March 2024
Since emerging from Austin 30 years ago, Sue Foley has earned stalwart status. Her latest projects pay homage to pioneering female performers. The music features her custom-made flamenco and showcases playing styles of her heroines.
We talk more new music with Mick Mars, Robin Trower, Susan Tedeschi, Rob Fleming, and Paul Reed Smith, then offer a memorial to Larry Collins.
Revolutionary new amp designs often have stars line up for a taste of their sound. That’s how it went when Reinhold Bogner launched the Ecstasy in 1993. We feature one that did heavy lifting with Walter Becker on Steely Dan’s first tour in two decades.
In the late-’80s heyday of the superstrat, the Les Paul and Strat were still going strong. So it was a little cheeky when Yamaha ads boasted of improving on those “dinosaurs.” The mixed results included the now-obscure Weddington Custom.
A true oddball, Chris Butler’s Vox Mark VI teardrop is a star thanks to the The Waitresses’ “I Know What Boys Like.” It’s also the guitar you’ll be hearing every December on “Christmas Wrapping.”
In “Fretprints,” Wolf Marshall examines how the debut album by Van Halen helped hard rock bounce back after being on the ropes. Everyone who heard it knew that Edward Van Halen had reinvented the guitar.
After their third album, the pitfalls of fame and fortune were taking a toll on Carlos Santana and his band. Seeking a shift in consciousness, he and drummer Michael Shrieve immersed themselves in the music of legendary jazz and fusion players. The result was Caravanserai. They talk about it in “Pop ’N Hiss.”
A key piece of the British blues revival in the ’60s, Dave Peabody wore many hats. Dan Forte catches up with him in “Check This Action.”
Because you’re jonesin’ for a new guitar or amp (right?), we take test drives on some of the absolute newest bits, including the Sundragon Super Dragon, Soldano Astro-20, Epiphone “Greeny” Les Paul, Squier Paranormal Custom Nashville Strat, JangleBox AcoustiComp, and EHX’s small-format Pico Canyon and Rerun reverb pedals.
We screen all the latest guitar music, filter through it, and offer our thoughts on the best. This month, it’s from Chris Schiflett, UFO, Jim Kweskin, Mick Mars, Phillip Sayce, Saxon, and others. We also tell you why the new bio from Geddy Lee is worth a read.
It’s all in the March issue of Vintage Guitar!
