Led by John Kay, Steppenwolf's blazing biker anthem "Born to Be Wild" roared out of speakers everywhere in the fiery summer of 1968, John Kay's threatening rasp sounding a mesmerizing call to arms to the counterculture movement rapidly sprouting up nationwide. German immigrant Kay got his professional start in a bluesy Toronto band called Sparrow, recording for Columbia in 1966. After Sparrow disbanded, Kay relocated to the West Coast and formed Steppenwolf, named after the Herman Hesse novel. "Born to Be Wild," their third single on ABC-Dunhill, was immortalized on the soundtrack of Dennis Hopper's underground film classic Easy Rider. The song's reference to "heavy metal thunder" finally gave an assignable name to an emerging genre. Steppenwolf's second monster hit that year, the psychedelic "Magic Carpet Ride," and the follow-ups "Rock Me," "Move Over," and "Hey Lawdy Mama" further established the band's credibility on the hard rock circuit.

Either the mid-'70s or the addition of Ted Turner's replacement, Laurie Wisefield, brought about a severe identity crisis for Wishbone Ash. No longer were they the self-conscious band that evolved from their blues-based debut to their prog precursor Pilgrimage to their progressive tour de force Argus. While Wishbone Ash was still a guitar-oriented band, Locked In provided no originality and, save for a guitar refrain in "Rest in Peace," no memorable passages whatsoever. While his credentials are impressive, producer Tom Dowd was not the man for the job…

Southern-rock legend Leon Russell took his final bow last fall, but not before turning his storied talents to one last studio album. On a Distant Shore, which Russell spent his 74th and final year writing and recording, arrives Sept. 22 via Palmetto Records. The release will mark 10 months since Russell’s passing.

Latin/rock band from Argentina Pappo's Blues was formed in the late '60s by ex-Los Abuelos de la Nada talented electric guitarist Norberto Napolitano, also known as Pappo, joined by bassist David Lebón and drummer Black Amaya…

Electric Ladyland is the 1968 double album by the Jimi Hendrix Experience and is their third album. This is the first American digital release of this album, which Reprise released as a double CD in 1987 since most compact discs could not go beyond 74 minutes at the time. This is an unremastered version, or a "flat transfer", from the existing master tape at the time and is different from the mastering that was released for the CD in England at the time. Unlike the Germany CD from 1984 which has songs in different order due to how it was made on vinyl (i.e. Side 1 and Side 4 for Disc 1; Side 2 and Side 3 for Disc 2), the American CD separated each record with their own individual disc and are in proper order.

There's the Rub is the fifth studio album by rock band Wishbone Ash. It is the first album to feature guitarist/vocalist Laurie Wisefield, who would be a major part of the band's creative direction for the next 11 years. The album is considered by many to be a highpoint of the band's recording career. The title is taken from Shakespeare's Hamlet; "To sleep—perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub." The track "F.U.B.B." caused controversy because of the acronym's meaning ("Fucked Up Beyond Belief") upon the album's release. Moreover, the haunting ballad "Persephone" would go on to become one of the band's most popular live songs…

Latin/rock band from Argentina Pappo's Blues was formed in the late '60s by ex-Los Abuelos de la Nada talented electric guitarist Norberto Napolitano, also known as Pappo, joined by bassist David Lebón and drummer Black Amaya…

Without second guitarist David Knopfler, Dire Straits began to move away from its roots rock origins into a jazzier variation of country-rock and singer/songwriter folk-rock. Naturally, this means that Mark Knopfler's ambitions as a songwriter are growing, as the storytelling pretensions of Making Movies indicate…

Joel DaSilva is an American blues rock guitarist, singer and songwriter hailing from Chicago, Illinois, and currently based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. “Joel DaSilva is one of the finest musicians I’ve ever worked with, a true professional. He’s paid his dues and deserves national recognition. The son of traveling musicians from Brazil, DaSilva lost his father at age 3, which had a profound impact on the young artist’s life. At the age of 18, DaSilva joined his first blues outfit as the lead guitarist for “Junior Drinkwater and the Thirstquenchers”. DaSilva went on to put out 5 independent records thus far in a career spanning over 10 years. DaSilva has worked alongside such widely recognized and diverse artists as B.B.King, Ray Charles, the White Stripes, A.C. Reed, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Reverend Horton Heat, Foghat, Los Lobos, Leon Russell, the Black Crowes, Nighthawks, Edgar and Johnny Winter, and Jimmie Vaughan.

SIMO's new studio album ‘Rise & Shine’ will be out on 15 September 2017 on Provogue. On "Rise & Shine" SIMO widens their sound and is filled with slow-smoked soul ballads, psychedelic desert-rock instrumentals, hard-edged, bluesy barn burners and Stax-worthy funk rockers. "Rise & Shine" began taking shape on the road, where SIMO's three bandmates singer, guitarist and namesake frontman JD Simo; drummer Adam Abrashoff; and bassist Elad Shapiro spent most of 2016 on tour. They played 215 shows that year, leaving behind their Nashville headquarters and traveling to nine different countries in support of their Billboard Top 10 blues album, Let Love Show the Way.

Latin/rock band from Argentina Pappo's Blues was formed in the late '60s by ex-Los Abuelos de la Nada talented electric guitarist Norberto Napolitano, also known as Pappo, joined by bassist David Lebón and drummer Black Amaya…

No surprise – in concert was the best way to hear Wishbone Ash, because the studio was just too sterile an environment, at least for their hardest-rocking stuff to take off. Anyone really into the group should own this record.

This is a specially priced, two-CDs-for-the-price-of-one photo-cube set, loaded with great stuff from Charlie Musselwhite, Koko Taylor, Lonnie Brooks, Johnny Winter, Billy Boy Arnold, Lonnie Mack, and a host of others who have trotted their wares on the label over the years. Besides giving the novice one great introduction to the label (as the music runs from traditional to modern), the big bonus here is a treasure trove of previously unissued tracks from Roy Buchanan (a chaotic version of Link Wray's "Jack the Ripper"); Floyd Dixon (a recut of his Blues Brothers-approved hit "Hey Bartender"); Albert Collins and Johnny Copeland in a marvelous outtake from the Showdown! album ("Something to Remember You By"); and the band that started it all, Hound Dog Taylor & the Houserockers, with a crazed version of Elmore James' "Look on Yonder's Wall," as sloppy as it is cool. Very good stuff.

Though he isn’t exactly a household name in the Pelican State music scene, singer-songwriter/guitarist Josh Hyde isn’t a stranger, either. Since 1998, he’s released five self-produced albums, and he occasionally plays the Crescent City with pal/keyboardist John Gros. On his sixth album, he goes for broke, enlisting notable Nashville producer Joe V. McMahan to helm these sessions recorded at Dockside Studio. Gros jammed on six of the nine tracks while another old friend, slide guitarist Sonny Landreth, dropped by to play on two others.

"Strange Imagination", the excellent debut studio solo disc from blues/rock stratmaster JAY JESSE JOHNSON, features 11 tracks (56 minutes) of bad-ass, killer Hendrix-inspired bluesy heavy guitar power trio riffage that will rock your jam house hard. It's time for fans of Hendrix, Trower & Frank Marino to rejoice and raise their heavy guitar freak flags high because "Strange Imagination" delivers. Jay Jesse Johnson is an awesome, bluesy heavy guitar axeripper who hails from Connecticut, USA. One of the best obscure players we have heard in a long time. The man is a seasoned veteran on the guitar who plays with style, class and authority as he lays down serious Hendrix-ian stratocaster bliss on the "Strange Imagination" disc…