Latest articles by Jim Beaugez
![Winona Fighter's Dan Fuson [left] and Coco Kinnon perfom on stage, with Fuson playing a red EVH S-style and both screaming into the mic.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/3hPCKjHpB76dEg7nLtFhAC-840-80.jpg.webp)
Winona Fighter’s Coco Kinnon and Dan Fuson on the secrets behind their riotous punk guitar sound
On their debut album, Nashville's Winona Fighter tough it out with grungy pop hooks and brash leads. In concert, they're throwing it down so darn hard they don't even need real amps...
![A black-and-white portrait of Deafheaven's Shiv Mehra [left] and Kerry McCoy playing guitar in close-up.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/g7ES9cMBnW4L769Nr2W5q7-840-80.jpg.webp)
Shiv Mehra and Kerry McCoy on stompbox thrill-seeking and Deafheaven's return to super-heavy guitars
Lonely People with Power takes Deafheaven back to the frontiers of black metal and shoegaze, and once more torching the rulebook of genre orthodoxy in search of sonic enlightenment
The Fleshtones’ Keith Streng explains what he learned from a misspent youth at CBGB’s – and the merits of pointless practice
Streng’s rhythmic garage riffs keep the punk-era legends vital after five non-stop decades
They inspired everyone from Oasis to the Smashing Pumpkins. Now English post-punk luminaries the Chameleons are back for more
Mark Burgess takes us back to Madchester as he discusses the comeback of one of England's most slept-on bands
How Yasmin Williams is redefining the people’s music with kitchen implements and acoustic guitar
The acoustic folk virtuoso even used a frother from her parents’ kitchen to get a tone on new album Acadia, but, she tells us, the end justifies the means
Larkin Poe switched to blues-rock to cover their rent. Now the bluegrass revival has them revisiting their first love
With renewed confidence and a slew of new guitar-forward songs, Larkin Poe’s Rebecca and Megan Lovell are upping the ante on seventh album Bloom
How JD McPherson took surf rock way past witching hour with vintage amps and Gretsch guitars
McPherson's new LP, Nite Owls, was nearly over before it began, but an invitation to open for Alison Krauss and Robert Plant brought it back to life. The result is a work of “surf noir”… with a little bit of Depeche Mode in there, too
Tab Benoit on the blues comeback of the year and why he’s a one-take wonder like Robert Johnson
After more than a decade spent clocking up road miles, the Louisiana blues ace is back with a new 10-song collection, I Hear Thunder
Meet the Bad Ups, the Philadelphia punks inspired by country-and-western, reggae and Chet Atkins
The Philly punks kick down the walls of genre orthodoxy on their debut album Life of Sin, complementing their powerchord assault with new-wave vibes, acoustic guitar, and licks Chet Atkins taught 'em
How fixing thousands of guitars changed the way Tulsa blues cat Seth Lee Jones plays the thing
Jones is bringing a slice of everyday Tulsa into his Delta blues-inspired sound, and his new album might bring him as much renown as a player as he has a luthier
All her heroes might be gone, but Towa Bird is spreading joy with big riffs and “lots of fuzz pedals”
The viral star of TikTok and late-night television makes her debut with the stellar American Hero, an album steeped in rock history, but with one eye to the future
“Play what moves you”: Those are the words Parlor Greens’ Jimmy James says we all should live by
With his inspired new trio, Seattle guitarist Jimmy James digs deep into Meters-style funk, rocking his Silvertone and making the world a better place
Jason Isbell and Luther Dickinson pay tribute to Dickey Betts
Isbell, Dickinson and Sadler Vaden paid homage to Betts with a three-guitar salute on the Allman Brothers classic
“If you don’t have good tone with just your amp and your guitar, ain’t no pedal gonna help you”: Sue Foley is dropping truth bombs and nylon-string blues in her tribute to the pioneering women of guitar
One Guitar Woman finds Sue Foley getting technically adventurous as she covers Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Memphis Minnie and Maybelle Carter
“People should really do their homework and learn about the history of music and what came before whatever style you wanna do”: Logan Ledger on paying his dues – and what he learned from Clarence White and Waylon Jennings
The golden-throated Nashville-via-California singer-songwriter shares his love of the B-Bender and discusses how the greats informed his dynamic playing style
“90 percent of my guitars are in mint condition – untouched and unmolested... The last 10 percent – those are the ones I play on the road”: Joe Bonamassa on his legendary collection, perseverance, and how he picks his touring guitars
The blues guitar titan looks back on the 2003 album that saved his career, explains why – 20 years later – he's recorded a sequel, and reveals how his legendary guitar collection gave a new voice to slept-on blues tracks
“When I started falling in love with guitar-driven music, I found that all roads led back to him”: Why Jimi Hendrix is still inspiring the latest generation of guitarists – five decades after his death
Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Melanie Faye, Mateus Asato and an all-star cast explain why today’s generation of guitar players remain indebted to Jimi Hendrix, and what we can all learn from him, no matter what style we play
“Sometimes the instrument or the amp takes you where it needs you to go. Older equipment is much easier to use to tell a story”: Baroness are reshaping metal guitar with acoustics, single coils and vintage amps
John Baizley and Gina Gleason explain how they tore up the metal rulebook on Stone, employing obscure amps, Strats and Teles, and a love of fingerstyle guitar
“Springsteen taught me how to write songs, but Pearl Jam, Dinosaur Jr., Fugazi and Sonic Youth taught me how to play those songs I’d learned to write”: Brian Fallon is breaking out the guitar solos for The Gaslight Anthem’s second coming
Brian Fallon and co. bring the noise – and the solos – on their first album since reforming. And they invited Bruce Springsteen along for the ride
“I didn’t want to become a cover band playing Purple Haze or Hey Joe – I took the deeper cuts and put my own spin on it”: He organized Jimi Hendrix’s 80th birthday party, now Marcus Machado is taking rock, funk and soul guitar into new territory
Collaborating with the likes of Pharoahe Monch, Pete Rock and Jon Batiste, Marcus Machado is taking his guitar playing out of its comfort zone in search of new sounds
“It’s all about what sounds cool… Not theoretically what you’re supposed to do”: How guitarists from Drug Church, Militarie Gun and Scowl are leading the melodic movement in hardcore punk
Nick Cogan of Drug Church and Militarie Gun joins Malachi Greene of Scowl to share the state of play in U.S. hardcore, a formerly rules-based art form that is now a free for all creatively
“Derek Trucks said my dad was one of those players that’s not afraid to stare directly into the sun – it was a no-brainer to have him on a song”: How Duane Betts combined A-list guest spots, Radiohead and Allman Brothers on his solo debut
For his first solo outing, the Allman Brothers-pedigreed guitarist welcomed Derek Trucks for a guest spot and emerged with a vision all his own, working mysterious energy whenever it presents itself
“You could be one spin away from something cool. I like that chase”: Strat-toting blues-rocker Jax Hollow sees songwriting as a throw of the dice – and she lives for the thrill
The Nashville-via-Massachusetts axe-slinger is having a blast on her stellar debut LP, Only the Wild Ones, gambling on new songs with a Stratocaster in her hand
