Mark McGuigan recently posted the video below of a tour through the Suhr Guitars factory. I’ve said before that I love a good factory tour video and this one doesn’t disappoint. An added bonus is a backing track of Guthrie Govan’s “Sevens”:

Details about Jimmie Vaughan’s first new album in nine years have been announced. It will be titled Jimmie Vaughan Plays Blues, Ballads and Favorites and will feature an original instrumental track as well as covers of songs by Little Richard, Jimmy Reed, Roy Milton, Roscoe Gordon, Willie Nelson and others. He also has a few special guests, including Lou Ann Barton, who sings on two tracks, and Bill Willis, who played Hammond organ with James Brown.

The new album will be released on July 6. The track listing for the album is:

1. The Pleasure’s All Mine
2. Come Love
3. I’m Leaving It Up To You
4. Comin’ & Goin’
5. Wheel Of Fortune
6. How Can You Be So Mean
7. Just A Little Bit
8. I Miss You So
9. RM Blues
10. Roll, Roll, Roll
11. Send Me Some Lovin’
12. (She’s Got The) Blues For Sale
13. Funny How Time Slips Away

How many people can say they’ve played basketball with Eddie Van Halen or spent a week on Santana’s tour bus? Jas Obrecht has done those things and much more throughout his career as a writer for magazines such as Rolling Stone, Guitar Player, Mojo, and Living Blues, among others. He now teaches creative writing at Washtenaw Community College in Ann Arbor, MI; the college ran a feature story on Obrecht last year. They’ve also posted a video interview with Obrecht on YouTube, where he talks about playing basketball with EVH and then interviewing him long before he became the guitar god he is today:

Eric Johnson recently sat down with Fender to discuss his new Rosewood-neck signature Stratocaster:

The band formerly known as Black Country, featuring Joe Bonamassa, Glenn Hughes, Jason Bonham, and Derek Sherinian, have officially been renamed as Black Country Communion. The new website is sparse of details about the upcoming album, but you can see them play “One Last Soul” on YouTube.

I first heard of guitarist Josh Smith through the Gear Page forums, as he is a well-respected member there. I later found out that he is the lead guitarist for Taylor Hicks’s touring band. In addition to touring with Taylor Hicks, Smith has released several solo guitar instrumental albums. His latest solo album is called Inception and was released last December. What I really like about this album is that, although he is an excellent guitarist, he doesn’t use the album to showcase all he can do as a guitarist; he lets his guitar playing serve the songs, which sound both modern and classic at the same time.

Unlike many instrumental albums, Inception is full of tasteful and melodic blues-based playing. For example, B.B. King would be right at home singing over Smith’s slow blues track “Drown In My Own Tears.” Josh’s guitar really burns in the slow blues track “Penance.”

Although Smith’s playing has a bluesy foundation, he’s also quite adept at jazz and country guitar. For example, the song “Propulsion” is chock full of country-infused licks. The song “Bemsha Swing” is jazzy track that highlights Smith’s melodic jazz playing. “Triple J Hoedown” manages to meld all of these styles into one song without it sounding hokey.

In addition to the blues, jazz, and country playing, there are a number of tracks that don’t fall within any of those categories. These tracks tend to highlight Smith’s rock playing. For example, the opening track “Inception” is a medium-tempo melodic rock song. Other rock tracks on the album include “Fulfillment,” “Looking Ahead,” and “Hairflip.” The tracks “Just Within Reach” and “Resolution” are excellent rock tracks that highlight Smith’s slide guitar playing. And, Smith’s tracks “Niki” and “Canyon” highlight his tasteful ballad playing.

As a gear geek, I like to know what other guitarists play on their recordings. Smith has obliged us geeks by indicating in the liner notes what gear he played on each track on the album. Smith is endorsed by Chapin guitars, and Mad Professor, Fargen, and Bludotone amplifiers, so, not surprisingly, many tracks feature Chapin guitars and one or more amps by those amp-makers. However, he also used a Les Paul on several tracks. Regardless of the guitar/amp combination used, Smith’s tone is very good throughout the album, although my favorite tone on the album might be on the song “Fulfillment,” on which he used a ’69 Les Paul Custom into a Bludotone Bludodrive amp.

While listening to this album, I kept thinking about how melodic and tasteful Josh’s playing is, regardless of the style of the song he’s playing on. If you enjoy great guitar playing, I think you’ll enjoy Inception.

The track listing for the album is as follows:

1. Inception
2. Just Within Reach
3. Looking Ahead
4. Propulsion
5. Drown In My Own Tears
6. Penance
7. Triple J Hoedown
8. Fulfillment
9. Canyon
10. Hairflip
11. Bemsha Swing
12. Niki
13. Resolution

LickLibrary.com recently posted a nice interview with guitarist Davy Knowles from Back Door Slam. They have also posted a performance by Knowles and an overview of two of his songs: “Riverbed” and “Tear Down the Walls.”

The Fender Custom Shop has recently introduced the Jim Campilongo* Signature ’59 Telecaster. This signature guitar is based on Campilongo’s original ’59 Telecaster. One of the unique features of the guitar is that the strings are top loaded instead of through-the-body like most modern Telecasters. Another unique feature of the guitar is the Campilongo-designed pickups that are available exclusively with this guitar.

Click here to view an interview with Campilongo talking about the guitar at this year’s Winter NAMM show.

* If you’re not familiar with Jim Campilongo, he is a New York based guitarist who is perhaps best known for playing with Norah Jones in the Little Willies. He has also released a number of solo instrumental albums, the most recent of which is Orange, which is one of my favorite albums of the year so far.

Fender has announced a promotion to win tickets to Eric Clapton’s sold out Crossroads festival on June 26. The grand-prize winner will receive a pair of tickets and a Fender T-Mobile myTouch 3G Limited Edition phone. A runner-up will win a pair of tickets to the festival. All you have to do to enter is fill out the form on the contest website.

Premier Guitar magazine recently published a podcast interview with Eric Johnson:

In this interview, Strat-master Eric Johnson discusses why his new album is more “alive” than his previous and the special guests who make appearances on it. He also walks us through the rig he used for Experience Hendrix and shares his favorite moments from the tour.