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4 days ago | 
acousticguitar.com | Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers |Greg Olwell |Michael Simmons |Adam Perlmutter
Jason Isbell owns some prized vintage guitars, such as a 1934 Martin 000-28 that he calls the best acoustic guitar he’s ever played. But when it came to recording his solo acoustic album Foxes in the Snow, he turned to this smaller and plainer Martin 0-17, a recent acquisition from Retrofret Vintage Guitars in Brooklyn, New York. Listed at $30, the 0-17 was nearly the bottom of the line in Martin’s 1940 catalog—only the 0-15, a very similar model with a less glossy finish, was cheaper, at $25.
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Jan 15, 2025 | 
shorturl.at | Michael Simmons
D.A. Pennebaker on the making of legendary Dylan documentary Dont Look Back. Starring Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan, director James Mangold’s new biopic A Complete Unknown is rightfully gaining plaudits for its portrayal of Dylan’s rise to fame and his schism with the folk scene that nurtured him.
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Jan 10, 2025 | 
acousticguitar.com | Michael Wright |Steve James |Greg Olwell |Michael Simmons
When singer-songwriter Dom Flemons saw this Clef Club guitar banjo at RetroFret in Brooklyn a few years ago, he knew he had to have it. Flemons had long been inspired by Papa Charlie Jackson, a versatile musician from the 1920s who played a Gibson guitar banjo with an oversized 14-inch head. (Most banjos these days have 11- or 12-inch heads.) With its 16-inch head, this Clef Club is even larger, and it has all the punch and power you could want.
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Nov 6, 2024 | 
acousticguitar.com | Adam Perlmutter |Greg Olwell |Michael Simmons
In 1931 Epiphone introduced the Deluxe, the first direct competitor to Gibson’s L-5, which had become the acoustic archtop of choice for rhythm guitarists at the dawn of the swing era. In a cheeky move, Epiphone designed the Deluxe with a 16-3/8-inch lower bout, slightly larger than the 16-inch L-5. This started a call-and-response competition between the two companies.
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Aug 25, 2024 | 
newsbreak.com | Michael Simmons
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Aug 25, 2024 | 
acousticguitar.com | Mamie Minch |Greg Olwell |Adam Perlmutter |Michael Simmons
The orchestra model is perhaps the most important guitar style C.F. Martin & Co. made in the 20th century. It was the company’s first six-string, 14-fret flattop guitar and it created the template for what we now think of as the modern steel-string guitar. After the dreadnought, the OM is probably the most popular 14-fret flattop guitar out there. The first OMs were built by Martin in 1929, and today, almost every modern guitar builder inspired by the venerable company builds an OM of some kind.
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Feb 16, 2024 | 
acousticguitar.com | Adam Perlmutter |Greg Olwell |Michael Simmons
Guitar banjos have never been widely popular, but there have always been just enough players seeking them out that most banjo makers have offered them in their catalogs. Because the instrument doesn’t have the percussive snap of a tenor or a five-string banjo, or the mellowness and sustain of a guitar, it’s neither fish nor fowl and consequently has had a hard time finding a musical home. But every now and then, a musician figures out what to do with a guitar banjo, and the results can be magical.
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Feb 9, 2024 | 
mojo4music.com | Michael Simmons
The Lovin' Spoonful's John Sebastian recalls watching The Beatles’ first ever performance on The Ed Sullivan Show on this day in 1964. On February 9 1964, The Beatles performed on the Ed Sullivan show for the first time. For those who tuned in to watch – from fans to future rock and roll greats – it was a life-changing experience. Here, The Lovin' Spoonful's John Sebastian recalls how watching the performance round Mama Cass' apartment led to the formation of his own group...
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Aug 10, 2023 | 
mojo4music.com | Michael Simmons
In remembrance of Robbie Robertson, who has passed away a year ago today, MOJO revisits our 2017 interview with The Band’s guitarist and songwriter. As guitarist and songwriter for The Band, Robbie Robertson helped shift the very foundations upon which rock and roll was rooted, both as sideman to Bob Dylan when he went electric and through his own group’s remarkable music.
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Jul 17, 2023 | 
mojo4music.com | Michael Simmons
Chasing Trane: MOJO charts the genius of John Coltrane across his ten greatest releases. He was as mortal as the rest of us, yet few of us publicly vow that we “want to be a force for good” like John Coltrane did. Initially he was just another young saxophonist who came of age in the 1940s, heavily influenced by Charlie ‘Bird’ Parker and the alto king’s long, dexterous, rapid-fire bursts of notes.
