Guitar Talk: Singer-Songwriter Sean Garvey on Finding Inspiration [VIDEO]
The singer-songwriter discusses ways to break out of your comfort zone and the inspiration for his work, including his family's vineyard.
On Latest Album, LA Folk-rock Band Dawes Finds Inspiration in Technology
From the new album’s hard-hitting opening track, “One of Us,” based squarely on a gritty, fuzzy synthesizer hook, We’re All Gonna Die introduces a more muscular and electronic Dawes.
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In the Age of Disco, Windham Hill Founder Will Ackerman Helped Solo-Acoustic Guitar Thrive
It's hard to overestimate the impact Will Ackerman’s first album of reflective music had on the acoustic-guitar world.
Trekking the Mississippi Blues Trail: B.B. King Museum, Parchman Farm, Dockery Farms, and More
Founded by the Mississippi Blues Foundation, the trail’s purpose is to honor and promote Mississippi’s rich blues heritage.
How to Start a Jug Band in 5 Easy Steps
“There are at least hundreds, maybe thousands of jug bands out there. It’s amazing. I see them everywhere I go and hear some really good ones,” says guitarist and bandleader Jim Kweskin. “In every town, every village, every city, someone’s got a jug band. “It’s astounding to me.” Kweskin, the…
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Q&A: While on Tour, Ben Harper Opens Up to His Opening Act Christopher Paul Stelling
We asked Christopher Paul Stelling to chat with Ben Harper about songwriting, guitars, growing up in a famous music store, and more.
A Week at Puget Sound Guitar Workshop Offers a Chance to Woodshed & Canoe with a Guy Named Dave
Dear Aunt Sarah, Thank you so much for sending me the link to your online posting of “Jambalaya.” I enjoyed all 12 verses, although not in one sitting. And let me be the first to say that those guitar lessons are really paying off, because you were able to switch…
Cindy Lee Berryhill: Teach Your Children, And Take Your Own Guitar Playing to the Next Level
If you go back and listen to my earliest albums, Who’s Gonna Save the World and Naked Movie Star, I’m a strummer. We were folkies, but we were punks at heart.
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Billy Bragg and Joe Henry Turn a Rail Trip into a Record of Forgotten America
Billy Bragg and Joe Henry took a long train ride, from Chicago to LA, stopping at stations to record great railroad songs.
Six-String Sagas: Ani DiFranco, Eric Bibb, and 11 More Top Players Share Guitar Stories [VIDEO]
More than 160 artists have been featured in Acoustic Guitar Sessions. Here we take a look back at some of the series’ most interesting guitar tales.
Remembering Studio Guitar Legend Bruce Langhorne, the Real ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’
“At one point, I was like Mr. Guitar in Greenwich Village,” says Bruce Langhorne, talking by telephone on the 50th anniversary of "Mr. Tambourine Man"'s release.
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Legendary McCabe’s Guitar Shop Is a Mecca for LA Guitarists
It's one of the world’s great guitar shops—so storied that LA Weekly instituted the annual awards category, “Best Guitar Shop (That’s Not McCabe’s).” There’s no place quite like it.
Q&A: Graham Nash Talks New Album and Why ‘CSN and CSNY Is Over’
Along with his fruitful new songwriting partnership with Shane Fontayne, Nash remains prolific as a visual artist—especially with his first love, photography.
Guitar Great Bryan Sutton Delivers Bluegrass Playing Tips & More
There’s a lot about the way Bryan Sutton plays guitar, but it’s all about flow and movement, and moving forward through something.
Q&A: Darrell Scott Talks 20 Years in Music City, Going Off the Grid, and ‘Couchville Sessions’
“I was never grounded in writing hits,” Darrell Scott explains. “I was very much about writing songs, especially songs that moved me.
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An Insider’s Guide to Nashville: 10 Spots to Eat, Shop, and Listen to Music
Droves of tourists flock to Nashville each year for the honky-tonks that line Lower Broadway—and you should check those out—but here are 10 must-see spots off the beaten path.
Q&A: Mary Chapin Carpenter Talks Songwriting, Beating Writer’s Block, and Alternate Tunings
"Looking back is not the same as looking forward,” sings Mary Chapin Carpenter over the resonant ring of her low-tuned flattop guitar.
Guitar Talk: Vince Gill Stresses the Importance of Experimentation
While Gill is known as one of country music’s hottest pickers—you often see him with a Fender Strat or Tele, or Gibson 335 in hand—acoustics play a big role in his career, and his life.
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Remembering Americana Icon Guy Clark, 1941-2016
He wrote some of outlaw country's most memorable songs, crafting intimate, finely detailed narratives and philosophical reminiscences that make him an American icon.
Read an In-Depth Q&A with Pete Seeger from the Archives
Before his death in 2014, AG interviewed Pete Seeger about his life and influence on contemporary folk music for its July 2002 cover story. Below is that interview in full: by Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers Few individuals have enriched our musical lives in as many ways, and for as many years,…
Rebels with a Cause: How Dwight Yoakam and Steve Earle Saved Country Music
By Greg Cahill 30 years ago, Dwight Yoakam and Steve Earle released their debut albums. Nashville has never been the same “I first met Steve Earle in 1985 at a George Strait concert. Steve had come out from Nashville to play for a while and to see what was going…
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Spirit‘s ‘Nature’s Way’ Became a 1970s Rock Anthem and Classic-Rock Radio Staple
Spirit guitarist and boy genius Randy California penned “Nature’s Way” in San Francisco one afternoon while the band waited to perform at the Fillmore Auditorium.
Down & Dirty: 10 Next-Gen Resonator Players
AG asked ten up-and-coming resonator players why they are drawn to these fascinating guitars and what aspiring reso players should do if they want to learn.
What Would Kurt Cobain Be Today: Acoustic Singer-Songwriter or Washed-Up Grunge Dude?
By Mark Kemp As you read this post, please think about the question posed in the headline. For many who admired and came to love Kurt Cobain and his band Nirvana, April 5, 1994, was a horribly dark day. [See note at bottom for clarification on the sequence of events leading…
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Portrait of an Artist: Guy Clark on ‘Write Your Own Story, Whatever It Is’
Like most of the albums he has made over the course of a 38-year recording career, Guy Clark’s latest, My Favorite Picture of You, is a compact collection of exquisitely crafted vignettes, portraits, and narratives, each etched with just the right amount of colorful detail and tapping a deep well…