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The Mystery Lights: Garage Punk Meets Musicianship

The Mystery Lights’ Mike Brandon used his ’60s Silvertone 1429 plugged into a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe for this exclusive run through “Together Lost,” from their new album, “Purgatory.” Catch our review in the January issue. Read Now!

Thom Rotella’s Wes Flashback!

Guitarist Thom Rotella is a protégé of the legendary Tommy Tedesco and lists heroes including Montgomery, Green, Benson, and Martino. Here, he and his custom-made TV Jones archtop play “Who Dat?” through a ’63 Fender Concert and a late-’60s Deluxe Reverb. The song is from his latest album, “Side Hustle,” which we review in the January issue. Read Now!

Ronnie Baker Brooks: Windy City Blues Hero

Second-generation blues master Ronnie Baker Brooks grabbed his a custom Gibson ES-336, a Tube Screamer, and his reissue Fender Super Reverb to play the title track from his new album, “Blues In My DNA.” Catch our review and an interview with Ronnie in the January issue. Read Now!

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The Mystery Lights: Garage Punk Meets Musicianship

The Mystery Lights’ Mike Brandon used his ’60s Silvertone 1429 plugged into a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe for this exclusive run through “Together Lost,” from their new album, “Purgatory.” Catch our review in the January issue. Read Now!

Thom Rotella’s Wes Flashback!

Guitarist Thom Rotella is a protégé of the legendary Tommy Tedesco and lists heroes including Montgomery, Green, Benson, and Martino. Here, he and his custom-made TV Jones archtop play “Who Dat?” through a ’63 Fender Concert and a late-’60s Deluxe Reverb. The song is from his latest album, “Side Hustle,” which we review in the January issue. Read Now!

Ronnie Baker Brooks: Windy City Blues Hero

Second-generation blues master Ronnie Baker Brooks grabbed his a custom Gibson ES-336, a Tube Screamer, and his reissue Fender Super Reverb to play the title track from his new album, “Blues In My DNA.” Catch our review and an interview with Ronnie in the January issue. Read Now!

I am text block. Click edit button to change this text. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.

Artists

Michael Bloomfield’s ’63 Telecaster

This Guitar Killed Folk!

A silver-spoon teen who loved sneaking into Chicago’s southside blues clubs, Michael Bloomfield reveled in absorbing all he could from the many legendary players he saw perform in the city’s famed joints. The de facto lessons served Bloomfield well as he went on to contribute to the works of many famed performers while forging his […]

by Ward Meeker
Music

The Alligator Christmas Collection

Various artists

First released in 1992, this cornucopia of blues is now on red vinyl, celebrating the spirit of the season. The opener sets the tone, the late Koko Taylor singing “Merry, Merry Christmas” with Criss Johnson’s stinging lead guitar over the chords of Calvin Louden. Lil’ Ed & The Blues Imperials deliver a fierce “I’m Your […]

by Pete Prown
Music

Arlen Roth & Jerry Jemmott

Super Soul Session

Roth is well-known for his “Hot Licks” instructional videos and method books. But his career is far from academic, having toured and recorded with Bob Dylan, Duane Eddy, and John Sebastian, devoted albums to the music of Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel, and the Rolling Stones, and reeled in the likes of Steve Cropper, Albert Lee, […]

Music

Larkin Poe

Blood Harmony

The latest from the Nashville-based multi-instrumentalist Lovell sisters continues to fashion elements of Southern rock, blues, and wicked slide guitar into a creative juggernaut. Megan wields enviable feel and sensuous perfect pitch and maturity on lap steel and resonator. She also sings harmony, while Rebecca belts out touching stories and doubles on keys and rhythm […]

Music

Eric Krasno

Always

On his fourth full-length solo record, two-time Grammy winner Krasno continues to explore the subdivisions of blues, soul, funk, and blaxploitation-film soundtracks. As the founder of Soulive and Lettuce, he also has producer credits for artists like Aaron Neville, Norah Jones, and John Mayer. Co-produced by Otis McDonald, Always displays Krasno’s growth as a vocalist/musician/songwriter/producer, […]

VG Approved Gear

Collings I-30 LC

Desert Island Axe

If you found yourself stranded on that proverbial desert isle with – horror of horrors – just a single guitar at your disposal, the Collings I-30 LC just might make you one blissful castaway. That combo of playability and tone comes courtesy of Collings’ version of a lightweight, fully hollow 335 body shape, a sweet […]

Classic Instruments

Burke Guitar

Axe That Time Forgot

For more than 70 years, aluminum has been a component in guitar construction. Exactly whose idea it was originally has never been a cut-and-dried matter of fact, but it has amply provided cud for the world’s guitar animals to chew upon. In his November ’04 column “The Different Strummer: Al-u-minium!,” VG contributor Michael Wright offered […]

Artists

Southern Boogie from Chickasaw Mudd Puppies

Band jams on acoustic “Flatcar” take “The South is a complex and nuanced place,” says Ben Reynolds of his native Georgia. Geography and Southern bands have for decades influenced his work in Chickasaw Mudd Puppies. Here, with help from dobroist William Tonks and bassist Rob Keller, he offers an unplugged taste of “Flatcar,” from their […]

VG Approved Gear

Peavey Delta Blues 115 Tweed

Livin’ Large

Most of us have been so conditioned to accept 12″ guitar speakers that we forget there are good options. While traditionally employed by bassists, 15″ speakers have also been used by the likes of Stevie Ray and Jimmie Vaughan, Dick Dale, Chris Duarte, and pedal-steel guitarists to get seriously fat tones. Peavey keeps the 1×15 […]

Mike Rutherford
Artists

Mike Rutherford

Re-Living The Years

Mike Rutherford prefers focusing on the future, even if recent projects have required the guitarist/bassist to think about life. Late 2014 saw the release of a three-CD retrospective, R-Kive, featuring favorites from his days in Genesis as well as selections from band members’ solo careers, and Sum of the Parts, a feature-length documentary that uses […]

Artists

Alex Lifeson

Fresh Sonic Horizons

What do you do when you’re the beloved guitarist in a legendary band whose career was ended by the premature passing of a core member? When you’re Alex Lifeson, you move forward creatively, and explore a new realm of playing. The result is Envy of None, consisting of Lifeson, bassist/guitarist/programmer Andy Curran (formerly of Coney […]

VG Approved Gear

Guild Polara Kim Thayil

Get Your Grunge

With Soundgarden, guitarist Kim Thayil helped define the grunge movement. His unusual weapon of choice was the Guild S-100 Polara, a solidbody often unfairly compared to the Gibson SG. Soundgarden may have disbanded years ago, but Guild has nonetheless seen fit to honor Thayil with a signature-model Polara influenced by his original ’70s S-100s. Made […]

VG Approved Gear

Gibson’s “Non-Reverse” ’Birds

In the ’60s, Gibson strived mightily to meet the demands of players of all levels while also working to maintain its image as industry leader. One of its primary attempts at the latter involved the Firebird guitars and Thunderbird basses introduced in ’63. Marked by innovative neck-through construction, unique features and looks, the Thunderbird’s full-size scale […]

Classic Instruments

Gibson Les Paul Model

Solidbody MVP

Its official name – Les Paul model – doesn’t do it justice. After all, Gibson has made more than a hundred Les Paul models through the years. But call it by its nickname – “goldtop” – and everyone knows you’re talking about Gibson’s first solidbody electric guitar. Like many important guitar stories, the goldtop story […]

Artists

Eliza Gilkyson

Not Your Typical Folkie

“My dad was my biggest influence, especially melodically. He loved dark melodies,” says Eliza Gilkyson of her father, the late Terry Gilkyson. As the title of her latest CD hints, The Nocturne Diaries mostly habitates the darker side. Her dad sang with the Weavers in the Folk Boom and co-wrote the Dean Martin hit “Memories […]

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 […]

Artists

John Pizzarelli Swings On A Vintage D’angelico

Jazz Ace on an Heirloom Guitar For this exclusive rendition of “Just In Time,” swing ace John Pizzarelli grabbed the D’Angelico Model B that was played by his late (and legendary) father, Bucky, on Ray Charles’ 1960 #1 hit “Georgia On My Mind.” Catch the John Pizzarelli Trio on tour now, and read our review […]

Music

Phil Lynott

Songs For While I’m Away

A rock-doc of Thin Lizzy’s fabled frontman, this film traces the singer/bassist’s life through interviews from bandmates, family, and friends. A half-black child in 1950s and ’60s Dublin, Lynott grew into a tough, force-of-nature rocker – yet never lost the Irish roots in his lyrics. Along the way, Phil ran with Les Paul rippers like […]

VG Approved Gear

Homestead Amps HS50

Tone On The Range

So, Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown and Waylon Jennings walk into a bar… No, wait, they walk into a NAMM Show. And, no joke, when they carry their iconic tooled-leather Firebird and Tele, respectively, past the Homestead HS50, with its eyecatching raised-pattern “Country & Western Brown” cover, they have no choice but to turn around and plug […]

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