•  Joey Molland

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     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

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Humble Pie At the Fillmore

Frampton Reflects

By the time Humble Pie reached “breakthrough” status in the U.S. thanks to its live album, Performance – Rockin’ the Fillmore, Peter Frampton had departed and begun to beat the…

Dario Lorina

Black Label Soloist

Best known as Zakk Wylde’s right-hand man in Black Label Society, Dario Lorina is an accomplished shredder in his own right, as evidenced by his second solo/instrumental album, Death Grip…

Classics: June 2022

David Hood’s Alembic Bass

Like the engineers and musicians who, in the ’60s and ’70s, helped create legendary songs at FAME Studios and its offshoot, Muscle Shoals Sound, Frank Manno is a diehard music…

Dweezil Zappa

Solo Sounds

To properly perform the music composed by his father, Frank, Dweezil Zappa had to revamp his playing style. The fruits of his labors can be heard on his new solo…

Bill Frisell

Bill Frisell

For the December ’14 issue of Vintage Guitar magazine, Dan Forte interviewed Bill Frisell. Here’s a look at the many guitars used by the ultra-versatile superpicker. The issue is available at www.store.vintageguitar.com. This…

Mark Elf

Mark Elf

After the Storm

The latest album from guitarist Mark Elf shot to the top of the jazz charts, but the route to success for Mark Elf Returns 2014 wasn’t so easy. “I was…

Joel Shapira

Solo Flight

Guitarist Joel Shapira has released a string of fine recordings, but his latest, In Essence, is his first stab at solo guitar. While the concept has been percolating in his…

Ronnie Montrose

Remembering Ronnie

Phillips Finishes Guitarist’s Final Recordings

Ricky Phillips has many fond memories of his friendship and musical association with Ronnie Montrose (1947-2012). The bassist is finishing a recording project by the late guitarist on which he…

Jon Butcher

Beyond the Axis

One of the most-influential guitarists to emerge from Boston, Jon Butcher has just released his 14th album, 2Roads East.  We caught up with Butcher as he prepared to tour. 2Roads…

Matteo Mancuso

Journey Into the Future

Emerging as a social-media sensation several years ago, Matteo Mancuso is changing the way we see and hear guitar. Using a radical fingerstyle attack, the Italian ace handles his electric…

Trey Gunn

Touch-Guitar Tip of the Hat

When profiled by Vintage Guitar in 1992, Trey Gunn was playing a Chapman Stick alongside guitarist Robert Fripp in a band called Sunday All Over the World. Gunn’s two-handed tenacity…

Joe Negri

Royal Handyman, Jazz Legend

Long before becoming Handyman Negri on “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” he had already been a teen guitar prodigy, first-generation bopper, and a peer of the giants of jazz guitar. Though New…

Peter Frampton

Frampton Comes Around

Peter Frampton is in an upbeat mood, mainly because his decades-long career as a guitarist, singer, and songwriter was also headed back in an upward direction. Since Vintage Guitar‘s first…

Sheryl Bailey

New Ground in The SBQ

Sheryl Bailey has enjoyed a steady upward trajectory since her career launched 20 years ago. One of the leading proponents of modern jazz guitar, she was dubbed “one of the…

Ewan Currie

Hairy Tones in The Sheepdogs

There are a lot of retro bands, but few get the sonics correct. Hailing from central Canada, The Sheepdogs conjure an authentic vintage sound right down to guitar tones once…

Freddie King’s Gibson ES-345 Keeps on Playin’

Family Ties

Watching her baby boy become rapt whenever his grandma played country blues on her guitar, Ella May King had a notion… So, as soon as his tiny hands could fret…

Eric Bibb plays “Bring Me a Little Water, Sylvie”

Soulful Blues Beyond I-IV-V Sensational fingerstylist Eric Bibb uses the ’47 Levin Model 13 Ambassadör to honor us with a bit of Lead Belly’s “Bring Me a Little Water, Sylvie,”…

Steve Earle

Guitar Talk

Photos by John Peden. Though bandied about haphazardly and almost always inappropriate, when applied to the life and times of Steve Earle, the adjective “extreme” is not hyperbole. The acclaimed…

Marshall Crenshaw

Rock & Roll Renaissance Man

Marshall Crenshaw is nothing if not an enigma – which is ironic, since his music (whether played and sung by him or covered by other artists) is so infectious and…

Al Di Meola

Still Elegant

For close to 45 years, Al Di Meola’s career has brimmed with guitar virtuosity, taking him from red-hot fusion to enchanting Latin and world-music textures. After a few years touring…

Pop ’N Hiss: Deep Purple’s Machine Head

Definitive Riffs

Now regarded as the “Beethoven’s 5th” of rock and roll, “Smoke on the Water” became a surprise hit in the summer of ’73 thanks to its simple, massive guitar riff.…

Frank DiBussolo

Jazz Master

Frank DiBussolo is an eight-time Grammy nominee who has been a featured soloist in the bands of Buddy Rich, Dizzy Gillespie, and Art Blakey. He has also accompanied Frank Sinatra,…

Warren Haynes

Peace, Love, and Rock & Roll

Warren Haynes and his Gov’t Mule crew aren’t the kind of guys to let something like a pandemic slow them down. During the height of the Covid lockdown, they hauled…

Pop ’N Hiss: Joe Satriani’s Surfing With The Alien

Spacey Hang Ten

The ’80s were teeming with music ranging from pop-metal to new wave, thrash metal, blues revivals, and the New Romantic movement. Mid-decade, an instrumental rock-guitar album improbably rode the tide.…

Manouche courtesy of La Pompe Attack

(Gypsy) Jazzin’ a James Taylor Tune La Pompe Attack shows us their take on James Taylor’s “Traffic Jam,” from their new album, “Putt Lake Toodleloo,” with Doug Munro on his…

John Pizzarelli

From Good Places

Last year, John Pizzarelli and his trio celebrated their 10th anniversary with a double-CD, Live At Birdland. Ten years is certainly an achievement in the music industry, but John and…

Bob Cowsill Plays a Topical Tune

New Cowsills album is an impressive self-contained work Before the Jackson 5 and the Osmonds, The Cowsills scored four Top 40 hits in the late ’60s. Here, Bob Cowsill used…

Thom Douvan

Thom Douvan

Motown and More

Released in April, guitarist Thom Douvan’s third album, All Over Again, is a mix of self-penned instrumentals (with one notable exception) that utilizes a plethora of classic guitars to embellish…

DAN ROSE AND HIS TASTY TAKE ON A CLASSIC

DAN ROSE AND HIS TASTY TAKE ON A CLASSIC! Dan Rose used his ’58 ES-175 (with a PAF at the neck) plugged into a Fishman Loudbox to play the Rodgers…

Jim Campilongo

Taking Chances With Kindness

Fans of forward-thinking Telecaster spank and cluck will get a kick out of Jim Campilongo’s new album, Live At Rockwood. What he does with two hands and a guitar plugged…