Absorbing and exuding great vibes from his living room, Philip Sayce and his PRS Silver Sky (plugged into a ’68 Super Reverb) play “Lady Love Divine,” one of the fine tunes from his latest album, “The Wolves Are Coming.” Catch our interview with Philip in the April issue. Read Now!
Absorbing and exuding great vibes from his living room, Philip Sayce and his PRS Silver Sky (plugged into a ’68 Super Reverb) play “Lady Love Divine,” one of the fine tunes from his latest album, “The Wolves Are Coming.” Catch our interview with Philip in the April issue. Read Now!
One of the least un-derstood aspects of American guitar history is the role of musical instrument distributors. It’s one thing to be able to manufacture guitars, but quite another to get them to customers, especially in an era when your purchase was likely to be from a local store or teacher (excepting mail order). Enthusiasts […]
Read more
Calling Steve Dawson a “roots” artist seems a disservice to a musician so eclectic and wildly talented. On Eyes Closed, Dreaming, he effortlessly mixes earthy rock and roll, soul, Hawaiian, country, and blues highlighted by dextrous slide and superior acoustic fingerpicking. When he’s not recording and touring, Dawson hosts a podcast called “Music Makers and […]
Read more
The latest album from Grammy-nominated axe-slinging sisters Rebecca and Megan Lovell is a showcase of artists rising to new heights. Full of heartfelt tales and brawny guitar tones, Blood Harmony is an exhibition of craft that mines great stories from scribes of the American south and mixes them with elements of Southern rock, blues, and […]
Read moreAmong rock bassists, Billy Sheehan has been a standout in four decades. Whether with Talas in the ’70s, tapping toe-to-toe with Steve Vai in the ’80s incarnation of David Lee Roth’s band, or forming the chart-topping Mr. Big in the ’90s, his name has always been right there with the elite. Having recently completed his […]
Strike up a conversation with anyone who records music and they’ll talk your ear off about mics and preamps. If you want to make your guitar and vocals sound good in a home studio, the right “front end” tools are critical. The Golden Age Pre-73 MkIII is an affordable preamp whose job is to make […]
After 29 years on the road, Bonnie Raitt guitarist George Marinelli decided to take a break. Stepping into the role will be Boston native Duke Levine. The youngest of five, Levine had older brothers with Stones and Beatles records along with Paul Butterfield albums featuring Michael Bloomfield on guitar. One brother, Rick, had a band […]
The unique and insular Bentonia style may be the deepest and darkest of all blues. Skip James personified the music: he sang haunted songs in an eerie, high-pitched voice that would send a cold shiver down even Robert Johnson’s back. Henry Stuckey was the first known musician to come from the remote Mississippi crossroads; he […]
Henry James Schneekluth handles the groovy guitar parts in Robert Jon & The Wreck. While impassioned Southern rock might be an easy category to pigeonhole this killer band, there’s more to The Wreck than meets the ear. We caught up to Schneekluth while they were working on a full-length album with Kevin Shirley producing. How does […]
Pigtail music makes ABR-style and wraparound bridges (in the U.S.) with vintage-style appearance and materials, but to tighter tolerances. Their bridges hold saddles in place by friction (not with a retaining wire) when a string breaks, and the posts fit snugly to their bridge. The result is a higher transfer of vibration, resulting in better […]
When news of the passing of Les Paul spread through the guitar community August 13, 2009, reaction was swift and heartfelt. Claimed by complications of severe pneumonia at a hospital in White Plain, New York, Paul was 94. His name is synonymous with Gibson’s early solidbody electric guitars, and for a time he was one […]
Gibson is widely known for its guitars, mandolins, and banjos, but many are unaware the company built instruments for nearly 30 brands for several distributors and music store chains, primarily from the 1920s through the early ’40s. Some of the best-known names include Kalamazoo, distributed by Gibson, and Recording King, which was distributed by Montgomery […]
Buying a guitar made by Kiesel starts with a visit to the company’s website, where you’ll find a bevy of custom options for its American-made instruments. The designs include solidbody and semi-hollow models that have impressed many high-profile players – think Craig Chaquico, Greg Howe, Allan Holdsworth, and Frank Gambale, all of whom helped create […]
Buffalo Springfield/Poco Founder Covers a Country Favorite Richie Furay and his ’53 SJ-200 share a glimpse of their bucolic space and a solo acoustic rendition of “I Hope You Dance,” from his new album, “In The Country.” The album version is full-dress, produced by Val Garay and with guitars by Chris Leuzinger (VG, March ’22) […]
On External Combustion, Mike Campbell pours on the boogie, pens spellbinding ditties, and leans into a live sound. With ancestral links to his former band, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, his quartet, The Dirty Knobs, spike L.A. rock and roll with psychedelia and rockabilly. The groove-laden swagger of this album should come as no surprise […]
With his latest album, From The New World, legendary musician/producer Alan Parsons continues a string of lushly orchestrated progressive rock, this time featuring guests such as Joe Bonamassa and Styx’s Tommy Shaw. Parsons gained recognition as assistant engineer on the Beatles’ Abbey Road and Let it Be then famously engineered Pink Floyd’s Atom Heart Mother […]
The 1970s is often called “the Copy Era” for the dominating presence and spectacular success of Japanese “copies” of popular American guitars, most notably of the Gibson Les Paul. Indeed, it was with these “copies” that many Japanese manufacturers honed their chops and became world-class guitar makers. In fact, it was a lawsuit filed by […]
Wayne Kramer has earned his stripes as an American music icon. Whether abusing his signature Strat, scoring a film, or using music to help turn around troubled lives, Kramer is as relevant as ever. For his latest offering, the legend took up progressive jazz. “I did the score for a documentary on The Narcotic Farm, […]
Fano Alt de Facto RB6 Price: $2,495 Info: fanoguitars.com In recent years, a trend in the guitar realm has been to re-create the magic of vintage-style instruments. This has ranged from player-modded updates of classics to manufacturers painstakingly attempting to age/“relic” guitars. Dennis Fano uses both approaches in his Alt de Facto line of guitars, […]
Warren Garstecki is a collector who keys on vintage Gibsons with interesting histories, like the HG-22. Introduced in 1929, the “Hawaiian Gibson” was offered in three models, with the HG-20 at the bottom and jumbo-sized HG-24 at the top. All had a round 14-fret neck along with nut and bridge set for traditional “Spanish” play. […]
It would seem contradictory to describe someone as both underrated and a virtuoso, but such is the case with Steve Winwood, particularly regarding his guitar playing. • The reaction of even longtime fans when they see him perform live is invariably, “I had no idea he could play guitar like that!” But, ironically, their surprise […]
