Archive for March, 2008
Cover Story: The 20 All-Time Greatest Chicago Guitarists
Perpetually under siege by synthesizers, jealous bandmates, “Guitar Hero,” and its own practitioners, it’s almost as if the guitar can’t exist without more tension than what’s going on between the neck and the bridge. So at IE we figured why not spray some gasoline on the fire and, for our annual Guitar Month, debate who [...]
Joe Satriani interview
Joe Satriani
Surfing With The Web Surfers
Valentine’s Day was four days ago, but guitar instrumentalist Joe Satriani is just now writing his dearest a love note. He begins reciting it by phone from his small, professional recording studio on the ground floor of his San Francisco home. “Record Store Day,” he reads aloud, “April 19th, 2008.” [...]
The Black Keys interview
The Black Keys
Brian’s Song
Spikes in Black Keys activity are nearly imperceptible, akin to testing for jumps in a hummingbird’s fluttering heart rate. They are there, however.
Appearing: Saturday April 12th at Riviera Theatre in Chicago.
Black Tide interview
Black Tide
Age Old Question
Alex Nunez definitely remembers his first impression of Zakk Sandler. “He was a dick to everybody,” Nunez recalls.
Appearing: Sunday August 10th at First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre in Tinley Park.
The New Guitar Plek-trum
Putting It Down And Pleking It Up
The Plek Machine Comes To Chicagoland
George MacPhail is accustomed to leaving work at the end of the day with hands that hurt. Actually, he is accustomed to leaving work with hands, fingers, and arms that hurt. MacPhail is one of two guitar technicians at The Music Gallery guitar shop [...]
Hayes Carll interview
Hayes Carll
No Longer A Mess In Texas
Hayes Carll has just released his third album, Trouble In Mind. His first, Flowers And Liquor, for Compadre Records, was produced by Lisa Morales of Sisters Morales. His second, Little Rock, released independently, was produced by R. S. Field. One of its songs, “Down The Road Tonight,” made Stephen [...]
20 – 11
The 20 All-Time Greatest Chicago Guitarists
20. Son Seals
Shootings, fires, amputations, W.C. Handy Awards: Son Seals seemed something out of an Andrew Vachss novel, which, in fact he also was. Frank Seals also knew a raw solo or two, we’re told.
10. Tom Morello
The 20 All-Time Greatest Chicago Guitarists
10. Tom Morello
Tom Morello endured 18 years in Libertyville and graduated with honors from Harvard in 1986. Neither, though, had much to do with his greatest achievement: Rage Against The Machine (sorry Audioslave, your name fit your confined music). Rage ignited Molotov cocktails of post-”Bring The Noize” rap-metal, burning up [...]
9. Curtis Mayfield
The 20 All-Time Greatest Chicago Guitarists
9. Curtis Mayfield
It’s easy to forget what a guitarist Curtis Mayfield was. Obscured beneath forming The Impressions, helping give voice to the Civil Rights movement, recording one of the greatest soundtracks of all-time, and his nearly fatal accident was an ace. Blurring his skill further was the fact his big [...]
8. Rick Nielsen
The 20 All-Time Greatest Chicago Guitarists
8. Rick Nielsen
Rick Nielsen deserves a spot on this list for his guitar collection alone; he has reportedly owned more than 2,000 sweet axes, including at least one custom five-neck Hamer with 38 strings. (Storage space must be cheap in Rockford.) Equally impressive is his contribution to power pop. Nielsen [...]
7. Elmore James
The 20 All-Time Greatest Chicago Guitarists
7. Elmore James
All electric slide-guitar playing starts with Elmore James. Argue all you want whether he stole his songs from Robert Johnson or Tampa Red or whoever, because back in the day he was playing with them all and such didn’t matter. What does matter is that in 1952 his [...]
6. Mike Bloomfield
The 20 All-Time Greatest Chicago Guitarists
6. Mike Bloomfield
According to the site’s stats, Mikebloomfield.com has averaged 60 visits a day for the last six years – not bad for a white, Jewish blues guitarist who died in 1981 and is best known for his performances on other people’s albums. Mike Bloomfield crammed a lot of playing [...]
5. Magic Sam
The 20 All-Time Greatest Chicago Guitarists
One of the great what-ifs of blues history. Many a musician met a premature demise (frequently at their own hands), but fate was especially cruel to Samuel Gene Maghett. Struck down by a heart attack just months after a star turn at the 1969 Ann Arbor Blues Festival, the 32-year-old [...]
4. Otis Rush
The 20 All-Time Greatest Chicago Guitarists
4. Otis Rush
Revered by blues and rock musicians alike, legendary guitarist/vocalist Otis Rush is perhaps the most intense, soulful bluesman of his era. Since the ’50s, when he had his first chart-topping hit on Cobra Records, “I Can’t Quit You Baby,” Rush has gone on to influence musicians such as [...]
3. Bo Diddley
The 20 All-Time Greatest Chicago Guitarists
3. Bo Diddley
Bo Diddley was one of those who took blues by the hand and led it into rock. Diddley’s music includes every aspect of rock: the fuzzy, effect-wielding guitar, humor, volume (Diddley didn’t necessarily play loud, but he always sounds like he was), sex, DIY aesthetic (the man built [...]
