The Guitar Channel

Classic Dixie Dregs pic - circa 1977

This was posted on the Steve Morse Mailinglist Yahoo Group, and I just had to put it up here. This photo of the Dixie Dregs was taken in 1977 in front of Peaches Records in Memphis. This originally appeared in Billboard magazine. From left to right: Allen Sloan - violin, Steve Morse - guitar, Rod Morgenstein - drums, Andy West - bass, and (probably) Mark Parrish - keys.

Shawn Lane's Powers Of Ten album re-released with bonus tracks!

Great news! The late great Shawn Lane's "Power's Of Ten" album has been re-released by Eye Reckon Records. This was a monumental record that was first released in 1992 on Warner Bros, but has been out of print for a long time. The new release features 3 bonus tracks that did not appear on the original CD.

Link

Steve Lukather audio interview

Baconmusic's James Allman has posted an audio interview he conducted with guitar great Steve Lukather. You can hear the entire interview on the Baconmusic MySpace page. Luke discusses the recent and upcoming Toto tours, and their plans to record a DVD next year.

Brett Garsed posts new live tracks on MySpace

Brett Garsed has posted new live recordings of "Hey Tee Bone" (Brett takes the 2nd guitar solo) and "Undoing/Drowning" on his MySpace page. These tracks were recorded at The Ding Dong Lounge in Melbourne Australia on Nov 26th. Brett will be playing with Ric Fierabracci and Joel Taylor at the Club Athena in Athens Greece on December 21st, 22nd and 23rd.

Favorite albums of 2006

This has been a great year for new guitar music. Since the year is coming to a close, I thought I would look back at my favorite discs of 2006.

Alex Machacek - [SIC]
One of the most compelling, original CD's I've heard in a long time, let alone this year.

Hugh Ferguson - A.D.D.
Great tones and writing in the Holdsworth vein.

The Michael Landau Group - Live
Great double-CD set of live Landau. Covers all facets of his musicality.

El Grupo - Live
Steve Lukather side project, similar to his Dove's Of Fire band. Awesome live set of crunchy fusion. Technically, this disc was first available in 2005 at El Grupo shows only, but I believe it was first officially "released" this year.

Paul Gilbert - Get Out Of My Yard
Gilbert's first instrumental album. It's the one you've been waiting for.

Guthrie Govan - Erotic Cakes
Debut solo album from the amazing UK guitarist. Stunning chops.

 

Steve Weingart - Dark Blue Dream
Sophomore solo release from keyboardist Weingart. Features Frank Gambale on guitar. Look for my review of this disc soon.

Hectic Watermelon - The Great American Road Trip
Wild prog-fusion from the San Diego-based trio. Sounds like a cross between Zappa and the Dregs.

Want to check out these discs? Follow one of these links:

Rich

Alex Machacek's debut album now available for download

Great news! Guitarist Alex Machacek's debut album "Featuring Ourselves" is now available for download through Abstract Logix's Digital Downloads site. You can buy the whole album for $9.99, or get individual tracks at varying prices. This album has been out of print for some time. Alex mentioned in an interview I conducted with him awhile back that he was working on making this album available as a download.
Kudo's to Alex and Abstract Logix for making this happen.

Download Alex Machacek's "Featuring Ourselves"

Virgil Donati re-releases "On The Virg - Serious Young Insects"

Australian drummer Virgil Donati has re-released his incredible 1999 prog-fusion album "On The Virg - Serious Young Insects". This is an awesome instrumental progressive rock CD, in the same vein as Planet X (no surprise since Donati is a member of that band). "Serious Young Insects" features T.J. Helmerich, Brett Garsed, and Simon Hosford on guitars. The writing on this album is really cool. It's been hard to find for a long time, but it's now been released in the US with new artwork. You get pick it up through Donati's website. This is one of my all-time favorite prog-fusion discs. Highly recommended!

On The Virg - Serious Young Insects

Jimmy Herring to sit in with Oteil and the Peacemakers

Jimmy Herring will be playing guitar with long-time ARU bandmate Oteil Burbridge's band Oteil and the Peacemakers for 4 shows in January. Here are the exact dates and venues:

January 11  Gibson Lounge - Memphis, TN
January 12 Crossroads Cafe - Huntsville, AL
January 13  Soul Kitchen - Mobile, AL
January 14  Workplay Theatre - Birmingham, AL

via Jambands.com

The radio stream is back up

The stream is back up. Enjoy!

The Guitar Channel radio stream is down

The radio stream has been down since Friday night. My relay server IP address is unreachable. I have no idea what's going on yet, but I'll post an update when I get some info.

Rich

Michael Landau interview at Abstract Logix

Abstract Logix has posted a great interview with guitarist Michael Landau. It's very extensive - he discusses his new live album, his studio and live setups, and much more.

Michael Landau interview

G3 in Australia - Opening night review

The Australian has a review of Wednesday's G3 show in Brisbane. It was the opening night of their current Australian tour.

Link