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!
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 […]
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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 […]
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Israel-based Arteffect’s new Bonnie wah pedal is an accurate re-creation of the highly soughtafter vintage Vox Clyde McCoy wah. The “Clyde wah,” you’ll recall, was designed to help guitar players sound something like a trumpet player manipulating a mute on their horn. Clyde McCoy, the man, was a player known for employing the technique, and […]
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Though their colors are complementary, Brian May’s Red Special and Brian Setzer’s ’59 Gretsch 6120 couldn’t be more different in terms of their origin or their roles in helping to create legendary music. One is home-made, the other represents the innovation of its era. One appeared on stages worldwide, rendering purist tones of a bygone […]
It didn’t take long for testimonials to pour in to VG following the death of ZZ Top bassist Dusty Hill. “Dusty Hill has the patent on the blues-rock groove!” said Muscle Shoals bassist David Hood. “No one did it better.” “He was a solid bass player and amazing performer,” added Harvey Brooks, bass man with […]
Outtasight Known these days for his lead work in Wilco, Nels Cline is a true guitar polymath, equally conversant in influences from Roger McGuinn to D. Boon to Bill Frisell. Cline’s many side projects have probed well beyond the rock realm to include, among others, a 2014 duo album with Julian Lage and a lushly […]
American guitars made in the 1950s and ’60s constitute an almost-holy canon, yet most players in that era took their first steps on imported instruments – often good and interesting in their own right, like the Goya Rangemaster. In the ’50s, guitars were typically obtained one of two ways – ordered from catalogs published by […]
Yamaha THR10 Price: $299 Contact: usa.yamaha.com. As a rule of thumb, practice amps are a compromise. Blissfully portable, they typically lack tone and features. Yet whether in a bedroom or hotel room, a practice amp should help inspire an artist by making practice more pleasure than chore. Yamaha’s THR10 is a definite step in the […]
In two short years of existence, ZT Amplifiers has found a unique place for itself in the world of boutique amplification. ZT engineering guru Ken Kantor’s flagship amp is called The Lunchbox, so named because of its compact physical size. But the moniker utterly belies the fact the amp can pump out 200 watts of […]
Best known as the Les Paul Junior-slinging guitarist stage left of Mike Ness in Social Distortion, Jonny “Two Bags” Wickersham speaks with a laid-back SoCal drawl and peppers his conversation with modest asides. The uninitiated would never suspect he has just dropped his first solo record, Salvation Town, gorgeously layered Americana abetted by California rock […]
As music becomes more unfamiliar and the past becomes a long reflection in the rear-view, veteran guitarists are increasingly mindful of artists who inspired and created timeless music. Larry Carlton is one of them. His playing with The Crusaders, Joni Mitchell, and Steely Dan is the stuff of legend, and he has contributed to thousands […]
The saying goes, “If you want to get something done, ask a busy person to do it.” But don’t ask Nili Brosh. She’s too busy. With projects like playing Eddie Van Halen solos for Cirque du Soleil’s Michael Jackson’s One show in Las Vegas and awesome gigs with Danny Elfman and Dethklok, she barely has […]
Much has been written about David Lindley since the 78-year-old passed away on March 3 of complications from long Covid. The ultimate sideman, proficient on seemingly any instrument with strings, he was best known for his lap-steel work with Jackson Browne. I was a huge fan, and in the course of interviewing him many times, […]
In his decades of playing, Walter Trout has served as lead guitarist for John Mayall and Canned Heat, and forged a respectable solo career. But to say he’s been “living the blues” in recent times is putting it mildly. VG recently interviewed Trout, who just three months prior had undergone a liver transplant. He was […]
Smart guitar players discover early on that if they want to control their musical destiny, it doesn’t hurt to learn how to sing. Even at the subterranean depths of the neighborhood blues jam scene, memorizing a few lyrics and carrying a tune can save you from the torment of the endless noodle fest. It’ll also […]
Eric “Roscoe” Ambel is accomplished guitarist (Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Steve Earle) and go-to “roots rock” producer (Bottle Rockets, Nils Lofgren, Ryan Adams, and many more). In 2012, he added “erstwhile tavern owner” to his CV. Worse, when Ambel’s Lakeside Lounge fell victim to gentrification, New York City lost what many swore was the […]
With his new album, BK3, Bruce Kulick brings out the big guns on what he calls his “…strongest solo disc ever.” Collaborating with friends old and new, he infused their personalities to create an album diverse in style and tones. He also raised the bar on his own musicianship. Kulick recently took us behind the […]
The Fishman Loudbox Mini is just what its name says – a small amp that delivers the company’s renowned audio in a loud, portable, non-hernia-inducing package. Weighing just 21 pounds, the two-channel Mini packs 60 watts, one channel with a 1/4″ jack for guitar, the other an XLR jack for microphone or preamp. There’s also […]
Modified or repurposed amps generally don’t fit into our monthly discussion here, but some are representative enough of a certain standard to make an exception. Witness this gem from 1952. Designed for general-purpose public address with a microphone or gramophone attached, as often as not you’ll find it reworked as a sweet-sounding tweed-style guitar amp […]
Marillion has been playing thought-provoking neo-prog since its 1983 debut album, Script for a Jester’s Tear. Along the way, the group has issued classic releases of the genre including Misplaced Childhood, Seasons End, and Marbles, among others. Recently, it unveiled an 18th studio album, FEAR (F**k Everyone and Run). Guitarist Steve Rothery has been a […]
