Tales from nerdville

IN THE LAST 25 years, Joe Bonamassa has dropped 16 studio records. That’s a lot of music, meaning it’s hard to keep things fresh — and his latest, Breakthrough, despite its title, doesn’t even try to

THE ERIC GALES we know today is undoubtedly a product of his environment growing up. In this case, as fate would have it, we’re talking about an incredibly musical family. Older brothers Manuel and Eu

THOUGH NOT OBVIOUSLY thought of in this way, the Gibson ES-350 is a great instrument to use for rock rhythm guitar playing. With its hollow body and two-pickup design, it’s similar to the Gretsch 6120

“MY WIFE HAS enrolled me in a gym, and I have to go lift weights for an hour after this,” chuckles blues guitarist extraordinaire Walter Trout, the 74-year-old survivor of a drug habit and subsequent

LARRY MCCRAY WAS one of the great new-generation blues guitarists of the Nineties, emerging out of Saginaw, Michigan, with 1993’s excellent Delta Hurricane. He was a regular at blues festivals and clu

THE RUMOR WAS that Buddy Guy planned to retire — and considering that he’s pushing 90, no one would blame him — but it seems that, despite Guy’s age, rumors of his retreat were, well, premature. Still