Norse Guitar Feeds

[Editor’s note: This Tucker Zimmerman interview conducted by Jamie Etherington was slated for the Fretboard Journal’s print edition. With the artist’s passing on January 17, 2026, we’ve decided to share it in its entirety online. It is probably one of the last interviews the self-proclaimed “song poet” did, and we hope it sheds light on his profound music and influence.]

Photographs by Dirk Leunis

If Tucker Zimmerman is an unfamiliar name to many readers, that should come as no surprise. As West Coast musician Zach Burba tells me, Tucker’s music has until recently gone largely unnoticed. “People may be inclined to call this a crime, ‘how could we miss out on such vital music!’ but I know that this was by design,” he says. “Tucker had many chances to grab a career in the spotlight and he just listened to something in his gut that said, ‘maybe not this time.’”

Over seven decades, Zimmerman has released a dozen albums–a sonic memoir incorporating folk, 12-bar blues, full-band rock concertos, and classical piano compositions. Born in California in 1941, he graduated with an MA from San Francisco State College at the height of the Beat era. In the summer of 1966, he had just received his draft papers when he was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to study musical composition in Italy. During his two years in Rome, Tucker emerged as a fixture on the Roman folk scene, playing the clubs in Trastevere. It was in the Eternal City that he also met his future wife, Marie Claire.

In 1968, the couple moved to London where Tucker befriended a young Tony Visconti, at the time an apprentice producer learning his trade at the Regal Zonophone studios. This friendship lead to Visconti producing Zimmerman’s debut album, “Ten Songs.” In the early ‘70s, Tucker and Marie Claire crossed back over the Channel, setting up home in her home country of Belgium. Thereafter, Tucker spent the following decades quietly working the European festival circuit, biking around the Belgian countryside, raising their son, Quanah, and all the while writing and recording.

His most recent record, Dance of Love, on which he collaborated with Big Thief, has finally garnered the 84-year-old Zimmerman some wider later-life attention. Zach Burba, who also played on the album, recalls the first time he heard Tucker’s music.

Zach Burba: Adrianne [Lenker] played me “Foot Tap” one evening when we were hanging and sharing songs in James Krivchenia’s old downstairs garden apartment, in a now burnt-down Altadena home. I was taken by Tucker’s liberal use of phaser pedal on his lo-fi country songs. After a few songs I readjusted my focus to the lyrics and was smitten with the playful surrealism and humble gentleness of the poetry.

Earlier this year, I caught up with Tucker via Zoom from his home deep in the Belgian countryside to chat about his journey from San Francisco to Belgium, explore his creative process, talk about guitars, and the making of Dance of Love. My first question, however–reflecting the geographer in me, was wanting to know where in Belgium Tucker and Marie Claire call home.

Tucker Zimmerman: We’re in Stockay Saint-Georges, which is on the plateau above the Meuse river. We came here in 1978. It’s a farming community: Potatoes, beetroots and corn. We’re 20 kilometres from Liège, in a small valley that leads down to the Meuse. My studio is just down the hill from the house.

I mention to Tucker Zach’s observation that his relative obscurity is by design and that it reminds me of something Michael Hurley said about his own low profile, “Calling me an outsider artist? Yes, I think that’s apt. It’s taken me a long time to join the gang.” I wondered to what degree that sentiment resonates with him?

TZ: Well, I only had one brush with this–going one way or the other. It was in England in the late ‘60s and I was surrounded by the pop music world at that time. I made my first record and there were gigs, but things weren’t happening. The government wouldn’t give me a work permit, so I couldn’t do gigs legally. I did them, but under fake names. There was no way of getting to where I wanted to go. But, at the same time, I saw around me what happens to people who desire fame and fortune. And I said, I don’t want to do that. The British government kicked me out of England as I wasn’t making any money. In a way, it was fortuitous. They kicked us out and that put me into the world I wanted to be in. I started doing gigs in Belgium and Northern Europe and decided I’m going to stay here and keep going, because it was too good!

Belgium has been very receptive to me. I came at a good time because this was the late ‘60s, Woodstock had happened and they were looking for some sort of Woodstock scene! My first gig after being in the country for only a couple weeks was at a big event in Brussels. I entered a room that held about 700 people, it was packed. There were so many people on the stage, I had to wade through bodies to get to the microphone. That began something positive for me. I started to become known. It all stemmed from the movement created by Woodstock and this desire to join in internationally with the spirit that was happening in America. So, they chose their American! At the same time, I started touring West Germany and I took in every corner of that country too.

I remark that his early career appears to have been a perfect trifecta of timing, location and talent.

TZ: It always is, isn’t it? You run into things and you just happen to be there. My life has been like that all along. These coincidences which have been beneficial for me. I arrive in a place and it works out, you know. In Germany, the mood was a little bit different than Belgium. The students were still reeling from World War II and what had happened politically in Germany. They were saying we’re going to make sure this doesn’t happen again and, in the early ‘70s, they were supporting anything positive that came along. I was a cultural outlaw for them and they supported that very strongly. I had that good run of 15 years with Germany as well. It was great and I was working all the time. I remember one year in the mid-‘70s, I did over 250 gigs!

I had great audiences all through the ‘70s, until the students got older, started having families and children and then I lost my audience. This happened at the same time as MTV came along in 1984. That ruined everything! However, it was a fortuitous moment too as it brought me into other things and took me into another world.

The Dead, Miles, and Moondog

I wanted to hear about Tucker’s student days in San Francisco. His song “Old Hippies Lament,” namechecks Wavy Gravy and Ken Kesey. I wondered if his immersion in the late ‘50s counterculture had influenced him creatively.

TZ: The thing is, I was part of that movement. I grew up in my teen years, 10 years up through high school, in the country on a ranch. But I came back in 1958 to go to college in San Francisco, and I plunged immediately into the Beat era. That movement influenced me the most. The writing of Kerouac, Ferlinghetti, and Ginsberg got me going.

Tucker says that in ’64–’65 he lived on Downey Street in Haight-Ashbury.

TZ: [It] was the cheapest rent in the city! You could get a flat or apartment for $60 a month. That’s why I went there, because it was cheap! Garcia and the Grateful Dead were living one block over. The Dead were playing almost every weekend at the Avalon. I didn’t miss a set.

Within the Dead camp, Tucker found common ground with Phil Lesh.

TZ: I was studying musical theory and composition in San Francisco and he was across the bay at Mills College. He was also a student composer and we met at concerts of our music. That’s how I got to know him. We shared this idea of being student composers. I knew him as a trumpet player and he was pretty good. I heard his compositions, he heard mine and we exchanged ideas. We never became close friends but I knew him.

In late ’65, however, he says the demographic of Haight-Ashbury changed.

TZ: We had a nice community up until the invasion started happening. People, kids…started moving in. They heard the news, you know, and paradise was gone.

This period was also the golden era of West Coast jazz. The San Francisco scene in particular was a vibrant one, cantered around venues such as the Blackhawk and Bop City. Tucker recounts one of those “I was there” moments, disclosing that he was at the Blackhawk in 1958 when Miles Davis and John Coltrane were rehearsing the running order for Kind of Blue.

TZ: It was an incredible moment in my life. I’ll never forget it. It was a small club with little round tables where you’re supposed to hold your drinks, and I was right in front of Miles Davis. He was looking right at me when he was playing, Coltrane was off to my left, and Adderley was off to my right. That was pretty much the unit. It was overpowering in a way, because these guys played, I mean, really played. I attended all three performances. I think Miles got tired of looking at me one point. He turned his back on me and played in the other direction. He was a funny guy, in a way, because I think maybe he didn’t like white people. With good reason. I understood it.

Tucker also sought out John Lewis, who led the Modern Jazz Quartet.

TZ: I met him several times on purpose as an invitation to sit and talk about music. And he was interested that I was composing. I knew when the MJQ was coming to the Blackhawk and we’d set up a meeting at his hotel, which was right next door. We’d spend an hour in the afternoon, before the gig, talking about composition. He would analyze what he thought about Bartok, for instance. He had great musical knowledge, which went way beyond jazz. I considered them lessons. He talked, I listened and I absorbed. I wasn’t going to butt in because it was too interesting.

As for Tucker’s other musical influences, I had heard that Moondog and Leadbelly were important figures for him.

TZ: Well, those recordings, of course. I actually met Moondog later on in Germany in the ‘80s but that’s another story. I ran into some recordings of their music. Leadbelly and Moondog are quite different, but both touched me deeply.

Tucker says that listening to “On the Streets of New York” and “Snaketime Rhythms” as a 10-year-old gave him his first idea of someone being a composer.

TZ: Oh, people can do that? They can construct things and play them, make them perform them. That was cool. With Leadbelly, it was more abstract in the sense that I loved his voice and the sound of the 12-string guitar. I said to myself, someday, maybe I’ll play music like this and if I do, I’ll have to have a 12-string. And that’s exactly what happened. I still only play the 12-string.

Ten Songs

We then talk about Tucker’s time in England. I was intrigued how he met and befriended the legendary producer, Tony Visconti.

TZ: I didn’t have a work permit, only a three-month visa. I said, well, I’m going to try to find gigs anyway. I went around to several clubs, including Les Cousins in Soho. The guy heard me play and said, ‘I’d love to take you on, but do you have a work permit?’ In the same room was this young guy, Nick Jones, who was a sort of hanger-on but in a nice way. He was the son of Max Jones, the jazz editor of Melody Maker. Nick came up to me and said, “I like what you’re doing. It’s a shame you can’t get anything going.” Nick knew everyone on the scene at the time, partly through his father and the magazine. One of them was Tony Visconti. He said, “I want you to meet this guy, you might get along” and he took me over to the demo studios at Regal Zonophone.

Tony had only been in England a few weeks. He’d been brought over by Denny Cordell. Tony was getting started. He’d done some arranging and a little bit of production. We clicked personally and immediately became friends. Over the next couple weeks, he heard more of my music and wanted to record it. Denny had gone to America and left Tony in charge of the place. Tony said, “Listen, I’m not going to talk to Denny; we’re going to go in the studio and record.” Of course, when Denny came back, he was pissed off, “You shouldn’t have done that. I don’t want this artist.” Tony says, “Well, I do” and that began a more solid foundation between Tony and me. He stood up for me and found gigs for me under a fake name. We were actually talking about doing a duet together at one point and played a couple gigs as Tony & Tucker. We’ve remained friends ever since.

The Song-Poet

Tucker vehemently resists the label “singer-songwriter,” preferring the epithet “song poet.”

TZ: Somebody gave me that tag way back before I was touring Germany in the early ‘70s. I accepted it. It sounded right, and I never paid much attention to it. I’m glad it happened because these days it seems everybody is a singer-songwriter. I know they haven’t put in 50 years of work to be where they are, and I don’t know how much more they would do. They’re so young, some of them, and I know most of them will drop out. I don’t have any respect for that tag “singer-songwriter.” I’m glad I have this “song poet” thing to fall back on.

We then exchanged thoughts about the modern curse of pigeonholing musicians by label or genre, which prompted an impassioned response from Tucker.

TZ: Well, that’s good as I don’t want to be a pigeon! I don’t like to be pigeon-holed and I’ll resist it. When people say, “Oh, well, you know, that sounds a lot like Townes van Zandt,” I’ll say I don’t want to talk to you. I don’t want to know because you’re already letting the pigeons crap on you!

I ask Tucker about the intense periods of writing he refers to as “river runs”–what prompts them and how he engages with them on the creative plane.

TZ: I had a big run on poetry in the first 10 years of this century, and there’s been moments when I’ve had periods of intense writing, but they come unexpectedly. I’ve no control over that. It’s sudden, I have to do it, and if I didn’t, I’d get in trouble with myself. If you don’t follow these things, it’ll block up and cause all kinds of problems. But that’s not actually the reason. The reason is that it feels so good to do it. There was one period in the ‘90s somewhere, I wrote 80 songs in a week. That seldom happens. I was running between my writing desk and my Pro Tools, and I’d write the lyrics, run over and make up the song.

Tucker volunteers that the day before, he had been looking over the lyrics for his new record.

TZ: Nick Holton at Big Potato proposed another album and we’re finishing that one right now. It’s called “Dream Me a Dream.” We recorded it here in my studio. Nick came with his recording material, even though I have Pro Tools. He said, ‘Let’s leave that aside. You don’t have to worry about doing that. You just concentrate.’ We sat on the other side of the studio at my writing desk, I had the guitar and let the songs come out. 11 or 12 of them, most new and a couple of old ones.

“I Consider Myself a Drummer More Than a Guitarist”

This being a FJ interview, I naturally wanted to ask Tucker about the 12-strings he has owned, in particular the ones made by Tony Zematis and Božo Podunavac. I had been forewarned, however, that Tucker is somewhat reluctant to indulge the nitty-gritty of guitar nerdom.

TZ: I’ve been surrounded by people in the ‘70s and, even still today, who want to talk about guitars and strings! I’m not interested. I’m not a guitar player. I use the guitar. I consider myself a drummer more than a guitarist, because I play a drum that has nice sounds…chords. That’s how I treat it. I don’t change the strings on my guitar for two, three or four years. I think the strings have been on there for five years right now! I don’t change them, it’s too much trouble. I know a little bit about guitars, of course, because I’ve looked around for good 12-strings. I’m always open for a new 12-string!

I played the Zematis for a few months, then found too many faults in it. It was not a good guitar. Then, a friend in Holland found a Božo for me, and all I knew was that Leo Kottke played one. I love the sound of it on his recordings. My friend called up and said there’s a Božo in Utrecht, you’d better come up and look. And it was cheap, 1600 guilders. It was a good guitar, so I got it and used that for a long time.

Music by River, Words by Ear

Before wrapping up, I wanted to ask Tucker about the origins of “River Barge,” a melancholic, haunting track that conjures images of fog-bound marshlands and a sullen northern European river.

TZ: Well, I wrote it in Maastricht, which is on the Meuse. I’d been bicycling with an American friend, a sculptor who I’ve known for over 50 years. Another artist in my life! He was setting up an outdoor exhibit sculpture. I had been working on this poem all day long, looking at the river and thinking about the barges going by. I thought, would I like to live on one for a while to see what it was like? In my head, I was composing all these verses about the river barge. We finished the exhibit, went bicycling and ended up at a cafe above Maastricht eating potato soup. I had written about 16 verses, which I read to John. He listened and said “there’s too much river barge.” That night I got home, picked up my guitar, and reduced the 16 verses down to three. John pushed me into reforming the poem and I made it into a song. I still play it with my trio.”

I mention that it’s a personal favorite, lyrically and musically, and his response is entirely in keeping with what Zach had told me about Tucker’s ability to speak directly to the best and most engaged version of whoever he is talking to.

TZ: Thank you for the compliment. I’m glad because it reaches out and touches you. That’s why I write. It’s important we keep in contact with everybody. When I sing for people, that’s the initial point. If we lose that, we’re gone. The person sitting next to you is a friend that you don’t know yet. I cannot be with a person and ignore them. Even waiting at a stoplight, across the street there’s somebody next to me. I say, how you doing, in French or whatever. Maybe not much comes of it in terms of words, but they know that I know them. I recognize them as another human being. An example is you asking for an interview. Of course, I will. There’s no doubt in my mind that we’re going to sit and talk.This was good. I appreciate you being there. I have to find Marie Claire with the oatmeal!

The post Tribute: Tucker Zimmerman first appeared on Fretboard Journal.

Since Eddie Van Halen’s death in 2020, his son Wolfgang Van Halen has remained adamant that he wants to carve out his own musical identity, and not lean on the enormous legacy left behind by his father.

So far, Wolfgang has released three studio albums with his band Mammoth: Mammoth (2021), Mammoth II (2023), and The End (2025). And while there’s numerous nods to Eddie throughout the catalogue – like Distance, the emotionally moving tribute on the first album, and Selfish, from the latest album, which Wolfgang jammed with Eddie before he died – Wolfgang has developed a sound very different from his father’s.

• READ MORE: “Makes me feel closer to Pop”: Watch Wolfgang Van Halen use Eddie’s Frankenstein guitar to record his new single

And he’s explained how it’s been a conscious decision to walk his own musical path on multiple occasions. “I’d rather fail at my own thing than succeed on my dad’s legacy,” he said last year.

Now, Wolfgang’s uncle and Eddie’s brother and former Van Halen bandmate Alex Van Halen has expressed his “pride” in his nephew at being so determined to do his own thing.

“He’s very careful that he doesn’t want to be Ed Jr,” Alex says in a new interview with KazaGastão. “He was in a very tough spot, meaning he could have just continued with the Van Halen stuff, but he decided he was his own man.

“Everything that he’s done – I’m very proud of him, by the way. That’s probably not the right thing to say about an adult, he’s [35] years old! You shouldn’t be proud of an adult, right… That’s what you do to your children!

“He’s followed his own path,” Alex says. 

He goes on to explain how Wolfgang got the gig in Van Halen, and how it had nothing to do with “family influences”.

“Ed and I, as usual, were in the studio alone, because nobody else tolerated it, they’d rather be at the beach!” he says. “I’ve got news for you, you’ve gotta work for this shit.

“Nobody showed up, and one day Ed and I were playing and this bass comes in, and it had a nice feel to it. And behind the curtain it was Wolf… For the record we did call Mike [Michael Anthony, longtime Van Halen bassist], because we owed him that. We did call him, and he just didn’t answer.”

Meanwhile, Wolfgang isn’t blind to the massive legacy he carries with his name. In May last year, he said bearing the Van Halen name is a “fucking tightrope to walk, with the shadow I’m under and the expectations”.

Mammoth are on tour in 2026. For a full list of dates, head to their official website.

The post “He doesn’t want to be Ed Jr”: Why Alex Van Halen is “proud” that Wolfgang Van Halen doesn’t play his father’s music appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

The 1970s were a time when the great guitar heroes ruled the earth. Legendary 6-string warriors like Jimmy Page, David Gilmour, and Ritchie Blackmore regularly held tens of thousands of fans spellbound in arenas and stadiums across the United States and beyond.

Among those titans stood Robin Trower. His breakthrough album, 1974’s Bridge of Sighs, featuring the FM radio staple “Day of the Eagle,” transformed his power trio into one of the hottest live acts in rock. But it wasn’t just the virtuosity or the riffs that captivated listeners—it was his sound. Vast, emotional and velvety, it moved and churned like a rising tide enveloping the listener.

“We recorded Bridge of Sighs quick—in just a little over two weeks,” Trower recalls to Premier Guitar. “The guitar sound was my invention, but we were very lucky to get Geoff Emerick to engineer it. The studio was quite big, and Geoff just listened while he walked around the room and placed the mics where he thought things sounded best. There was no science—it was just him and his magic set of ears.”

At the time, Emerick was one of the most respected engineers in the world, having worked extensively with the Beatles, and his instinctive approach helped shape the immense, swirling guitar tone that became a defining element of Trower’s music.

The following year, that humungous sound arrived onstage in Stockholm.

On February 3, 1975, Trower, bassist-vocalist James Dewar, and drummer Bill Lordan stepped onto the stage of Stockholm Concert Hall to begin a European tour. The stately 1,770-seat venue—home of the Swedish Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Nobel Prize ceremonies—was designed for classical music, but its wood-paneled interior gave the trio’s sound an unusual warmth and clarity. What the band didn’t realize was that Swedish Radio was recording the entire performance on a state-of-the-art RKB-branded Nagra eight-track mobile recorder, capturing what would eventually become one of the most celebrated live guitar albums of the decade.

“We were very lucky that tape was rolling that night,” Trower says. “We were performing in a proper concert hall and it sounded fantastic, which inspired us to play in top form. It was very refreshing, because most of the time we were playing in these hockey arenas that sounded awful. We weren’t even aware that they were recording it.”

To Trower’s surprise, a few months later Swedish Radio sent the band a cassette of the broadcast. Like many European broadcasters at the time, the network routinely recorded touring rock acts for its archives. Hearing the power of the performance—and the unusually high quality of the recording—the decision was made to remix the tapes and release them as a live album.

The result surfaced a year later, in March 1976, as Robin Trower Live!, a record that arrived just as the guitarist’s career was reaching its commercial peak. Mixed by Trower and Emerick, the album cracked the Top 10 in the United States and became Trower’s biggest chart success in the U.K., confirming what concert audiences already knew: that the soft-spoken guitarist from Southend had quietly become one of the defining players of the decade.

But despite its reputation among fans, the original Live! album only told part of the story.

The Stockholm concert itself had been considerably reshaped to fit the limitations of a single LP. Of the twelve songs performed that night, only seven were selected for release. Even those tracks were re-sequenced, abandoning the original running order in favor of a set designed to deliver maximum impact across two vinyl sides. The result captured the spirit of the show—but not the full arc of the performance.

“We were very lucky that tape was rolling that night.”

Even the album’s artwork introduced a bit of theatrical sleight of hand. The cover image suggested Trower performing before a vast outdoor stadium crowd—a sea of heads stretching into the distance. In reality, the recording came from a comparatively intimate Scandinavian concert hall.

“It didn’t occur to me at the time,” Trower says when asked about the discrepancy. “There were no photos taken at the gig. The one they used was from a baseball stadium in San Francisco, I believe.”

If the cover leaned toward rock ’n’ roll illusion, the audio carried its own behind-the-scenes adjustments. During the mixing sessions at London’s AIR Studios, Emerick and Trower discovered that Dewar’s vocal microphone had captured substantial spill from the drums and amplifiers onstage, making it unusable. The solution was simple: Dewar re-recorded his vocal tracks in the studio.

“Jimmy sang it all again,” Trower explains matter-of-factly. “He polished it off in about an hour—just ran through it in real time.”

Nearly 50 years later, the new anniversary edition of Live! reveals the full picture for the first time. Remixed by Richard Whittaker from the original tapes, the restored edition presents the entire Stockholm performance exactly as it unfolded that evening—12 songs rather than seven, sequenced in their original order, with Trower’s onstage introductions and the audience’s reactions intact. What once felt like a highlight reel now plays like a complete musical journey.

The difference is striking. The pacing of the show suddenly makes sense. The opening salvo—“Day of the Eagle” followed by “Bridge of Sighs”—builds the atmosphere naturally before the trio moves into material from For Earth Below, which had not yet been released at the time of the concert. Later in the set, the delicate meditation of “Daydream” gives way to the explosive momentum of “Too Rolling Stoned,” a moment when the band shifts into near-punk velocity.

Listening now, what stands out most is the chemistry between the three musicians. Dewar’s bass lines provide both muscle and melody beneath his soulful vocals. Lordan’s drumming drives the music forward with power. And at the center stands Trower himself, shaping vast arcs of spacey atmosphere and psychedelic blues from his Stratocaster. Together, they created a sound that felt far larger than the trio format should allow. And on that winter night in Stockholm, the band was flying.

“If there’s any secret to my tone, it’s that all my guitars have relatively high action and heavier strings.”

So how exactly did Trower achieve that otherworldly sound?

“There was no magic amp or special guitar,” he says. “Almost everything I owned was pretty new. I just went to Manny’s, the legendary guitar shop in New York City, bought a 100-watt Super Lead Marshall, and listened to about six or eight Strats acoustically before settling on a black-and-white one with a maple neck.

“If there’s any secret to my tone, it’s that all my guitars have relatively high action and heavier strings. Back then I played in standard tuning and used .010-gauge strings. It’s all about getting the strings to ring acoustically, and that’s what translates into a great electric sound.”

Effects also played an important role in shaping Trower’s liquid tone. His signal chain typically included a Vox V846 wah, a Shin-ei Uni-Vibe, and a custom-made boost pedal that pushed the signal level before hitting his Marshall. The simple “clean boost” provided a lift for solos without drastically altering the guitar’s character, adding sustain, thickening the Strat’s midrange, and making the Uni-Vibe’s swirling modulation sound even more liquid.

Trower also kept his overall gain surprisingly restrained.

“I usually kept the volume around seven or eight,” he says. “You need to have a little head room. I’m not interested in having too much distortion. My goal is to keep the clarity of the notes and chords and maintain a clear midrange, which is very important to my sound. I tried to avoid creating any mush.”

While Trower is proud of the 50th anniversary edition of Live!, he’s not particularly nostalgic or inclined to dwell on the past. What’s remarkable is that he has continued releasing albums well into his late seventies and early eighties—something very few guitarists from the classic-rock era have managed. In the last decade alone, he has recorded eight albums, including Come and Find Me (2025) and the blistering concert set, One Moment in Time – Live in the USA (2026).

Still, if Trower tends to look forward rather than back, he has no hesitation when it comes to praising the musicians who helped shape his most celebrated work—especially bassist and singer Dewar, who died in 2002 at the age of 59. Dewar was far more than a supporting player in the trio. With his rich, soulful tenor and muscular bass lines, he provided the emotional center of the band’s sound, grounding Trower’s expansive guitar work with a voice that was equal parts blues grit and melodic warmth. Across seven studio albums—from Twice Removed from Yesterday through Victims of the Fury—Dewar emerged as one of the defining vocalists of the 1970s guitar era.

“I’ve always enjoyed the trio format. It forces me to cover a little more ground instrumentally, but in a way, the economy was our secret weapon.”

“I couldn’t have asked for a better collaborator than Jimmy,” Trower says. “He was warm, funny, and never sang a bad note. People always say he’s underrated, and I totally agree. But that probably wouldn’t have been the case if we’d been called the Jimmy Dewar Band,” he adds, with a wry shrug.

Alongside them was drummer Bill Lordan, whose disciplined yet powerful playing completed the chemistry of the group. Lordan, who had previously worked with Sly Stone, brought a precise sense of groove that allowed Trower’s expansive guitar phrasing to breathe, while still driving the music forward with authority. Together, the three musicians created a sound that felt far larger than the trio format might suggest.

For Trower, the stripped-down lineup was never a limitation—it was the very thing that made the band’s sound so powerful. “I’ve always enjoyed the trio format,” he says. “It forces me to cover a little more ground instrumentally, but in a way, the economy was our secret weapon. It was much easier to achieve definition and clarity with just three instruments and a vocal when you played in those big, boomy halls. It would be less of an issue today—the PA systems and monitors are so much better.”

That sense of space and definition is part of what gives Robin Trower Live! its enduring power. Unlike many live albums of the era, which relied on layers of overdubs or heavy post-production polish, the Stockholm recording captures a band operating with remarkable precision and restraint. The trio moves with the ease of musicians who had spent hundreds of nights refining the material onstage, allowing the songs to stretch and breathe without losing their focus.

Years later, Robert Fripp, the famously exacting guitarist of prog-rock pioneers King Crimson, offered a vivid assessment of Trower’s playing during that era. Fripp first encountered Trower while touring the United States in the early 1970s.

“I toured America in 1974 with Ten Years After top of the bill, King Crimson second, and Robin Trower bottom,” Fripp recalled in a 1996 essay penned for the liner notes to a Trower reissue. “The chart positions were the opposite: Ten Years After in the Billboard 160s, Crimson in the 60s, and Trower climbing remorselessly through the Top 20. Nearly every night I went out to listen to him. This was a man who hung himself on the details—the quality of sound, the nuances of each inflection and tearing bend, and the abandonment to the feel of the moment. He saved my life … and later, in England, he even gave me guitar lessons.

“He is one of the very few English guitarists that have mastered bends and wobbles,” Fripp continued. “Not only has he got inside them, with an instinctive knowing of their affective power, but they went to live inside his hands.”

Fripp’s admiration speaks to something many guitarists recognized at the time but rarely articulated so clearly. Trower’s playing was never about speed or flash. Instead, he built his style around touch—wide bends, patient vibrato, and an almost orchestral sense of space that allowed every note to bloom and hang in the air.

That sensibility is all over Robin Trower Live! Nearly half a century on, the sound Trower summoned from a Strat and a Marshall still feels otherworldly. It’s no wonder even Robert Fripp went looking for lessons.

For popstar Taylor Swift, buying back her master recordings was a top priority for six arduous years. However, other artists can’t wait to hand over the rights to their music – and the Red Hot Chili Peppers are the latest band to sign on the dotted line, selling their entire catalogue for over $300 million.

Rumours of the Chilis selling their catalogue first arose last year, with sources telling Billboard that the rockers were allegedly seeking around $350 million. Now, The Hollywood Reporter reports that the band has finally made a deal with Warner Music Group, with the label paying over $300 million for all of the band’s master recordings.

• READ MORE: “I wake up every morning thinking about what’s on my pedalboard” Adam Granduciel on his love of effects and the next The War On Drugs album

The deal comes in the wake of Warner Music Group’s $1.2 billion joint venture with Bain Capital. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the label’s May revenue report revealed that $650 million had been spent on acquiring catalogues since setting up the joint venture – with around half seemingly being spent on the Red Hot Chili Peppers catalogue.

This isn’t the first time that the Red Hot Chili Peppers have cashed in on their back catalogue. In 2021, the band previously sold off their publishing rights to music investment firm, Recognition (previously called Hipgnosis) to the tune of $140 million.

For those confused as to how an artist can seemingly sell a song twice, think of a song in two parts: a recorded performance, and the ‘blueprint’ of the song itself (the melody, lyrics, chord structure etc). The new deal with Warner Music Group hands over the rights to the official recordings, meaning the label will profit from any further streaming, radio play or album sales.

On the other hand, the Recognition deal handed over the ‘blueprint’ of the song itself, meaning the company would profit through any new remixes, covers or samples taken from a Chilis track.

However, the publishing rights could potentially be acquired by Sony Music Group very soon. According to Bloomberg, Sony Music Group plans to acquire Recognition in a nearly $4 billion deal. The pricy deal would see the label earning the publishing rights to the catalogues of many high ticket artists, like Justin Bieber, Neil Young, and, of course, the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

In recent years, it’s becoming more familiar to see artists selling off their back catalogues and publishing rights. Most recently, David Lee Roth claimed he felt “rich” after selling his back catalogue in 2025. Elsewhere, Bruce Springsteen sold his masters and publishing rights to Sony Music for $500 million in 2021, while Genesis sold their publishing rights and master recordings to Concord Music for $300 million.

Others who have handed over their rights include Bob Dylan, who sold his entire catalogue to Universal Music Group in 2020 for $300 million, as well as Fleetwood Mac’s Lindsey Buckingham has even cashed in, selling the publishing rights to his catalogue to Recognition in 2021, just as the Red Hot Chili Peppers did.

The post Red Hot Chili Peppers sell music catalogue for $300m appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

From flowers to bottles, music punters have been lobbing things onstage at artists for years. However, nowadays even approving fans have started throwing potentially dangerous things at the stars they adore; Eric Clapton recently stormed offstage at a gig after being struck with a flying object mid show.

Last Thursday (7 May), Clapton was struck by a flying vinyl record during a gig in Madrid’s Movistar Arena. A video of the incident shows Clapton smiling to himself as he walks offstage, before a vinyl whacks him in the chest. Despite the setlist showing that the rocker was set to return for a further encore, he opted to cut the show short, ending on pre-encore track Cocaine.

• READ MORE: “I wake up every morning thinking about what’s on my pedalboard” Adam Granduciel on his love of effects and the next The War On Drugs album

While the projectile wasn’t necessarily harmful, there’s been an alarming increase in fans throwing objects at musicians as of late. It’s no longer a case of giggling about sweaty boxers landing onstage beside you – now, performing onstage has become a game of dodging flying phones, vapes, and disposable cameras.

Very sad indeed. What kind of idiot does that? pic.twitter.com/0bNZ3wYFU7

— Pablo Rodríguez (@Paulhewsonrm) May 7, 2026

Previously, throwing things at artists has been associated with putting on a bad performance; Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine has gone on record in the past saying that, if you’re putting on a good show, you should be in the clear. However, that’s not the case any more.

It’s gotten to a point where some artists have started ejecting fans for throwing things at them onstage. Country singer Riley Green asked security to throw out a fan after he took his phone’s ‘airplane mode’ setting a little too literally, hitting Green in the face mid-performance.

@rabbitcar07

Riley Green hit with a phone in Melbourne! @Riley Green #rileygreen #melbourne #tough

♬ Gemini – So Lis

Despite Clapton deciding not to return for his encore in Madrid, it’s not put him off performing. The rocker is still in the swing of his European tour, before a grand Sandringham Estate gig is set to take place later this summer on 23 August. The gig will see him joined by the likes of Ronnie Wood and Andy Fairweather Low.

For more information on Clapton’s upcoming tour dates, check out his website.

The post Eric Clapton scraps encore in Madrid after being struck by a flying vinyl record appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

We’re always keeping an eye out for the best bargains on guitars, pedals, amps and more, and we’ve found some huge savings this week across retailers like Sweetwater and Guitar Center.

Kicking things off this May, we bring you huge savings on a PRS ($250 off, to be exact), a sweet deal on IK Multimedia’s popular AmpliTube software, as well as other guitars and gear with generous discounts. You can also check out our Deals page for more bargains.

• READ MORE: Marshall has unveiled its new mascot – and we’re a little scared

Let’s round up the highlights below…

PRS SE Custom 24 ($599)

Right now at Sweetwater, you can save $250 on a PRS SE Custom 24 model in Turquoise, with a striking flame maple top. This solidbody electric guitar puts all the character of the PRS Custom line into a more affordable instrument, and features a mahogany body and maple top with a more traditional “violin” body carve. It’s fitted with a pair of 85/15 S pickups, has a maple neck with a Wide Thin shape, and a rosewood fretboard with its famous bird inlays, of course.

Fender 70th Anniversary Vintera II Antigua Stratocaster ($909.99)

Guitar Center is saving you $350 on this unique Fender Vintera II Strat. This model is “loaded with classic Fender features from the golden age of the electric guitar”, as per the brand itself, including an alder body, U-shape maple neck, vintage-tall frets and a trio of 70th Anniversary Vintage-Style ’70s single-coil Strat pickups. Its Antigua finish gives it a truly special look.

IK Multimedia AmpliTube 5 MAX v2 software ($99.99)

For just under $100, you can get your hands on IK Multimedia’s AmpliTube software at Sweetwater, and this MAX version comes packed with over 430 gear models for you to experiment with. You can use it with your DAW or in standalone mode, and its library includes collections from Fender, Orange, Fulltone, Leslie, and Mesa/Boogie, as well as artist collections from Slash, Jimi Hendrix, Dimebag Darrell, Brian May, and Joe Satriani. Save $200 overall.

Line 6 POD Go Guitar Multi-Effects Processor ($509.99)

Line 6 may be stepping things up with its Helix Stadium range, but if you’re looking for a cheaper alternative, you might want to check out its POD Go. This multi-effects processor offers a newly updated firmware with additional amps, cabs, effects and features, and has a large LCD screen, encoders and footswitches. You can save $90 on it via Sweetwater.

Fender Acoustic 100 Acoustic Guitar Combo Amplifier ($409.99)

Now reduced at Guitar Center, the Fender Acoustic 100 amplifier delivers “full, natural tone” for acoustic-electric guitars and vocals. It offers a unique plywood shell to complement the acoustic guitar’s form and voice, and features two channels designed for instrument or microphone use, each with effects like reverb, delay, and chorus. It offers handy Bluetooth connectivity for streaming audio.

The post Here are the best guitar deals I’ve found this week appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Kashus Culpepper had only stopped in for a beer and something to eat. But, like a lot of people before him, he left the Blue Front Café knowing a little more about the blues. Still in his duck hunting gear, he pulled up a seat at the venerable Bentonia, Mississippi juke joint and scarfed down a fried bologna sandwich while the music took hold. Soon, the old dude pulling licks from a guitar was asking him if he played. “I was like, ‘Yeah, a little bit,’” he says during a Zoom call, fresh from dialling up the 70s cool of Guitar.com’s cover shoot. “He’s like, ‘Let me show you something.’ He ended up doing this weird tuning and playing Amazing Grace in this crazy way.”

Culpepper took that tuning home with him and started writing In Her Eyes, a winding, enticing highlight from his debut album Act I. Its coiled riff wrapped around hot-blooded, conflicted lyrics tapping into classic blues staples: temptation, righteousness, all that good stuff. The song is emblematic of the way the Alabama native is able to turn a fresh kernel of wisdom into something that reflects deep-seated truths about who he is and where he comes from. “I have those experiences every day,” he says. “I’m learning so much about myself, and why I love music the way I do.”

Act I’s simmering melange of soul and rootsy country-rock emerged only five years on from Culpepper picking up a guitar in earnest for the first time, but it feels like the work of someone who’s been living between its notes his whole life. Which, in reality, he has. “I wanted to get the sound of all the artists I love, from the Allman Brothers to Aretha and Wilson Pickett,” he says. “I wanted to stay true to my roots. This is who I am.”

“Growing up, music was everything to me, the only thing that didn’t judge me”

Small Town Hero

Culpepper grew up in Alexander City, a small town close to a big lake in Tallapoosa County. Like so many other kids his age, he played football and wrestled in high school. But music was everywhere – his mother was big into gospel and R&B, while he spent his spare time chasing down the country songs that were ubiquitous in the deli or grocery store.

He sang in church a couple of times a week but, initially, he didn’t seek the spotlight. “We had so many people who had these amazing voices,” he recalls. “I’m doing this because my mom and my grandma want me to. Y’all can perform if y’all want to.”

That feeling would change thanks to an unusual set of circumstances. Culpepper’s road led away from Alex City, his time spent around the ER as a firefighter inspiring him to seek out a nursing qualification. In need of cash to pay for his tuition, he signed up for the US Navy and was posted overseas, winding up in a barracks in Rota, Spain as Covid-19 swept across the world.

“You go over there and you might buy a microwave or toaster – you don’t take it back with you,” he says. “When the next group comes in, there’s usually a room full of stuff. A lot of people try to get there as soon as they can, to get whatever they can.”

Left behind in the free-for-all when Culpepper arrived was a beater guitar. The pandemic was awfully quiet for long stretches, but maybe he could do something about that. With nothing to go on barring a few chords he’d picked up as a teenager, Culpepper opened a YouTube tutorial and set about learning some tunes.

“I realised music is so community-based and what it can do for a person,” he says. “Growing up, music was everything to me, the only thing that didn’t judge me. I didn’t have to be nobody else around it.”

“I wanted to stay true to my roots. This is who I am”

Heart Of The Action

Quickly, he became the rare person you’d be happy to see pull out an acoustic at a bonfire. He started taking requests, from Sturgill Simpson to Taylor Swift, and his weather-beaten voice, halfway between Bill Withers and Ray LaMontagne, began to resonate with people. The youngster who’d shunned attention in the choir was, all of a sudden, right at the heart of things when others needed him to be.

“I had these grown men and women in the service telling me it was dope,” he says. “I was just doing it because it made me feel good to be playing music, and I saw how it made people feel good.”

When he got out of the Navy in 2022, Culpepper found himself at a crossroads. Over time, he had started to doubt whether a career in nursing was a good fit. “I know how much they help people but I saw some bad stuff when I was in the fire department,” he observes. “I was like, ‘I don’t know if I can see that every other night for the rest of my life.’”

For the first time in a long time he didn’t have a plan. But he did have a guitar and access to the bars of the Gulf Coast, where someone with his voice and a handful of well-chosen covers can make bank. “I love people who do the cover band scene – they’re making great money,” he says. “They’re killing it.”

For a while, he had a good time doing it, too. Certainly, he had a better time than the Taylor 110 accompanying him. “I beat that guitar to death,” Culpepper says, on the cusp of laughter as he draws out each word. “The humidity was so bad, I sweat so much, and I play so hard. I was breaking strings every gig. It wasn’t the guitar’s fault. It was my fault. I was like, ‘Maybe I need to change my strings to a higher gauge, maybe I shouldn’t leave my guitar out in the sun while I’m on my break so it’ll rust.’ That was all on me.”

“With a guitar I really feel things. I play a lot harder than most”

Missing Ingredient

Besides the usual grind, Culpepper started earning better money by playing casinos and private events. But between each round of beery applause, it became clear that, in the same way nursing hadn’t been it, the bar scene wasn’t it either. “It wasn’t until I started writing songs in the middle of 2023 that I realised I love the creative side of it,” he says, that spark leading him to embrace both traditional and modern approaches to getting over.

Firstly, he moved to Nashville and started working with a producer, the Lone Bellow’s Brian Elmquist. Secondly, he opened a bunch of social media accounts and started posting covers and snippets of his own work, which bridged the gap between R&B, country and down-home rock with the ease of someone who came up steeped in these sounds.

“Brian told me it was a mix of a lot of things,” Culpepper says. “I’m like, ‘Yeah, I’m not trying [to do that] – these are the melodies in my head.’”

By the end of the year his song After Me? had gone viral, its mix of barrel-chested passion and skipping hooks tapping into a guitar style that Culpepper had developed while crunching through cover sets. Immediately, there was something honest and unvarnished about him that people could grab hold of – here was someone playing songs that he thought might make another person feel better. “I’m a very emotion-driven type of guy, from singing to my personal life,” he says. “Also with a guitar – I really feel things. I play a lot harder than most.”

Culpepper was off and running in Nashville, writing with everyone from Natalie Hemby to Brent Cobb as the songs on Act I began to come together, and making his Grand Ole Opry debut in the winter of 2024. But he also felt the need to close a different loop.

To deliver an opening statement of intent, he needed to head back to Alabama. So, he rolled up with a Martin D-18 at Ivy Manor Studio in Muscle Shoals, where past glories of the Rolling Stones, the Staple Singers and Percy Sledge hung heavy in the air. “I never knew what they went through to make a record,” he admits. “I was learning the whole time.”

Culpepper’s openness in admitting all the things he doesn’t know is disarming – there’s no bluster to him, just a singer and guitarist who means it, whose songs resonate because they feel human, with all the excitement and hurt and mess that entails.

“I get this euphoric feeling when I listen to music at full volume,” he says. “When I started playing guitar, being able to play those songs for myself gave me an even bigger rush.” So, after so many years spent changing lanes, is he on the right track now, steering straight ahead as the speakers rattle? “I think so,” he says. “I’m still evolving – I’m having so much fun.”

Words: Huw Baines
Photography: Alanna Taylor
Styling: Lakelyn Pounders

The post “I play a lot harder than most.” Kashus Culpepper’s guitar is a lightning rod for feeling, community and the sounds of the American South appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

A federal court has ruled in favour of Dean Guitars, after the estate of Pantera’s Dimebag Darrell sued the guitar brand in 2021.

In the lawsuit, Dimebag’s estate cited unlawful use of the Stealth and Razorback guitar body shapes that Dimebag (real name Darrell Abbott) made in collaboration with Dean, and “unauthorised fraudulent trademark registrations” for the two. In Dime We Trust, led by Dime’s longtime girlfriend and estate trustee, Rita Haney, also accused Dean’s parent company, Armadillo Distribution Enterprises, of breaching their terms of contract.

• READ MORE: A brief history of Dean Guitars

At the time, Haney wrote a statement which said: “After much consideration, it is with great sadness that I announce the longstanding relationship between Dimebag and Dean Guitars is over. Unfortunately, we were forced to file a lawsuit against Dean Guitars… It was necessary for us to end Dime’s endorsement of Dean Guitars to continue to honour and celebrate his legacy the way he deserves, and in the way he had laid it out.”

Dean Guitars responded by arguing that it had “always treated Dime and his brother Vinnie with the utmost respect and loyalty”, adding: “We have enjoyed a long-standing, 17-year relationship with Dime and Vinnie, and continue that relationship with Vinnie’s estate on the ddrum [the drum manufacturer also owned by Armadillo Enterprises] side… Dean Guitars is proud to have played a role in ensuring Dime’s legacy not only survived, but thrived over the past 17 years.”

In the new ruling, the court has granted a summary judgement that dismisses “the majority” of the Dimebag estate’s trademark, fraud, and breach of contract claims against Armadillo/Dean, including In Dime We Trust’s claims regarding the ownership of Dean’s guitar models (via Guitar World).

Court documents do, however, also conclude that Armadillo has been denied summary judgement on two counts: the copyright infringement of Darrell’s Dean From Hell artwork, and false endorsement and false association, which is concerned with whether there was “a likelihood of consumer confusion, mistake or deception as to the origin, sponsorship, or approval of goods being sold”.

“For almost two decades Armadillo was proud to work directly with the Abbott family under a relationship built upon mutual respect, shared purpose, and a genuine love for Darrell Abbott’s music and his love for Dean Guitars,” states a press release from Armadillo.

“The United States District Court’s order is confirmation of what we have known all along: Armadillo’s ownership of the Stealth and Razorback trademarks, the Razorback guitar design, and related intellectual property was earned through years of prior use and good faith commercial activity.”

The post Court rules in favour of Dean Guitars in trademark dispute with Dimebag Darrell’s estate  appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

$2,699/£2,975, taylorguitars.com

Since its arrival in 1994, the Grand Auditorium body shape quickly became Taylor’s most iconic and best-selling acoustic guitar design, striking the right balance between the larger, boomier dreadnought and the smaller Grand Concert.

• READ MORE: Taylor Gold Label 510e review: “Taylor’s return to the dreadnought is crying out for some big pick energy”

Over the preceding three decades, the design has remained a key pillar of the brand’s offering, and has evolved in myriad ways under the hood as this most innovative guitar company has continued to push things.

For 2026, however, the model has received some of the most significant and meaningful new innovations since the arrival of V-Class bracing back in 2020 – it’s time to explore the Next Generation.

Taylor Next Generation 324ce: what is it?

The Next Generation Grand Auditorium is Taylor CEO and master guitar designer Andy Powers’ ground-up re-imagining of the whole concept. The body shape and general look of the guitars might have stayed broadly the same, but under the hood it’s all change.

For starters, the guitar sports Powers’ latest take on his revolutionary V-Class bracing system. The new scalloped V-Class promises to offer the same impressive intonation and clarity that the bracing has been known for, but with more warmth and richness than the original version.

Another new addition is perhaps the most noticeable visual departure. For well over a decade now, Taylor guitars have sported the three discrete rubber knobs of the ES-2 pickup system on their top shoulder. The brand new Claria system not only does away with that, relocating the controls to the soundhole, but also promises a more straightforward and easily dialled-in, plugged-in sound than its predecessor.

Finally, making a jump from the Gold Label series – and indeed acoustic guitar design in general – is the Action Control Neck. It’s another impressive bit of Powers engineering that truly lives up to the Next Gen name. It delivers the ability to micro-adjust your guitar’s neck angle and action in seconds, without even having to detune the instrument itself. It’s not only super easy and quick, but this is usually a job that would usually need to be left to professional techs only.

The Next Gen moniker has been given to an entire gamut of new US-made GA models, from the premium Builder’s Edition all the way to the standard line, of which this 324ce is the second most affordable on the log. The two in its nomenclature means it has a Neo-tropical mahogany top with sapele back and sides and a mahogany neck. It’s all stained in deep brown, with a subtle edgeburst to the top.

Taylor Next Generation 324ce: build quality and playability

Upon removing this 324ce from its supplied hard case, it’s hard not to be impressed with the general build and finish of this instrument. Taylor guitars might not be everyone’s cup of tea visually, but surely any of us can appreciate an instrument where the effort and workmanship that has gone into it is evident in every detail; ensuring it feels pristine, precision-engineered and generally flawless.

Personally, I also think this particular Taylor is especially handsome in the grain – the red tinge to the stain goes extremely well with the firestripe pickguard and the black and white binding, while the ornate but understated weathervane inlays that run up the board and onto the peghead add a lovely visual flourish.

This is a guitar that also wears its gloss finish very well – it looks pretty without feeling so delicate you’re afraid to play it, perhaps because of the darker shade to the whole affair. By most measures, this is not a cheap guitar, but it certainly feels and looks expensive in the best kind of way.

It’s a nice touch that the Standard Carve neck itself has been spared the gloss treatment, however, combined with a familiar 25.5” scale length, it makes for a graceful and comfortable playing experience that, in typical Taylor style, veers towards the slimmer end of the acoustic scale. If you’re used to playing electric guitars, this offers a very comfortable transition.

The West African Crelicam ebony fretboard is smooth and the fretwork is meticulously finished – the frets themselves are bright and smooth and invite you to think beyond cowboy chords, such is the easy fluidity with which you can bend the strings.

As is usually the case with Taylor, the action is low out of the box, though not so low as to elicit any string buzz. If it wasn’t to my taste, however, the new Action Control Neck could have me setting my ideal playing height in seconds. At least… that’s the theory.

It’s a little frustrating that Taylor has trumpeted how easy it is to use the ACN and then failed to supply any tools in the case to try it out. I’ve seen Andy Powers demonstrate the trick using an adjustable screwdriver, so I got one in to try it out… only to discover that metric socket sets and the imperial-sized bolt on the ACN don’t quite match up well enough to replicate Powers’ magic trick.

The guitar’s setup is flawless as is for my tastes – but it’s a little frustrating that Taylor couldn’t include some sort of tool or adapter in the case to let users try it out. It’s a two and a half grand guitar, after all…

The case the guitar came in, however, is another real plus point – yes, you’d expect a quality hard case at this price, but Taylor’s one is a beautiful thing, all brown tolex and pink innards. You’d have a lot of faith that this thing could take a hammering without damaging its precious cargo.

Taylor Next Generation 324ce: sounds

Taylor guitars traditionally have a sound that, by its own admission, you either like or you don’t. While the Gold Label series has attempted to expand that tonal palette somewhat, broadly speaking a Taylor guitar in the core line is expected to have a clarity and precision that sets it apart from the likes of Martin and others.

The Next Gen GA however, certainly feels like an evolution of that Taylor sound into something that, while unlikely to win over any old-fashioned dreadnought aficionados, certainly has a much more balanced tonality than other Taylors I’ve played.

Perhaps it’s that new bracing pattern and the mahogany top, but whatever it is, it really seems to shine. The ‘G chord test’ is usually a solid benchmark by which to compare the tonal profiles of different acoustics with one another. The Next Generation 324ce offers a notably powerful projection in the lower registers, but one which doesn’t overpower the midrange or the highs.

The frequency spectrum is balanced, so whether you’re strumming or fingerpicking chords in the lower registers of the fretboard, or playing more intricate leads further up, the Next Generation 324ce never feels out of its depth.

This being a Taylor, of course, special mention must be made about the 324ce’s top-end. A clear, sparkly high-end has a tendency to make an acoustic guitar sound more ‘expensive’, and that’s definitely the case here. It’s a hi-fidelity treat for the ears, and one which has had me lost in playing for sometimes hours at a time.

Taylor’s Expression System was an impressive technical feat that used magnetic in-body pickups to try and replicate the authentic sound of the guitar. It was a powerful system and one that the company refined with the Expression System 2, but one that could be quite tricky to dial in. The new Claria system is an attempt to enhance versatility and user experience.

A more conventional piezo-based system feeding into a proprietary preamp, the Claria ditches the two-band tone-stack for a single tone control and a mid-contour control positioned just inside the soundhole edge. The theory is that with these two controls, you can more effectively and efficiently tweak the frequencies that matter to suit the amp, room or desk you’re plugging into. Visually, it’s a lot more covert too.

We’ve probably all reached the point now where we accept that, most of the time, a pickup isn’t going to have the warmth and timbre of a mic’d up acoustic – but the Claria is still an impressive system.

Whether plugging into a Roland Cube or going direct into my audio interface, I found it very easy to use those two tonal controls to shape your sound and get something that sounds warm, vibrant and pleasing to the ears.

Taylor Next Generation 324ce: should I buy one?

There’s no escaping that here in 2026, spending $2,699 on any guitar is no small investment for the vast majority of players. But almost from the first note you play, it’s abundantly clear that this could easily be your forever acoustic. Compared to the US-made competition, it’s pretty decently priced for what it is, too.

The previous GA was a fine guitar, but there’s no doubt in my mind that the refinement that the Next Generation brings will make guitars like this 324ce more compelling for a broader spectrum of players. With a more balanced sound and a pickup system that offers impressive plug-and-play usability, the next generation of Taylor is clearly in good hands.

Taylor Next Generation 324ce: alternatives

If the price of the Next Gen 324ce is a bit on the steep side for you, the US/Mexico hybrid build 314ce Studio ($1,999 / £1,799) that I reviewed last year is a serious guitar for the money, even without the Next Generation upgrades. Larry Breedlove got his start at Taylor, and so there’s some shared DNA in the small-bodied Breedlove Roots Concert E Mahogany ($2,899), while the Larrivée LV-24 ($2,999) is another more modernist take on the acoustic guitar.

The post Taylor Next Generation 324ce review: “this could easily be your forever acoustic” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Angine de Poitrine have spent the last few years building one of the strangest cult followings in experimental guitar music: microtonal riffs, looping chaos, papier-mâché masks and a ridiculous custom double-neck guitar/bass that looks like it escaped from a fever dream.

The instrument has become such a key part of the duo’s identity that they’ve learned to live with one unavoidable problem: nobody actually makes a case for something that bizarrely proportioned.

• READ MORE: Al Di Meola plays Jerry Garcia’s $11.5 million “Tiger” guitar live onstage: “It was emotional in a way I didn’t expect”

Speaking to The Guardian following the release of their second album, Vol II, the duo reveal that they’ve resorted to transporting the instrument inside a sleeping bag while travelling – a decision that apparently raises more than a few eyebrows at airport security.

While their masks usually pass through customs without much issue, Khn says the oversized guitar tends to invite more concern.

“The guitar gets funny questions because I carry it in a sleeping bag and it looks like a dead body,” says the guitarist.

The exaggerated double-neck build has already become central to Angine de Poitrine’s whole aesthetic. Earlier this year, the duo described it as “the perfect choice to make fun of guitar heroes”, a fairly natural extension of a band whose entire idea was to “assume a bit of a satirical approach to rock music in general”.

Klek and Khn continued playing together through their teens before officially forming Angine de Poitrine in their early twenties. “For a while, we didn’t take it seriously,” says drummer Klek. “It was just like playing with Legos.”

“Well, maybe that’s true for you,” Khn replies. “I was 12 when I picked up a guitar and I instantly became very serious about it. I always had the intention to make a band.”

That attachment to the band’s original homemade world still remains intact, even as their audience grows. The pair say they have no plans to replace their battered papier-mâché masks with cleaner or more polished versions.

“People have fallen in love with the band as it’s always been,” says Khn. “So we’re not gonna change everything [because] we have a bigger budget now. We’re emotionally attached to our old beaten-up costumes that have been in car accidents and are full of snot. We think people love the fact that you can feel they have lived.”

As for the music itself, the duo say most songs emerge through long stretches of improvisation and trial-and-error.

“We improvise and make a lot of crap, then you have a little spark,” sasy Khn. “A lot of the songs on the second album, I found one riff that’s got something to it, then you build from that.”
Building loops repeatedly creates “a feeling of anxiousness”, adds Klek. “We’re always playing with that feeling, and tension and release.”

Khn also notes how using a loop pedal live keeps them in line: “If I start from this idea, I have to find a coherent way to move away from it,” he says. “[Otherwise we] have a tendency to make songs that go from A to Z without coming back to A or B.”]

The post “The guitar gets funny questions because it looks like a dead body”: Angine de Poitrine have to transport their double-necked guitar in a sleeping bag – which causes problems at airport security appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Napalm Death guitarist Mitch Harris has been touring the world for almost 40 years. Now he is building TourFlip to help new acts last as long as he has. The platform is a hub for that streamlines every element of live music events.

Promoters can host their gigs while allowing artists to bid on their slots. Once the booking is confirmed, logistical aspects of the show, such as contracts, riders, and settlements, can be managed from within the app.

• READ MORE: The history of pinched harmonics, divebombs and squeelies
  

TourFlip can also be a hub for different elements of touring. Log in to find people to run merch or drive the buses. And if touring gets slow, there are different sources of income for artists, such as studio sessions and side shows.

Beyond the artists and the players directly involved in live music, freelancers can use the service for the same purpose. Should anyone need producers, engineers, designers, photographers, videographers, etc., the community can solicit their services as well.

The TourFlip website reads:

“Streaming killed album income. Radio barely supports new artists. Costs keep rising. Fuel, travel, everything. Ticket prices go up. Service fees go up. Fans pay more. Artists take home less. Venues take a cut of merch. Bands are first in, last out, last paid. Crews still find work through word of mouth. Promoter offers never reach the artists they’re meant for. Venues are under pressure, and many struggle to stay profitable.”

On the flip side,  promoters can also sell tickets directly to users on TourFlip, removing the need for corporate tentacles from Ticketmaster and its ilk. TourFlip will charge a 5% fee to use Stripe, but nothing more.

“The artists. The crews. The promoters. The fans. The community that drives this culture. Let’s keep music alive, together.”

TourFlip is currently in a crowdfunding phase. As of this writing, just over $5,000 has been donated, roughly 8% of the $65,000 goal.

To donate and learn more, go to TourFlip.

The post Napalm Death guitarist Mitch Harris launches TourFlip, a new platform to help artists streamline tour logistics appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

The Rolling Stones have announced their new album Foreign Tongues.

The band confirmed the news on Tuesday (5 May), revealing that the record – their 25th studio album – was produced by Andrew Watt and features appearances from Paul McCartney, Robert Smith, Steve Winwood and the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Chad Smith.

Foreign Tongues is the Stones’ first full-length release since 2023’s Hackney Diamonds, which marked their return to original material after 18 years. The record was also their first full album since the death of drummer Charlie Watts in 2021.

• READ MORE: Rolling Stone names its 100 Greatest Guitar Solos of All Time – and the internet is doing what it does best: arguing over it

The album launch was marked the same day with a listening party and Q&A hosted by Conan O’Brien at the Weylin venue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Speaking at the event, the Stones revealed how McCartney ended up on the record. Keith Richards says the Beatle star was working in a nearby London studio when he dropped by unannounced.

“I think Paul really wanted to jump in there,” frontman Mick Jagger adds [via AP]. “There was no intimidation. He wanted to play with the band.”

The band also confirmed that Foreign Tongues includes one of Charlie Watts’ final recordings, a track titled Hit Me in the Head.

“We did that in LA with Charlie,” Jagger says. “It’s a real fast punk rocker. A super-fast song.”

Watts’ long-time replacement Steve Jordan, who was recommended by Watts himself, handles drums across the rest of the album.

Of the recording process, Richards says, “When you get in the studio, and the guys get together, and you lay out a track, an idea, and you let it take off from there – you can’t plan all of this stuff. You kind of just have to follow it and hope you come out the other end.”

Earlier this year, the Stones also cancelled their planned 2026 touring schedule, though Jagger now says he would still “love to tour the album”.

“I absolutely would love to,” he says. “I hope to do it as soon as that’s possible.”

Elsewhere, Ronnie Wood also reflects on the making of Rough and Twisted, the vinyl-only single the band released last month under the name The Cockroaches. He said he used the same guitar he played on Faces’ 1971 track Stay With Me on the new single.

“It was so spontaneous,” Wood recalls. “We even surprised ourselves with it.”

Due out on 10 July, Foreign Tongues is now available to pre-order.

The post Mick jagger says he “absolutely would love to tour” Rolling Stones’ new album Foreign Tongues appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

For a guitar that just sold for $11.56 million, Jerry Garcia’s legendary “Tiger” sure isn’t spending much time behind the glass.

After resurfacing onstage in March with Derek Trucks during a Tedeschi Trucks Band show at New York’s Beacon Theatre – just a day after its historic Jim Irsay auction sale – the iconic custom-built instrument has now made yet another live appearance. This time, in the hands of jazz fusion heavyweight Al Di Meola.

• READ MORE: “It only felt right to return the favour”: Al Di Meola is the latest guitarist to play Greeny – so he let Kirk Hammett play his ‘71 Black Beauty in return

Last weekend (3 May), Di Meola brought “Tiger” onstage during a performance at Park West, alongside Josh Olken of Grateful Dead tribute act Terrapin Flyer.

Sharing footage of him playing the guitar on social media, Di Meola reflects on Garcia’s legacy and the surreal feeling of plugging into one of the most famous instruments in rock history.

“I never got to meet Jerry Garcia, but I later heard he mentioned me as one of his favourite guitar players,” Di Meola writes. “I couldn’t believe it, honestly.”

He continues, “When I was 15, my friends and I would skip school, take the bus into the city, and see the Grateful Dead at the Fillmore East. Some of my best memories! That era was magical!”

“Last night in Chicago, I had the chance to play Jerry’s famous ‘Tiger.’ It was emotional in a way I didn’t expect. This is a close-up from soundcheck, just getting a feel for it. And there it was… the Jerry tone.”

Di Meola also thanked Olken for “sitting in,” as well as the guitar’s new owner, Family Guitars co-founder Bobby Tseitlin.

Meanwhile, Terrapin Flyer also praised Olken for handling the pressure of performing alongside Di Meola with minimal preparation.

“Josh had very little rehearsal time,” writes the band. “Al changed the key so Josh had to transpose the song on the spot. It was a tight spot for Josh to be in performing with someone so talented and revered and he slayed it. We’re all very proud of him. Josh walks amongst giants. Mind blown.”

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The renewed spotlight on “Tiger” comes just months after the death of legendary luthier Doug Irwin, who built the instrument for Garcia in the 1970s. Earlier this year, the six-string fetched a staggering $11.56 million at the Jim Irsay collection auction, instantly becoming one of the most expensive guitars ever sold.

The post Al Di Meola plays Jerry Garcia’s $11.5 million “Tiger” guitar live onstage: “It was emotional in a way I didn’t expect” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

It’s been more than six years since guitar legend Peter Frampton first revealed his diagnosis with inclusion body myositis (IBM), the progressive muscle disease that has since changed the way he moves, lives, and plays the guitar.

In that time, the guitarist has hardly slowed creatively. Since going public with his diagnosis in 2019, Frampton has released multiple records – including instrumental covers album Peter Frampton Forgets the Words – while continuing to write and record new material with his son Julian.

Now, in a new interview with the New York Times, Frampton opens up about adapting to life with IBM, explaining that learning to accept the condition has become a crucial part of moving forward.

• READ MORE: Peter Frampton teams up with Tom Morello on new protest song about the ultra-powerful

Discussing the physical realities of the condition, Frampton details the adjustments he’s had to make as a guitarist, and why he still spends nearly every night playing music.

The musician traces the earliest signs of IBM back to a 2009 songwriting trip with Julian.

“Julian said, ‘Let’s run up this hill.’ Normally I would beat him, and I didn’t,” Frampton recalls. “It felt like there were insects in my legs, like they were vibrating.”

Years later, after a series of unexplained falls onstage and at home, Frampton was diagnosed with IBM, which causes gradual muscle deterioration in the arms and legs. The disease has forced him to rethink parts of his playing technique, with riffs and solos that once came instinctively now sometimes taking multiple attempts to complete.

Still, music remains embedded in Frampton’s everyday routine. He continues writing and recording with Julian – who he says “knows who I am, what makes me tick, what I can do, what I can’t do” – and reveals the pair already have a half-dozen new songs underway.

He also describes a nightly ritual of getting into bed, smoking “a little weed” and playing guitar for around an hour before revisiting the recordings the next morning to see if any ideas stick. While he admits he still doesn’t know whether he’ll tour again due to the fall risks associated with IBM, he says he hopes he can.

“People say, ‘Oh, you must be so upset,’ and, yeah, I am,” Frampton admits. “But you can fix the little things.”

“But big things never worried me,” he adds, “because the big things you can’t do anything about. If I don’t accept what I have, I’m going to be mad for the rest of my life.”

Frampton is set to release his new album Carry the Light on 15 May. The record marks his first collection of new songs since his IBM diagnosis, as well as the first and the first full-length project he’s created alongside his son Julian.

Listen to the latest single Lions At The Gate, featuring Tom Morello, below.

The post “If I don’t accept what I have, I’m going to be mad for the rest of my life”: Peter Frampton on accepting his illness and continuing to play guitar appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Few things get guitar players talking faster than Rolling Stone publishing another “greatest of all time” list.

This time, it’s the magazine’s new 100 Greatest Guitar Solos of All Time ranking, topped by Prince’s solo on Purple Rain – a choice likely to split opinion given the competition sitting beneath it.

The choice also closes a long-running loop in Rolling Stone lore. The publication famously left Prince off its 2004 100 Greatest Guitarists Of All Time list, a snub long rumoured to have inspired his now-legendary performance of While My Guitar Gently Weeps at the 2004 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. Now, Rolling Stone has not only crowned Prince number one for Purple Rain, but also placed that very While My Guitar Gently Weeps solo at number 15.

• READ MORE: Have Greta Van Fleet broken up? Fans speculate over meaning of “thanks for the wild ride” social media post

Rolling Stone describes the list as a “full-blast mix of different genres, generations, grooves”, spanning blues pioneers, punk icons, metal players, funk innovators and “hippie jammers”. The criteria, it says, wasn’t sales or chart success, but “six-string brilliance” – solos that ‘make the song’ rather than simply mirror its melody.

“Some are solos that always make you hum in the car, or play air guitar using the nearest vacuum cleaner,” the magazine writes. “A few you could even sing in the shower.”

And, unsurprisingly, many of the usual heavyweights dominate the upper reaches. Alongside Prince at number one are classics like Stairway to Heaven, Hotel California, Johnny B. Goode, Kid Charlemagne and Maggot Brain – plus Eric Clapton’s lead work on While My Guitar Gently Weeps.

The upper end of the list sticks fairly closely to the established guitar canon. Jimi Hendrix appears multiple times in the top 20 with Machine Gun, All Along The Watchtower and Little Wing, while David Gilmour’s Comfortably Numb lands at number four. Eddie Van Halen’s revolutionary Eruption, meanwhile, comes in at number five – a placement many might consider low given its influence on modern guitar technique.

There’s also a notable emphasis on solos from the late ’60s through the ’80s. While newer inclusions do appear lower down – including Geese’s Getting Killed at 98 and MJ Lenderman’s Knockin’ at 81, the top 50 is still largely dominated by classic rock, blues-rock and guitar hero-era staples. Contemporary prog, djent and modern metal barely register.

That said, the list does make room for some broader historical touchpoints. Sister Rosetta Tharpe earns a 34th place with Strange Things Happening Every Day, a nod to one of the foundational figures in rock guitar whose influence is often acknowledged far less than it’s heard.

On the flipside, several legacy rock and metal staples land lower than many fans might have expected. Dimebag Darrell’s solo on Cemetery Gates, for instance, appears at number 85 despite its near-mythic status among metal guitarists, while AC/DC only just scrape into the ranking, with You Shook Me All Night Long landing at number 100.

And speaking of Rolling Stone lists, producer and YouTuber Rick Beato will likely have opinions ready. Following the magazine’s 250 Greatest Guitarists Of All Time feature in 2023, Beato blasted the ranking as “idiotic” in a reaction video, while branding it a “sh*t list” on the thumbnail.

Time will tell whether this latest list avoids a similar fate.

Check out the full list of rankings at Rolling Stone.

The post Rolling Stone names its 100 Greatest Guitar Solos of All Time – and the internet is doing what it does best: arguing over it appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

The pinched harmonic is a technique unique to the guitar. Other stringed instruments can create a similar, ghostly tone that a guitar can by striking a string without depressing the string to fret it, but the squealy, cutting tone of a pinched harmonic? That’s a guitar technique, and something that has stayed fairly rooted in blues, rock and metal since its inception.

• READ MORE: The 15 Most Expensive Guitars Sold At Auction

A natural harmonic creates a ghostly, soft tone, and generally works best at only a handful of intervals along the neck. The pinched harmonic, with enough gusto, can be performed anywhere. Its extensive use in heavy metal genres has led to various other harmonic based techniques, used by famous guitar players like Eddie Van Halen, Zakk Wylde and the late Dimebag Darrell.

The pinched harmonic – aka pinch harmonic, the squealie, or any other manner of nicknames – is performed by striking a string, generally with a plectrum, before your thumb follows through and creates an artificial harmonic by striking the string as well.

Much easier to perform with some distortion, the modern pinch harmonic is used broadly in modern metal, in either rhythm playing like Kublai Khan’s Antpile or in lead playing by people like Zakk Wylde who, despite using them extensively, doesn’t overdo it.

Blues Beginnings

The origins of the pinched harmonic are usually attributed to blues-rock pioneer Roy Buchanan in the 50s. Buchanan’s song Potato Peeler features a few vocal-like pinched harmonics in its solos, settling in amongst a horn solo in the two and a half minute instrumental, the most notable squealing harmonic appearing about 50 seconds in.

The horn solo that follows uses some whistly, screaming tones, so the aggression of the harmonic on the guitar feels more at home. The sound appears just once, so whether it was an accidental moment of magic or not, a legend was born.

Inspired, Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top has used pinched harmonics throughout his career, again both in rhythm and lead playing. One of the solos in the Little Old Band from Texas’ La Grunge uses pinch harmonics almost exclusively, Billy scooping and pinching for a wholly expressive, scorching solo. Billy’s use bought the technique to the fore like never before.

Then, later 70s and 80s saw the late Eddie Van Halen using them across Van Halen solos and riffs, further cementing and refining the technique. Eddie’s use of unconventional techniques like tapping, harmonics and pick scrapes were so widely influential that they became a convention. Eddie’s mysterious techniques were so mesmerising that people couldn’t help but add them into their own music.

Eddie inspired a young Zakk Wylde, who pushed the technique to breaking point and really nailed it home as a heavy metal technique. Going far beyond the screech of Roy Buchanan and the wail of Billy Gibbons, Wylde’s pinches are loud, proud, and incredibly controlled, with particular focus on pinched harmonics on the lower strings. These yield a different character to those on higher strings, adding girth and impact to the technique.

Zakk has continued to inspire the heavy metal community in his work in the late Ozzy Osbourne’s band, Black Label Society and most recently, taking the place of another pinched harmonic master: Dimebag Darrell in Pantera.

Bombing Out

Dimebag’s own legacy features extensive use of harmonics in another form – divebombs. Divebombs are another trick used by heavy metal players to give solos a moment of crescendo as a natural harmonic rises from the depths of the lowest notes on the fretboard to otherworldly heights thanks to the harmonic elevating the sound a few octaves higher than the plucked note, as well as being aided by a tremolo bridge, often of a Floyd Rose style.

Dimebag’s own version, deemed a ‘Dimebomb’ by the man himself, is performed by ‘dumping’ the Floyd Rose so the strings are as floppy as possible, plucking a string and creating a harmonic, before allowing the strings to slowly return to tension and beyond— the harmonic slowly emerging from the rubble of the dumped string noise.

The divebomb came along a little later than the pinched harmonic, having been used extensively by Jimi Hendrix. Though not as exaggerated as the modern metal divebomb, Hendrix’s use of divebombs with his Stratocaster’s tremolo system added a new level of expression and vocal-like tonality to his playing. Rock and metal players exaggerated this and added either natural and pinched harmonics to dive down, and rise from the divebomb with a natural harmonic.

These soaring, squealing sounds have become a staple of rock and metal guitar, serving to excite the crowd as well as subvert their expectations, the squeal that emerges and cuts through a dense mix being an ear-catching moment in music. Mastering the technique can help build out your toolkit of sounds and noises when the moment strikes.

Rock Discipline

The pinched harmonic has stayed rooted firmly in rock since its inception in the 50s, its popularisation through the 70s and 80s into the modern day: a staple technique for rock and metal guitar players. The demanding squeal of a pinched harmonic is exciting and stands on its own, but when paired with a divebomb or other tremolo expression, can be used to elevate the performance to new heights.

Used extensively in lead playing by people like Eddie Van Halen and Billy Gibbons, the pinched harmonic has now been used as a tool in rhythm playing and riffs. The squealing sound sandwiched between low-noted chugs adds definition and dynamic to a riff, emphasising how heavy the notes that follow the harmonic are. Building on the technique, as experimental as rock and metal players are, has led to both the divebomb and ‘Dimebomb’, adding a new flavour beyond simply using a tremolo for vibrato or subtle pitch shifting and modulation.

Much like riding a bike, a pinched harmonic can be difficult to learn, but once you do your first, you never really forget.

The post The history of pinched harmonics, divebombs and squeelies appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Press Release

Source: Deko Entertainment 

This 8-song collection by Linc Bloomfield (also known as Ambassador Lincoln Bloomfield Jr.), longtime bass player for Kelakos, showcases his songwriting, singing and overall musicianship, along with his studio engineering skills. After remixing and re-releasing the 1978 Kelakos album in 2015 as Kelakos Uncorked, Linc produced Kelakos’ second album, the 2023 Deko double LP release Hurtling Towards Extinction in which the collection of accompanying videos have racked up over one million views.

Echoes of Dreamwold is a true solo project. With the skillful studio work of two great drummers, Carl Canedy and Andy Hamburger, a sweet country pedal steel track by Billy Cooper on ‘No Second Chances’, and a classic lead guitar track by George Haberstroh on ‘(Got to) Save the World’, Linc sang all the vocals, played all the guitar, bass, keyboard and percussion tracks, and mixed every song, before they were mastered by Blaine Misner.

Listen to Echoes of Dreamwold here: https://push.fm/fl/nhz0a3fg

This album is meant to be played over and over, in the tradition of the sixties’ and seventies’ legends who inspired and influenced LB Junior’s own songwriting. No two songs are in the same genre. As he explains the origins of each of the songs

“Walk Away My Girl” is a soft-rock tale of heartbreak, originally written on his dad’s 1917 Steinway baby grand piano, on which he recorded this smooth, melodic track.

“Alive” explores the insecurity that holds many people back. Against a lively track derived from the reggae sounds heard on local radio on the island of Kauai, the lyrics are about coming to terms with self-doubts.

“Shot Down”, the first song Linc wrote after leaving Kelakos, in 1978, is a lively pop song featuring bright acoustic guitar harmonics and chords, and a story about how not to try and meet women.

“Greedy Child”, also written years ago, captures the sadness as the giants from the golden age of rock and pop music pass from the scene and along with it, a generation for whom their music was the soundtrack of their lives.

“(Got to) Save the World” reflects Linc’s life’s work promoting international security. This fast-paced rocker featuring George Haberstroh’s lead guitar and Andy Hamburger’s relentless backbeat, is a wake-up call to do something about armed conflict, mass shootings, and environmental destruction, and realize what is at stake.

“The (2nd) Fiddler’s Song” is a personal message set to a soft acoustic track, in which LB JUNIOR explains why contributing to something worthy and necessary is more satisfying than chasing personal glory.

“No Second Chances” is a country song, pure and simple, featuring Billy Cooper’s pedal steel licks and the distinctive rich tone of Linc’s 1955 Gretsch Country Club guitar.

Linc Bloomfield

“Sand in My Hourglass” completes the 8-song set with a blues song, inspired by the recent pandemic, and showing LB JUNIOR’s chops on his 60s Les Paul guitar – inspired long ago, in 1968, when teenage Linc saw a memorable performance by bluesman Mike Bloomfield accompanied by Al Kooper and his whipping Hammond organ sound. This one is a real ‘echo’ of late sixties’ Dreamwold, as Linc’s earlier band Emergency Exit used to perform Kooper’s classic tune with Blood, Sweat, and Tears, ‘I Love You More than You’ll Ever Know’

Dreamwold was a grand estate built in 1901–1902 by financier Thomas W. Lawson in Scituate, Massachusetts. By the late 1960s, the ballroom had become a popular venue for live music. One of the regular performers was Emergency Exit, from nearby Cohasset, that included Linc, George Haberstroh, and Mark Sisson, who would later join Carl Canedy to form Kelakos. The band had a homemade light show, black lights, and a vintage Kustom P.A. system wrapped in sparkling Naugahyde. The Dreamwold estate was eventually redeveloped into condominium residences.

Order the vinyl of Echoes of Dreamwold while supplies last:  https://www.dekoentertainment.com/inthesquare/lb-junior

TRACKLIST:

For more information, visit
www.dekoentertainment.com
Deko Entertainment–Art Has Value

British amp brand Orange has partnered with London brewery Signature Brew on a special edition of Backstage IPA, one of its core beers.

Available exclusively at independent music venues on draught and in specially designed cans, profits from the sale of the Orange Backstage IPA will be donated to the Featured Artists Coalition (FAC), the UK representative body for music artists.

Specifically, proceeds will support the UK Artist Touring (UKAT) fund, which, launched in March 2026, supports artists through the “cost of touring crisis” and helps them continue on the road.

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Backstage IPA is described as a “bold and punchy” modern IPA which blends East and West Coast styles, with passionfruit, tangerines and berries with pine and crisp citrus notes.

“In an increasingly digital world, taking time to come together and experience something live, unique, and curated by and for the community is precious and worth protecting,” says Tom Bott, Founder and Managing Director of Signature Brew.

“Grassroots venues are where scenes are built, artists are developed, and culture moves forward. This collaboration is about backing those spaces in a meaningful, practical way.”

“By partnering with Signature Brew and the FAC, we hope to create tangible help for artists,” adds Managing Director of Orange Amps, Sarah Yule. “We also hope this collaboration rallies the broader industry to come together, and do what they can to protect our grassroots and emerging music scenes in the UK and beyond. If we can help just one more artist make touring viable, I’ll raise a pint to that!”

Gus Unger-Hamilton, alt-J & FAC Director says: “This an incredibly powerful gesture from Signature Brew and Orange Amps. We are extremely grateful for the recognition of our work protecting and supporting the UK’s artist community through initiatives like the UK Artist Touring fund.

“The UK’s live music ecosystem is in a precarious place right now, but we know that UKAT’s targeted investment into artists’ touring activity is one of most effective ways to help the sector. If artists can sustain themselves on the road, it means more musicians and live professionals will be employed, more venues get booked and more audiences experience live music.”

The beer will be subject to a coordinated launch across venues and festivals throughout summer, with artist ambassador shout-outs and an autumn celebration show at Signature Brew.

Learn more at Signature Brew.

The post Orange beer? Legendary guitar amp brand launches its own IPA with Special Brew appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.