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Artists
Joey Molland
The word “underrated” is belabored in music journalism, but Joey Molland was just that. As co-guitarist in Badfinger, he was part of a quartet signed to the Beatles’ Apple Records, yielding glorious AM hits like “Come and Get It,” “Day After Day,” and “No Matter What.” The foursome fell into obscurity and tragedy a few
John Ellis
John Ellis, proprietor of Ellis Guitars, died January 6 in Temple, Texas. He was 75. Ellis was born near Amarillo before his family moved to California when he was a…
John 5
In the Hands
On his latest album, John 5 stays true to himself as he dips into his famous bag of Tele tricks with mastery and humor. Mr 5 does it all, from…
Uwe Kruger
Swiss Precision for Americana
Uwe Kruger’s professional musical career began at age 15, when he and his brother, Jens, left their small town home in Switzerland to busk in the cities of Europe. Quickly,…
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Duke Robillard – Lowdown
Vintage Guitar is happy to offer the premier of the new music video by Grammy nominee Duke Robillard. “Lowdown” is the first single from his upcoming album, Blast Off!, set for release February 20 on Nola Blue Records. “When thinking about a powerful song to launch the album, I chose a hard-rocking Tom Waits tune
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David Bowie’s Young Americans
David Bowie was always creatively restless. The English musician decided to step away from the glam rock he’d recorded for a few albums concluding with 1974’s Diamond Dogs, which included a few songs with tinges of soul, R&B, and funk. On tour promoting the album, he played a handful of soul covers. Bowie had long
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Fretprints: Cream’s Disraeli Gears
Supergroup Alpha
Jack Bruce claimed Cream was two bands – live trio and studio group. Live, bassist Bruce, guitarist Eric Clapton, and drummer Ginger Baker were renowned for their highly improvisatory, powerful performance that was unprecedented in rock. Moreover, they were actually a jazz group (“…we just didn’t tell Eric,” Bruce said), as exemplified by their excursions
Tommy Skeoch
Rock and Roll Forever
Tommy Skeoch is revered for delivering guitar tone with equal parts attitude and guttural conviction. Since his departure from Tesla in 2006, he has kept busy teaching and recorded two…
Frank Ford
Frank Ford, a renowned guitar builder and co-founder of Gryphon Stringed Instruments, passed away December 17. He was 79 and suffered complications due to congestive heart failure. A native of…
Joe Satriani
Satch's Surfin' Turns 20
Photo: Lisa Sharken. It’s been 20 years since the release of Joe Satriani’s landmark album, Surfin’ with the Alien , the instrumental platter that put “shred guitar” on the map…
Steve Lukather
Sun Shine
Steve Lukather has been a busy professional guitarist for 45 of his 63 years, as a founding member of Toto, revered session musician who played on countless hits, and solo…
Sam Kiszka
Ethereal Energy
Guitar rock in 2023 doesn’t get bigger or ballsier than Greta Van Fleet. A veritable steamroller since “Highway Tune” launched in 2017, the band’s second EP, From The Fires, won…
Les Paul
The Legend and a New Book
The Early Years of the Les Paul Legacy, 1915-1963 Les Paul is an acknowledged musical icon who influenced so much and many in his 92 years, yet he still has…
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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
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Javier Batiz
Mexican guitarist Javier Batiz, a teacher and inspiration to Carlos Santana and other musicians, passed away December 14 at his home in Tijuana, Baja California. He was 80. Known as the “Godfather of Mexican Rock,” “La Layenda” (The Legend) and other sobriquets, Batiz came to appreciate American blues guitarists such as B.B. King and John
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Josh Meader
Jazz Evolution
Josh Meader is a jazz and fusion player who breaks ground with virtuosity that’s never flashy for its own sake. On his new album, Tide of Times, the young Aussie ace blends styles on a dime, hybridizing music before our eyes; videos online include an especially stunning non-album rendition of “Misty.” It’s fascinating, seeing Meader
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Chris Walz
Debut, Long Time Coming
Chris Walz has done his share of performing. He played young Woody in the stage production of Woody Guthrie’s American Song. From the late ’90s to 2001, Walz toured and recorded with banjo player Greg Cahill’s Special Consensus bluegrass band. And for 10 years he took the role of guitarist Fred Hellerman in Weavermania, a
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Greg Koch
Way Of The Gristle
On Blues, Greg Koch reaches the outskirts of infinity with an album that showcases his wicked guitar skills and love for Muddy Waters. Flying V blues master Larry McCray drops by with the Memphis Horns, and the result is a passionate pentatonic party with soul and fireworks. How did this album come about?Devon Allman had
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Rik Emmett
Canadian Custom
Rik Emmett is a master of many guitar styles and other artistic endeavors. As co-lead vocalist/guitarist in the hard-rock trio Triumph from 1975 to ’88, he experienced life as a rock star, then released a string of solo albums, a book of poetry, and an autobiography. His latest project, Ten Telecaster Tales, is a book
Kristian Borring
Up From Down Under
Born in Denmark, Kristian Borring now lives in one of the most-remote major cities on earth – Perth, on the far western coast of Australia – yet is making international…
Tony Iommi
Heaven and Hell: This Mob Still Rules!
Toni Iommi photo: Rick Gould. There is an undeniable power generated when certain musicians join forces. That is most definitely the case with Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Vinny Appice, and…
Gibson’s “SG” Les Paul
Classic Shape That Filled Big Shoes
In 1961, Gibson replaced the single-cutaway Les Paul with a new line of lighter, thinner, mahogany double-cut solidbodies. Developed under the aegis of Ted McCarty and introduced as the “new…
Marah
The Kids Are Back in Philly
The south-Philly band Marah, led by brothers Dave and Serge Bielanko, has always danced to the backbeat of its own drummer. Now, they’re releasing a remastered and expanded version of…
Brad Paisley
Keep Pushing Play
Ten years into what has become a stellar career, when Brad Paisley hits your town to play a show these days, it’s with nine semi tractor-trailer rigs and a fleet…
George Benson
Breezin’ With The Boss of Jazz Guitar
Grammy winner and music legend George Benson has lived a guitarist’s dream. Bridging the gap between pop and jazz helped him sell millions of albums and made him a figurehead…
Dave Specter
Chicago Deep Dish
There are many styles of blues guitar, from haunting Delta acoustic to volcanic blues-rock. Hailing from the mecca of Chicago, Dave Specter plays electric blues that comes from deep immersion…
Frank Marino
Thunder Out of Quebec
Photo courtesy of Frank Marino. Canadian fretmeister Frank Marino first came to prominence in the early 1970s, fronting Mahogany Rush. Often compared to Jimi Hendrix, Marino’s songwriting, playing, and singing…
Mark Knoll
It's about Time
Despite spending three-quarters of his life as a professional musician, singing and playing blistering lead guitar in various groups, until very recently Mark Knoll hadn’t done a record full of…
Steve Knight’s Vibey Jazz
Chicago native leans into the Benson/Green playbook on “Suspects” Chicago-based jazzer Steve Knight used his Benedetto 16B to play this version of “Suspects” (from his new album, “Persistence”) exclusively…
Oz Noy
Dishing Out More Twisted Blues
Oz Noy is talented enough to pay the bills not only as a first-call New York session cat, but also as a prolific creative force in contemporary fusion. His current…
Six-Strings, 60 Years Ago
A Likely First
Had he survived to this day, Elvis Presley – cultural icon extraordinaire – would be 80 years old. The man who would rise from very modest means to become arguably…
Rik Emmett
Canadian Custom
Rik Emmett is a master of many guitar styles and other artistic endeavors. As co-lead vocalist/guitarist in the hard-rock trio Triumph from 1975 to ’88, he experienced life as a…
Todd Park Mohr
Steady Base
The latest album from Colorado’s Big Head Todd and the Monsters, New World Arisin’, delivers what fans have come expect from a band that has spent slightly longer than three…
Pop ’N Hiss: The Rolling Stones’ Beggars Banquet
Feast Your Ears
The Rolling Stones were back. Well, they’d never really gone anywhere, but most fans thought they’d lost their way with 1967’s psychedelic experiment Their Satanic Majesties Request. Widely considered rivals…
Ernie Isley
Burning Desire
Contrary to what longtime fans may have heard, Ernie Isley didn’t take guitar lessons from Jimi Hendrix. Though Ernie hung out with Hendrix in the Isley’s home while Jimi was…
Buck Dharma
Regarding the Reaper and Other Recollections
During the hard rock decade of the ’70s, Long Island’s Blue Oyster Cult proffered a decidedly different approach to loud, guitar-based music. The combo’s dark ruminations garnered it a controversial…
Christopher Thorn
Alt-Rocker/Studio Guru
Best known as half of the guitar tandem in the ’90s alternative-rock band Blind Melon (that’s his rhythm on “No Rain,” using his Gibson J-30), Christopher Thorn has since recorded…
Larry Carlton
The Return of Mr. 335
Face it. If you’re a guitarist and listened to any music in the past 30 years, you’ve been influenced by Larry Carlton. One of the most recorded players in history,…
Webb Wilder
Full-Grown Rocker Comes Full Circle
The V is a reissue, but the solidstate Gretsch Nashville amp is all original. Photo: Tom Comet. In 1986, when singer/guitarist Webb Wilder and producer/songwriter R.S. “Bobby” Field pressed up…
David Hidalgo Plays Joe Walsh’s ’59 Les Paul
David Hidalgo Plays Joe Walsh’s ’59 Les Paul The video that helped convince Joe Walsh to reunite with his (now favorite!) ’59 Gibson Les Paul. Los Lobos’ David Hidalgo…
