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Michael Dregni
Country Roads
It’s a fine time to be an old-school country music fan, what with the current crop of albums featuring classic songwriting and downhome hot picking. Dave Alvin and Jimmie Dale Gilmore’s duet proves the point. It’s a marriage made in some sort of honky-tonk heaven: along with their solo ventures, Alvin hails from the Blasters…
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Michael Dregni
National Dueco
Still Resonating
Blues man Charlie Parr recently philosophized in VG that National resonator guitars are as much mechanical creation as musical instrument, which is why maintaining the function of vintage Nationals comes with a special set of worries and woes. Since its founding in 1989, National Reso-Phonic Guitar has re-created many great vintage models – and remedied…
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Michael Dregni
Fender The Edge Strat, Edge Deluxe Amp
What You’re Looking For
Leo Fender once famously said, “A guitar is just a hammer.” If you haven’t yet found a hammer that fits like it should, this may be it. After U2 guitarist The Edge signed on to Fender’s board of directors in 2014, everyone expected a signature guitar was forthcoming – and that it would likely be…
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Michael Dregni
How Ron Wood’s New Barbarians Saved the Stones
Ear-to-Ear Violence
Today, the Rolling Stones continue to perform live, more than 50 years since their first gig. But few realize how an unsung side project formed and funded by Ron Wood played a pivotal role when the band was on the verge of collapse. Here’s a look at the story.
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Michael Dregni
Manouche Latcho Drom Swing 42
Hot Club Hot Stuff
In the galaxy of Gypsy jazz guitars, the Modèle Special Chorus made by Sicilian-born, Parisian-based Antoine Di Mauro was something special. Departing from the standard Selmer grande and petite bouche models, Di Mauro added stylized f-holes for a unique, transatlantic look – as well as a distinctive voice. Today, vintage Special Chorus guitars of the…
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Michael Dregni
Various Artists
Pure Country
Amidst the torrent of modern-country anthems praising pickup trucks, beer, bros, and sweet things in tight jeans gushing out of Nashville these days, there’s an undercurrent of stellar music that’s also making waves. Listen hard to the radio and you might even hear it. Jason Isbell’s latest solo shot ranks with his best. His songwriting…
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Michael Dregni
The Routes
In This Perfect Hell
Think old-school Zombies crossed with new-thing Arctic Monkeys: the result may just be the Routes. The guitar-bass-drum trio is part classic Brit invasion rockers with period-perfect gear, part hypnotic proto psychedelia – yet with a harder-core modern edge to their sound. Guitarman Chris Jack fronts the band, armed with an arsenal of Selmer amps and…
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Michael Dregni
Booker White’s 1933 National Duolian
Hard Traveled
“Hard Rock.” That’s the name used by Mississippi blues man Booker White to christen his 1933 National Duolian. And Hard Rock was a hard-traveled guitar – much like White himself. Booker Talifiero Washington White had many a nickname too, a testament to his years as a cotton picker, mule driver, hobo, Negro League shortstop/pitcher, boxer,…
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Michael Dregni
Pieta Brown and Valerie June
Singer/songwriter Pieta Brown enlists talent – and lots of it – to back her ethereal songs and vocals on her latest. Calexico lends a hand with the opener “In The Light” while Mark Knopfler plays along on the jaunty “Street Tracker” and David Lindley slides through “Take Me Home.” The best, though, may be Brown’s…
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Michael Dregni
James Luther Dickinson
I’m Just Dead, I’m Not Gone/Lazarus Edition
Let’s get it straight from the get-go; Jim Dickinson was primarily a piano player. But he was also one of the great music makers of Memphis – which is saying a lot in a town whose lore included Sam Phillips, Stax’s Al Bell and Steve Cropper, the Ardent Studios and Hi Records crews, and many…
