin player. He’s great at everything.” – Rich Kienzle

Jeff Beck

2016 Rock Player

The eight-time Grammy winner and hot rod enthusiast embodies the philosophy of the forward-thinking guitarist, continually moving on to fresh avenues of self-expression and arresting sounds.

Born in Wallington, England, on June 24, 1944, Beck was at the epicenter of the British Invasion. With a passion for blues, rockabilly, and jazz guitarist Les Paul, Beck performed with The Rumbles before joining The Yardbirds to replace Eric Clapton. He left his mark on songs like “Over Under Sideways Down” but was eventually fired. He later formed the Jeff Beck Group, featuring Ron Wood on bass and Rod Stewart on vocals. The album Truth was released in 1968 but Stewart quit after Beck canceled their appearance at Woodstock.

Beck was planning his next move in ’69, when he was involved in a car accident. Two years later, he unveiled his new lineup and a fresh sound. Rough And Ready and The Jeff Beck Group explored a blend of jazz and funky R&B, wrapped in Beck’s quirky, idiosyncratic style. The untimely disbanding of this project saw Beck joining drummer Carmine Appice and bassist Tim Bogert to form the blues-rocking Beck, Bogert & Appice. That group ended in ’74 due to lack of commercial success, but yielded a memorable version of Stevie Wonder’s classic “Superstition.”

Beck turned down the Rolling Stones for a second time and enlisted the help of Beatles producer George Martin to begin work on another turning point in his life. Blow By Blow marked the beginning of his foray into fusion and remains a highpoint in his career. Influenced by Jan Hammer and Billy Cobham’s Spectrum, this dovetailed into his next album, Wired. It’s interesting to note that whatever his musical context, Beck has maintained a stylistic base of blues, rockabilly, and unique musicality, that continues to this day.

Beck toured with Return To Forever bassist Stanley Clarke, recorded “There & Back” with Jan Hammer and Tony Hymas, and appeared in concert with Eric Clapton on The Secret Policeman’s Other Ball in 1981. He fully embraced the sounds of the ’80s on Flash, featuring “People Get Ready” with Rod Stewart, and sent guitar freaks running to the woodshed on Jeff Beck’s Guitar Shop, where he became a full-time fingerstylist.

The ’90s produced the soundtrack Frankie’s House, the Cliff Gallup tribute Crazy Legs, and the electronica album Who Else! with Jennifer Batten. He also participated in projects with Tina Turner, Paul Rodgers, Mick Jagger, and Roger Waters, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame as a part of the Yardbirds (as a solo artist, he was inducted in 2009). Weary of mainstream music, the late ’90s marked Beck’s electronica phase. He won a third Grammy for “Best Rock Instrumental Performance” for “Dirty Mind” from 2001’s You Had It Coming, and his fourth Grammy in the same category for “Plan B” from 2003’s Jeff.

Beck continues to be an innovative artist conjuring surreal textures and melodies with a Stratocaster and his hands. While his muse may divide fans, he never fails to drop jaws in concert. His set lists traverse the history of rock and roll and he remains one of the most influential guitarists in history. 2010’s Emotion & Commotion and 2016’s Loud Hailer continue that legacy as he resists conformity and ushers in new sounds with the help of talented women and people of color. – Oscar Jordan

Robben Ford

2016 Jazz Player

During a standing-room-only guitar clinic a few years ago, Robben Ford was asked, “How do you come up with guitar licks?”

“I don’t play licks,” he responded. “I make music.” Occasionally terse but always compelling, Ford has built a career following a compass of artistic integrity. A five-time Grammy nominee who fashioned his melody-rich corner of the universe mining the sweet spot between sophisticated jazz harmony and traditional blues.

With a reverence for B.B. King and Mike Bloomfield, and a deep admiration for John Coltrane and Paul Desmond, Ford has mirrored these influences without mimicking them.

Raised in Ukiah, California, his first instrument was saxophone. After high school, he formed The Charles Ford Band (named after his father) with his brothers Patrick and Mark, and toured the U.S. with harmonica player Charlie Musselwhite. Ford’s feel and harmonic dexterity expressed through a Gibson Super 400 later garnered him employment with blues vocalist Jimmy Witherspoon, and eventually saxophonist Tom Scott of The L.A. Express. Switching to a Gibson 335, his association with Scott dovetailed into high-profile performances with George Harrison on the Dark Horse tour, and Joni Mitchell on the albums The Hissing Of The Summer Lawns and Miles Of Aisles, and on tour to support Court And Spark.

Ford’s journey through the shark-infested waters of the music industry brought him to Elektra Records, which produced his first official solo record The Inside Story. Released in 1979, backing musicians for the project included Russell Ferrante on keys, Jimmy Haslip on bass, and Ricky Lawson on drums. This group ultimately became The Yellowjackets, who released their first album in ’81. For many disciples, this was the introduction to Ford’s harmonious blend of soulful blues combined with smart intervallic fusion lines. The compositions “Matinee Idol” and “Imperial Strut” are particularly noteworthy.

His prowess as an authentic blues guitarist with an ear for jazz harmony led him to become an in-demand session cat and helped him land a deal with Warner Brothers. It was around this time trumpet legend Miles Davis was given a tape of Ford’s playing while searching to replace Mike Stern. Ford soon found himself onstage in New York with Davis and a full band – without having rehearsed. This trial by fire – and the blessing of Davis – has stayed with Ford. Criticisms have no value in light of the high praise received from jazz’s greatest icon and innovator.

Ford’s second album, Talk To Your Daughter, launched his solo career and earned a Grammy nomination. He then led a number of projects including the popular power trio The Blue Line with Tom Brechtlein and Roscoe Beck.

Through the years, Ford has continued to successfully straddle the line between blues-rock, jazz, and fusion. Highlights include the critically acclaimed Tiger Walk, Supernatural, Soul On 10, City Life, and 2015’s Into The Sun. Also significant is his fusion project, Jing Chi, with Jimmy Haslip and Vinnie Colaiuta.

His use of space, time, hip chord voicings, diminished passing tones, and heartfelt songwriting are earmarks of Ford’s sonic blueprint. In addition to creating an inspiring body of work, he continues the blues tradition by sharing his knowledge with new generations via video, DVDs, online lessons, and clinics, all of which have proven invaluable to millions of guitarists. – Oscar Jordan

Joe Bonamassa

2016 Blues Player

Old-school genres like the blues are about tradition – make an album every couple/three years, tour, take a break. Joe Bonamassa don’t play that.

In 2015/’16 he added two new sets of music to the already long merch page on his website – the all-original Blues of Desperation for which he enlisted session cats and Nashville heavyweights to play heavier blues-rock with a ballad or two. In his review, VG’s Oscar Jordan commended its “tonal succulence, masterful licks, and stories…” For the CD/DVD package Live At Radio City Music Hall, Bonamassa offered 75 minutes of his best using his acoustic and electric bands. Guitarheads will especially appreciate the DVD, which fully exhibits the range of hard-core vintage instruments and high-end amps he takes on the road. Plus, each band’s unique chemistry lends terrific accompaniment. Amongst the highlights noted in Jordan’s review were covers of Willie Dixon’s “Hidden Charms” and Muddy Waters’ “I Can’t Be Satisfied” along with Bonamassa originals “Dust Bowl” and “Black Lung Heartache.”

Even most of today’s biggest musical acts don’t get to rest on the laurels of anachronisms like “million-selling albums” and “hit singles.” Instead, they make a living by regularly releasing songs offered via stream and download, drawing fans to social media, and most of all, hitting the road. Hard. Bonamassa does it all and never cuts corners in terms of personnel, presentation, or production.

Anyone raised in a family that owns a music store likely has an appreciation for players and instruments that extends beyond typical. Such was Bonamassa’s life; he got into gear and guitar heroes before the age of 10, and at 12 was opening shows for B.B. King. Under the tutelage of his gear-hunting father, he learned the difference between a tweed Harvard and blackface Deluxe, and today suffers from one of the world’s most severe cases of Gear Acquisition Syndrome (G.A.S.). It’s part of what motivates him, professionally, and with few exceptions, the pieces in his truly remarkable collection earn their keep in the studio and on the road.

The recipient of accolades including nominations for a Grammy, Blues Music Awards, a double-digit string of #1 blues albums on Billboard, heaps of notoriety from the guitar (and broader music) press, he also heads his own label (J&R Adventures) and oversees the non-profit Keeping The Blues Alive Foundation, which he founded to promote music education in schools.

Joe B. fans and VG readers alike can attest – nobody in blues today is injecting the genre with as much life, spirit – and sweat. – Ward Meeker

› › For entire VG Readers’ Choice Awards history, scroll to the bottom of www.vintageguitar.com/category/readers-choice

Each year, VG asks readers to select Readers’ Choice winners for Album of the Year, Artist of the Year, and Player of the Year in four musical categories, based on artists and recordings featured in the magazine between July 1, 2014, and June 30, 2015. Included in the annual vote are nominees for the VG Hall of Fame; each year, the magazine adds two players, an innovator, and an instrument. Hundreds of votes are tallied via the magazine’s traditional written ballot, while hundreds more participate at VintageGuitar.com. Here, we proudly present the 2015 inductees to the VG Hall of Fame.

David Gilmour
2015 Player
Pink Floyd holds few rivals. Propelled by insightful, pointed lyrics and deep-seated melodies, the band and its music are popular worldwide. Guitarist David Gilmour is one highly significant reason.

Though Gilmour wasn’t around when the band was formed by four London art students in 1965, he was asked aboard in late ’67, after the release of its first album, the psychedelic masterpiece A Piper At the Gates of Dawn, and as the behavior of original guitarist Syd Barrett – spurred by deteriorating mental health – became increasingly unpredictable. Gilmour evolved into the band’s frontman and in some ways kept it afloat.

In Gilmour, the band recruited a friend who was an able vocalist, but more importantly, devised licks as thoughtful and impassioned as the lyrics by bassist/co-vocalist Roger Waters. From 1968’s A Saucerful of Secrets through 1975’s Animals, the group released eight albums marked by bursts of unbridled creativity intertwined with infamous dry spells spurred by a mix of apathy and strained relationships. Still, the music has stood as testament to their skills as a unit – even the milestone 1980 album, The Wall, which was essentially a legal “settlement” between Waters and the rest.

After the band split from Waters in the mid ’80s, a Gilmour-led lineup released A Momentary Lapse of Reason (1987) and The Division Bell (1994), both of which were huge sellers accompanied by equally huge tours.

Consider Gilmour’s ability to consistently create guitar licks, leads, and riffs that beautifully intertwined with – and offered equal impact to Waters’ lyrics (which are some of the most-cited in rock): “We’re just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year,” “I am just a new boy, stranger in this town…,” “The band is just fantastic, that is really what I think, and by the way, which one’s Pink?,” “Big man, pig man, ha ha, charade you are,” “You are only coming through in waves…,” “Can’t keep my eyes from the circling skies, tongue-tied and twisted just an earth-bound misfit, I…” and throughout mega-hits like “Money” and “Another Brick in the Wall.”

Not only is each Floyd song propelled rhythmically by an equally memorable Gilmour guitar phrase, he often interjects key licks between each line of lyric. In the minds of musicians, guitarists especially, those guitar parts are critical. And who among us hasn’t taken a run at the lead break on “Comfortably Numb” or grabbed an acoustic just to strum “Mother” or “Wish You Were Here”?

Through the height of his fame and popularity, Gilmour made heavy use of Fender Stratocasters, mostly with maple fretboards. The most prominent are an early-’70s model with a black pickguard and a red ’84 reissue with EMG pickups. He used a Telecaster to record A Saucerful of Secrets (1968) and for parts on other albums, and through the years has also tooled around on Les Pauls and a Gretsch Duo Jet, as well as an army of swirling, swishy, and echo-laced stompboxes.

Stylistically, Gilmour is cited for his emphasis on composition, as well as his exquisite phrasing and note choices, VG’s Wolf Marshall noted in his “Fretprints” column (June ’03). He consistently maintains a strong note-to-chord relationship, whether plying leads or creating textures in rhythms. And, his lead-guitar approach and tone – replete with soulful bent notes and a singing vibrato – reflect his broad melodic pallet, which at any time exhibit bluesy pentatonic licks and folk-like melodies

In 1978, Gilmour released a self-titled first solo album that charted in the U.K. and the U.S. His second, About Face, was released in 1984, and hit the U.K. Top 20. He has since released four more solo discs, including the 2015 effort, Rattle That Lock (in support of which he is touring the U.S. this year). In 1996, Pink Floyd was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; to date, the group has sold more than 250 million records. Gilmour has said its late-2014 effort, The Endless River, will be the band’s final album.

“When guitarists uses stylistic euphemisms like soulful and tasty, the name David Gilmour usually isn’t far behind,” said VG contributor Pete Prown. “Like Peter Green, Mark Knopfler or Billy Gibbons, Gilmour is a ‘less is more’ guitarist, one who says a lot with just a few choice notes. Over the decades, that bluesy style fit perfectly into the dark, ethereal framework of Pink Floyd’s music. Better still, his solos tend to develop over the space of a few minutes. Like a concert soprano singing a Puccini aria, he gradually builds each solo until it explodes into a wild, passionate crescendo. That’s classic Gilmour right there.” – Ward Meeker

Gary Moore
2015 Player
In his May ’04 “Fretprints” study, VG contributor Wolf Marshall dubbed Gary Moore an “unsung hero,” citing his virtuosity, diversity, and an uncompromising body of work.

Critics would argue (and fans insist) that Moore was (and is) truly underappreciated; while the names of contemporaries like Van Halen, Young, and Blackmore are part of rock-guitar lexicon, Moore’s name typically requires a deeper dig. Fully capable in the areas of blues-rock, power pop, heavy metal, and even jazz-rock fusion, he built a reputation on two strong solo albums, Grinding Stone and Back on the Streets, and a stint in fellow Irishman Phil Lynott’s band, Thin Lizzy, where his playing and writing were a highlight of the 1979 album, Black Rose.

Marshall cited Moore’s blues base and rock feel, but said he was separated from the pack in his ability to “season his improvisations with exotic note choices, fluid, technically adept passagework, a variety of textures, and unusual melodic patterns.” While Moore was in his element as a flashy lead player – Marshall cited his “myriad pinch harmonics, relentless cascades of pull-off and hammer-on licks [along with] long, complex modal runs often spanning two octaves, palm-muted flurries, tremolo-picked sequences, ostinato figures, and mutated high-velocity blues licks” – he also noted that Moore was a powerful, supportive rhythm player.

Moore “met” music thanks to his father, a concert promoter in Belfast who organized events at a local ballroom. As a child, he took in many performances there, then began teaching himself guitar after hearing Hank Marvin, the Beatles, Jeff Beck in the Yardbirds, Eric Clapton, and Peter Green.

In the early ’70s, Moore’s band, Skid Row, opened a show for Frank Zappa at the Fillmore West in San Francisco; Zappa’s playing introduced the young rocker to jazzier styles that he immediately began to adapt. He would be similarly influenced by Chick Corea and Ollie Halsall. When he began to focus on blues, he reported taking to heed advice from blues master Albert King when they worked together on Still Got The Blues. In a 2008 interview with VG, Moore related to Lisa Sharken how King told him, “Gary, play every other lick.” The profound advice shaped Moore’s style, and taught him not only to leave that space, but focus on tone and expressiveness.

Coinciding with his stylistic shifts, Moore pursued tones through a variety of guitars and amps, including a Shell Pink ’60 Strat in his early solo work, followed by the ’59 Les Paul Standard he borrowed from Peter Green in 1970; they soon after agreed to $300 in exchange, and it served as Moore’s go-to guitar for the next 25 years, appearing famously on trademark tracks like 1979’s “Parisienne Walkways” and his 1990 hit “Still Got the Blues” which is on a short list of tunes cited as the ultimate example of Les-Paul-through-Marshall tone.

Other instruments included various custom Charvel, Hamer, and Ibanez models in the mid ’80s, then various vintage Gibsons, including a ’55 Les Paul Junior, an Explorer, Flying V, a ’55 ES-5, a ES-345, and a Melody Maker.

With Skid Row and for his ’70s solo work, Moore plugged into Hi-Watt amplifiers. With Thin Lizzy, it was two 100-watt Marshall stacks and half-stacks, then in the ’80s, he developed a preference for Soldano SLO-100 heads.

In 2008, critics lauded Bad For You Baby as his finest album in years. He died February 6, 2011, at the age of 58.

“Gary combined feeling, technique, intelligence, control, and tone quality,” said Marshall. “He was an important transitional guitarist in the crucial years of the ’70s, when ’60s rock evolved and codified. He could shred with the best of them – Uli Roth, Michael Schenker, Ritchie Blackmore, Van Halen, or Yngwie – and come off as ultra-musical while reigniting the Blues-Breaker-inspired blues form and setting in motion the most significant modern blues reinterpretations since SRV. He was an absolute original and is sorely missed.” – Ward Meeker

Fender Champ
2015 Instrument
Amid all the cute (yet potent) single-ended “student” amps to come out of the ’50s and early ’60s, Fender’s 5E1 and 5F1 models were, well, the Champs. About the size of the lunchbox your grandpa took along to work every morning, loaded with three tubes – a single preamp tube, single power tube, and single rectifier tube – and putting out a nominal four watts into the smallest speaker you’ll find in a guitar amp, this thing punched way above its weight, and made surprisingly easy and swift work of gaining its classic status. The diminutive looks alone are enough to make the Champ appealing. Awww, it’s a baby Fender! But stand back – this puppy has teeth, and it unveiled them time and again on legendary recordings by Eric Clapton, Joe Walsh, Joe Perry, Billy Gibbons, Jeff Beck and scads of others.

Keep the Champ’s lone Volume control down below about five (on a scale that goes to 12 – take that, Nigel Tufnel) and it purrs, twangs and squawks the way a student model was intended to do. Roll it up past six, however, and it segues into a juicy, harmonically saturated roar that defines raunchy rock and roll. Part of the beauty of the circuit is its inherently, definitively Class-A operation. Since you are pushing just one output tube, a 6V6GT, this amp has no choice but to run in pure Class A, as defined by the tube amplifying the signal during the entire wave cycle, rather than sharing the effort with a push/pull partner. In front of that 6V6GT we get two stages from the amp’s single 12AX7 twin-triode preamp tube – one for the first gain stage, another for the output driver – and fewer than 10 solder joints in play from input jack to output transformer. The handful of resistors are all pulling other duties, and your signal passes through none of them after the obligatory 68k grid-stopper that follows each of two input jacks, running through just a pair of beautiful, big, yellow Astron.02µF coupling caps along its sonically edifying journey. No tone control, no bright switch, no nothin’. Even the on/off switch is on the back of the volume pot. You want to hear your electric guitar amplified purely and simply? This is it. It’s the sound tubes, a handful of components, and ultimately, graunchy multi-dimensional bliss.

The Champ evolved some from the mid ’50s and into the ’60s, but less than many other Fender amps. The first of the seminal narrow-panel tweed Champs, the 5E1 of 1955, had a choke in its power-filtering stage and a 6” speaker in a cab that measured 11” x 12” x 7.5”. In late 1956, the 5F1 dropped the choke, gained an 8” speaker, and migrated to a slightly larger cab that added an inch and a half to its height and width, and half an inch to its depth.

In addition to being extremely popular, the Champ was literally Fender’s last production tweed amp; it maintained this same circuit and it’s narrow-panel cab with upper-rear-mounted chassis until 1964, four years after the introduction of the front-mounted Tolex amps, although it too was covered in Tolex for its last year or two of production.

In addition to its great sound and studio-friendly performance, the Champ’s appeal has remained consistent thanks in part to its relative affordability. As the smallest of the golden-era Fender amps, prices on the vintage market have remained more accessible for the workingman tweed lover. It has also been much copied by several boutique makers, Victoria probably most prominent among them, an easy tell of classic status, and has inspired countless other simple beginner-sized creations that hide pure Champ guts in more original cosmetic guises. Plug into any single-ended (i.e. single-output-tube) sub-10-watter today, and there’s a good chance it has at least a little tweed Champ DNA inside it. – Dave Hunter

George Beauchamp
2015 Innovator
George Beauchamp’s importance in guitar history is often overlooked – at least in part because his name never appeared on an instrument. Nonetheless he was a pioneer of amplification, perhaps the single most important contributor to the birth of the electric guitar. In the mid-1920’s Beauchamp, a vaudeville Hawaiian guitarist, commissioned the Dopyera brothers of Los Angeles to build a guitar with a resonating metal cone instead of a wooden soundboard. This collaborative project led to an entirely new family of Tri-Cone resonator string instruments under the “National” brand that were absolutely unique. The company set up to manufacture them had Beauchamp as manager and John Dopyera as designer, but the two soon fell out. Dopyera left in early 1929, leaving Beauchamp to launch National’s single-cone resonator guitars, extremely popular at the time and still a favorite of blues players today.

Although National’s acoustic resonators were successful, Beauchamp became ever more convinced that the guitar’s future lay with electricity. Finding limited interest at National, he began working on the side to develop a pickup. He reasoned the strongest signal could be produced by using a coil to sense a string passing through a magnetic field; others including Stromberg-Voisinet and Lloyd Loar’s Vivi-Tone were attempting to amplify the vibrations of the bridge or soundboard. Beauchamp’s “horseshoe” magnet pickup, perfected by 1931, proved so superior to other contemporaries it became the de facto standard for nearly all subsequent electric guitars. He was able to convince Adolph Rickenbacher (National’s tool-and-die subcontractor) to back his experiments and they formed the Ro-Pat-In Corporation in late 1931. This company produced the first truly successful electric guitar, the 1932 aluminum-bodied Electro Hawaiian or “Frying Pan.” If Beauchamp’s name had been on the headstock, he would be far better remembered, but Adolph Rickenbacher put up the money and conveniently shared the well-known name of his cousin Eddie, America’s top World War I ace. Electro Guitars were marketed as “Rickenbacker” by 1934, but it was George Beauchamp who oversaw the company’s expanding all-electric line. This included amplifiers, electric guitars (including the still-beloved B-6 Bakelite Hawaiian, and revolutionary Electro Spanish), violins, mandolins and even an upright bass. Into the late ’30s, Rickenbacker remained the market leader in electric instruments, but Beauchamp showed less interest in running the operation once the period of innovation was over. In 1940, he left the company he founded and passed away soon after. Though his name remains relatively obscure, George Beauchamp ought to be better remembered; virtually all electric guitars are descended from his pioneering efforts. – Peter Stuart Kohman

Jeff Beck, Live+
2015 Album of the Year
In his review (August ’15) of Jeff Beck’s latest recorded offering, VG’s Pete Prown cited the odd – but quite welcome – shift in the performer’s modus operandi.

“After years of on and off seclusion, Beck miraculously morphed into a road warrior this past decade,” Prown remarked. “The preponderance of song-oriented material is noteworthy here – unusual for a guy who staked out his career as a fusion instrumentalist.”

With Jimmy Hall providing vocals, Beck digs into “Morning Dew,” Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition,” and Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come.” Then, there is a fantastic instrumental versions of the Mahavishnu Orchestra’s “You Know You Know,” followed by a blend of rock with R&B on “Why Give It Away,” its solo heavy with Uni Vibe-like effects and nasty bends. The Beatles’ “A Day In The Life” is masterfully reinvented, as are the ballads “Where Were You” and “Danny Boy,” where Beck renders “breathtaking” pedal-steel effects, swells, and reverb.

“As he proved more than 40 years ago, Jeff shines on this kind of slower material, and he just nails it to the wall with a fiercely melodic solo dripping with modulation effects and medium overdrive,” said Prown. “For a man whose guitar heroics began 50 years ago in the Yardbirds, the 71-year-old Beck continues to amaze,. Live+ is, essentially, a portrait of the artist as an older man – yet one that continues to blaze a path for all other guitarists to follow. – Ward Meeker

Joe Satriani
2015 Featured Artist of the Year
VG featured Joe Satriani as his latest album, Shockwave Supernova was beginning to hit eardrums around the world. A concept effort noted by interviewer Oscar Jordan for tunes that bridged the gap between traditional blues and the fiery compositions adored by Satch fans, it offered a host of new elements.

Satriani emerged in the late ’80s playing a mix of classical and classic rock influenced by Hendrix and Page, onstage with the help of Ibanez signature models, in the studio often with vintage guitars and amps. In the three decades since releasing his debut, Not of This Earth, he has sold more than 10 million albums while garnering 15 Grammy nominations to go with his six gold and platinum discs (including gold for the debut album by the band Chickenfoot, which includes frontman Sammy Hagar, bassist Michael Anthony, and drummer Chad Smith).

In discussing the new album, Satriani admitted the inherent risk in offering the thematic 15-song effort, which tells the tale of guitarist Shockwave Supernova, who relies on an alterego in order to perform.

“You need some device to give you courage to go out there and do your best,” he said. “He confronts the alter ego and says, ‘It’s time for you to evolve and do something better.’ I used this like a creative device – almost like a personal concept… a concept album for me only. It’s the duality between the introverted guitarist and the theatrical performer.”

Like so many things for so many guitarists, it was inspired, he noted, by one James Marshall Hendrix.

“The day Jimi died, I remember sitting on my couch, reading about my hero. The journalist was talking about the troubles Hendrix had coming to grips with his performing persona. I remember thinking that he was the greatest musician I ever encountered, but I have to make sure I never fall into whatever he fell into. He got trapped into that rock-and-roll circus-clown feeling. He’d look out into the audience and think, ‘They just want me to roll on the ground and play with my teeth.’”

Satriani developed the concept of Shockwave Supernova without any sort of direct narrative. Rather, he wanted to make creative decisions song by song, and explore moods as they related to the character – loose and free-form, but with an overall tone.

In its recording, Satch eschwed the traditional use of amps, opting instead to develop tones via software plug-ins, then with help from John Cuniberti, he created demos running into a SansAmp and a Guitar Rig. Once he’d devised suitable guitar sounds, they ran them out of ProTools and back into Satriani’s Marshalls or Fender tweed combos.

“The question was, ‘How do we blend these guitar sounds so they go together?’” he noted. “I’ve been blessed with being able to work with talented engineers as co-producers to guide me. This record had a larger offering of different guitar techniques than some of my other records, which were more straight-ahead flatpicking and legato.”

This year, he is playing the retrospective “Surfing to Shockwave” Tour, which launches February 25 and makes 48 stops. He also continues to play guest spots on others’ recordings and performances. – Ward Meeker

Brad Paisley
2015 Country Player of the Year
As far as anyone knows, the first country singer to use an amplified guitar and play his own leads was Texas honky tonk vocalist/songwriter Floyd Tillman. Some vocalists playing electric guitars became distinctive instrumental stylists; Merle Travis was one. Add to that Joe Maphis, Buck Owens, Don Rich, Roy Clark, Glen Campbell, Willie Nelson. In more recent decades, that elite group’s expanded to accommodate Steve Wariner, Albert Lee, Bill Kirchen, Vince Gill, Keith Urban – and Brad Paisley.

Whether soloing amid a vocal performance or unleashing one of his explosive instrumentals, Paisley’s picking blends flash, dazzling virtuosity and velocity while remaining solid and musical. His style is an amalgam of his heroes: James Burton, Buck and Don, Roy Nichols, Ray Flacke, Albert Lee and Gill while revealing the influence of Clarence White and other B-bender players. Paisley, inspired by Diamond Rio guitarist Jimmy Olander, favors a G-bender.

Born and raised in the Ohio River town of Glen Dale, West Virginia, Paisley seemed destined for a musical career. His maternal grandfather Warren Jarvis was a retired railroad worker and amateur but passionate country musician. Sensing the gift in his grandson, on Christmas Day, 1980 eight year old Paisley found a Silvertone 1448 amp-in-case model under the tree. Jarvis got him started, then sent him to local guitar great Hank Goddard, who introduced Paisley to the fingerstyle playing of Chet Atkins and the mainstream jazz playing of Johnny Smith and Tal Farlow.

The teenaged Paisley didn’t live by country alone, however. He loved and absorbed the rock guitar titans known to his friends – Eddie Van Halen, Eric Clapton, Richie Sambora, Billy Gibbons, and Angus Young. Playing country at a local event landed him a guest spot on nearby Wheeling’s venerable Grand Ole Opry-like “Jamboree USA,” earning him a place on the show’s regular cast. Committed to a performing career by then, he earned a Music Business Administration Degree at Nashville’s Belmont University.

Who Needs Pictures, his 1999 debut album, revealed a thoroughly modern singer/songwriter unashamed of his country roots. The explosive instrumental “The Nervous Breakdown” introduced the world to a level of virtuosity that equaled his formidable vocal skills. Part II, his 2001 followup album, boasted the dazzling “Munster Rag.” And so it went. He later told VG that on the early records, “I played a little more like a session player would.”

Paisley’s solid string of best-selling singles and albums propelled him to the pinnacle of young country stars, and earned him Grand Ole Opry membership, where admirers spanned several generations of the show’s cast. He even featured several of the Opry’s most venerable legends as guests on his albums. As his stature as a vocalist increased, instrumentals remained part of the equation. On his third album, 2003’s Mud On The Tires, he explored his picking on “Spaghetti Western Swing” with Redd Volkaert and “Make A Mistake With Me.” In a 2005 VG interview, he said of Mud, “I focused a lot more on the guitar playing… than I had before.”

Country-guitar albums were long passé when Paisley used the creative control that accompanies hit singles and albums to record the largely instrumental Play. He swapped licks with B.B. King on “Let The Good Times Roll” and sang “Start A Band” the album’s hit single, with Keith Urban. Wariner joined him for “More Than Just This Song,” honoring deceased mentors, Paisley paying tribute to Goddard and Wariner saluting Chet Atkins. On the Grammy-winning “Cluster Pluck,” Paisley swapped licks with his Telecaster heroes – Burton, Lee, Wariner, Brent Mason, Gill, Volkaert, and Jon Jorgenson. “Les Is More” revealed his jazz chops. His playing remains an integral part of his music onstage and on record, and in an era of Autotune, it’s clear he can handle himself as well with an acoustic guitar and a microphone as he can with a full band in a stadium.

Eighteen years after his debut, Paisley remains a star of the first magnitude, achieving lasting fame and straddling the considerable divide between contemporary and traditional country – no small feat. His tours are events; he’s marketed and merchandised, yet beneath it all is an artist to whom music – always music – rules.

In his book, Diary Of A Player, Paisley declares, “Everything I ever really needed to know about playing guitar I learned before I graduated high school.” Back then, it’s safe to say the last thing he ever expected was that he would become not only an A-list country singer whose stardom has endured for nearly 20 years, but a guitar hero in his own right. – Rich Kienzle

Warren Haynes
2015 Rock Player of the Year
Warren Haynes could hold a lot of titles, including “busiest man in rock and roll.” Most fans know him as a guitarist in two versions of the Allman Brothers Band, but his resumé is full of other gigs for which guitarists would be chomping at the bit. As fellow southern guitarist, Greg Martin, points out, Haynes has paid his dues.

“I first met Warren in early 1982 at the Orpheum Theatre in Memphis,” said Martin. “I was playing with country artist Ronnie McDowell and he was with David Allan Coe. Both artists were riding high in the charts at the time. Warren and I must have sensed we were kindred spirits and hit it off immediately, probably due to our hair and me playing a Les Paul, which was unusual in country music those days. We played another show together in Jackson, Tennessee, the next night and I just sat in the bleachers at the Carl Perkins Coliseum and listened to Warren. I knew he was good, I also knew I would see him again. I took note when he joined Dickey Betts, around 1987. Fast forward to 1989, I was with The Kentucky HeadHunters, Warren was with The Allman Brothers. We had both found what we were looking for and doing what we were meant to do, musically.”

At the time, the Allman Brothers were strong and vibrant after rebounding from a period where their music didn’t meet previously high standards. Haynes recalled that the original Allman Brothers were among his biggest influences, today, a new generation that included Scott Sharrard (now Gregg Allman’s guitarist and musical director) would find the Betts/Haynes combo inspirational.

“The first time I saw the Allman Brothers, after having already seen the Stones, Little Feat, and some other incredible bands, they struck me as having this blend,” Sharrard said. “Even at that young age, it clicked. These guys combined everything I love into something cool! So, I knew I could do this.”

After a long run, Haynes and the late bassist Allen Woody started Gov’t Mule, a band that recorded albums and concerts that included visits from various friends along the way. One of them was jazz great John Scofield. Early 2015 saw the release of a two-hour set recorded in the band’s early days, with Scofield sitting in. Called Sco-Mule, its initial release was set back with the August ’00 passing of Woody – and other things. The music is fun and intense and Scofield said a lot of that has to do with Haynes.

“Warren is not only a great guitarist, but a complete musician who is fascinated by the construction of music. He’s a great band leader, composer, singer, and organizer as well as top-notch guitar strangler.”

Haynes is also involved in various Grateful Dead reunion shows, has popped up at Dave Matthews Band concerts, recently helped the Allmans wrap up their career as a unit, and appeared on countless stages and in studios as a guest. 2015 also saw the release of his first solo album in four years, Ashes & Dust. Its quieter tone was in contrast to 2011’s Man in Motion, but it served to showcase his versatility and sometimes underutilized vocal abilities.

As if he’s not busy enough, Haynes finds time every year to help his home town of Ashville, North Carolina, with his annual Christmas Jam. It started with local musicians getting together to raise money for various charities. Last year, they featured various major acts and raised money for Habitat For Humanity.

“Warren is one of my favorite musicians and people, I can’t say enough about his musicality,” noted Martin. “As a guitarist, he resides in a place that feels good but is constantly searching and evolving. I’ve jammed with him and Gov’t Mule a couple times, and it’s more a musical conversation. I’ll never forget when we first met… God sure has a way of moving His sheep into different pastures at the right time.” – John Heidt

Al Di Meola
2015 Jazz Player of the Year
Asked about his predilection for fast soloing, Al Di Meola replies frankly, “It’s a bunch of bulls**t every time a guitarist says, ‘One note says so much more than 100.’ I always laugh at idiots who make that claim. Tell that to a flamenco player or a classical player. It’s almost a defensive reaction – they take something they lack, attack it, and claim they never wanted it in the first place.”

Never one to sugarcoat his views, Di Meola always speaks his truth. His opinions are supported by a successful 40-year career of adventurous music with more than 24 solo albums, group projects, guest appearances, and millions sold. Avoiding the bop phrasing born from American swing and blues as a veneer for soul, Di Meola favors the sensuality of Latin romanticism.

A disciple of Tal Farlow, Kenny Burrell, and Larry Coryell, his big break came while a student at Boston’s Berklee College of Music. After seeing a live performance of Return To Forever with Earl Klugh filling in for Bill Connors on guitar, a 19-year-old Di Meola decided he had to be in that band. He joined Return To Forever in 1974 and recorded the iconic fusion albums Where Have I Known You Before, No Mystery, and Romantic Warrior before the group disbanded in ’76.

Return To Forever’s break-up allowed Di Meola to pursue a solo career that remains a major influence on guitarists to this day. Retaining the melodicism of Chick Corea, his love of Latin music, and the knowledge that jazz doesn’t always have to swing, Di Meola positioned his guitar front and center. The albums Land Of The Midnight Sun, Elegant Gypsy, and Casino were a huge influence on rock, jazz, and fusion guitarists, and while they continue to receive high praise, it’s his later work that displays his true genius as a composer.

It was “Flight Over Rio,” “Race With Devil On Spanish Highway,” and “Egyptian Danza,” that introduced a generation to Di Meola’s warp-speed alternate picking, immaculate articulation, and signature “Mutola” effect. His evocative cross-cultural lyricism meshed imaginatively with the percussive staccato of his guitar strings, harmonic sophistication, and chromatic crescendos. These recordings sent many guitarists to the woodshed. Among those fans is a who’s who of guitarists that arguably includes every shredder who began their careers in the 1980s.

“When Al hit the scene it changed the face of rock guitar,” noted Steve Vai. “I’m grateful to be brought up in a period where I could study him, practice him, and have him in my life.”

Unceasingly prolific, Di Meola eventually drifted away from electric fusion, due to tinnitus. The last of that era were the albums Splendido Hotel, Electric Rendezvous, and Scenario, with keyboardist Jan Hammer. This led to more compelling acoustic compositions that showcased the depth of his composing as heard on Cielo e Terra, Kiss My Axe, and Orange And Blue.

Exploring tango, flamenco, the music of Brazil, and the Middle East, he soon replaced Larry Coryell in The Guitar Trio that featured John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucia. This culminated in the 1981 release of one of the most popular acoustic albums of all time, Friday Night In San Francisco. In ’95, he joined bassist Stanley Clarke and violinist Jean-Luc Ponty for The Rite of Strings, which was recorded after their world tour.

Di Meola’s World Sinfonia pushed the boundaries of acoustic fusion by incorporating jazz harmony with South-American landscapes. His interest in Argentinian tango legend Astor Piazolla spawned the critically acclaimed tribute album Di Meola Plays Piazolla. The new millennium saw Di Meola continue his use of lush textures, cutting edge technology, complex syncopation, and spellbinding sense of clave. Flesh On Flesh, Consequence of Chaos, and Diabolic Inventions And Seduction For Solo Guitar, are but a few of the highlights.

“I heard Al, and he was a master of picking fast with staccato and the harmonic minor. I thought ‘That’s amazing! I’ll never be able to do that.’” said Vinnie Moore. “But, I figured if I could just come close, it would be really cool.”

In 2008, Return to Forever reunited and released the live album Returns, bringing Di Meola’s career full circle. Upon leaving the tour he followed with Pursuit of Radical Rhapsody, All Your Life (A Tribute To The Beatles), and his current album, Elysium. He’s revisited the music of Elegant Gypsy on tour, is an enduring poll-winner, and remains an international touring virtuoso and visionary composer. – By Oscar Jordan

B.B. King
2015 Blues Player of the Year
When B.B. King passed in May of 2015, VG fielded an unprecedented volume of correspondence from guitarists of all ilks and points in the hierarchy. Their reverence was obvious and well-stated.

Born Riley B. King on September 16, 1925, in Itta Bena, Mississippi, a teacher inspired him to seek a life beyond sharecropping and a preacher introduced him to the guitar. Following the path set by T-Bone Walker, he transitioned from radio entertainer to, by the late ’40s, building a reputation around the South as the Beale Street Blues Boy. He scored his first #1 hit, “Three O’Clock Blues,” in 1951 after recording it at Sun Studios.

King was truly peerless. Beyond his ability to pull up an audience up via a single long, vibratoed note, he exhibited an incomparable charisma and style, and his influence carried far beyond the way he plucked a guitar. Anyone who shared even a moment with King tells of his generous nature, and those who witnessed a performance by the man in his prime can readily recall the drama and energy of the event.

The list of players affected and influenced by King reads like the proverbial “who’s who,” and includes many modern guitar heres – Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, Carlos Santana, George Benson, Larry Carlton, Mark Knopfler, and Otis Rush have all related his impact, borrowed his licks, or exhibited the obvious influence of his phrasing, as did late legends Mike Bloomfield, Jimi Hendrix, and Stevie Ray Vaughan.

“I will remember B.B. as the string-bending, vibrato-shaking blues master leading my generation of guitarists to soulfulness,” Larry Coryell told VG, while Robben Ford added, “…his life was an utter triumph and his effect on the world so magnificent.”

“It’s difficult to fathom a world without B.B. King,” said Billy Gibbons. “He’s been with me literally since the dawn of my musical consciousness [and] we were privileged to spend time in B.B.’s presence on numerous occasions. He was warm-hearted, generous, and giving… we hold him in absolutely the highest regard as both a transcendentally talented guitarist and entertainer, as well as a truly wonderful human being whose spirit will always be with us.”

“The gifts B.B. gave us will be with us forever – a legacy of class, style, and a bagful of blue notes that will be played every day, but never quite as soulful as when he played them,” said Steve Lukather.

“B.B. King will always be one of those giants inspiring in me the belief that it might be possible to spend a life in music, and that playing the guitar is a worthy endeavor,” recalled Bill Frisell. “It’s hard to imagine him gone. The first time I saw him live was in the mid ’70s at Paul’s Mall, in Boston. I was in the first row, inches from the stage. The band came out without him and sounded incredible. Then, he walked on, and with his first note – one note – stunned! He brought the level up about a thousand notches. I’ve never heard that kind of power. The beautiful kind. What a night. I’ll never forget it.

“As soon as my daughter learned to walk, she found a cassette with B.B. King and Bobby Bland, and played it until the machine wore out,” Frisell added. “He touched everyone. How could I ever thank him? We are blessed.” – Ward Meeker

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