Below is a video of guitar Eric Gales debuting his Two Rock signature model amplifier. Gales debuted the amplifier at a benefit for guitar maker Taku Sakashta, who was murdered outside his shop earlier this year. Although Gales has had his share of troubles, he’s definitely still got it when he straps on a guitar.

Lee Ritenour released a new album titled 6 String Theory this week. The album is a celebration of the guitar and features a number of great guest artists, including George Benson, BB King, Slash, Steve Lukather, John Scofield, Joe Bonamassa, Robert Cray, Vince Gill, Keb’ Mo’, Taj Majal, Guthrie Govan, Andy McKee, and Jonny Lang, among others. There are a total of 20 great guitarists on this album! As you might expect from the wide-ranging styles of the guest artists, the album covers many different genres, including blues, jazz, rock, and even classical thanks to a contribution by 16-year-old Shon Boublil, who won Ritenour’s Yamaha Six String Theory Guitar Competition.

The track listing for the album is as follows:

1. Lay It Down (feat. Lee Ritenour and John Scofield)
2. Am I Wrong (feat. Keb’ Mo’ and Taj Mahal)
3. L.P. (For Les Paul) (feat. Joey DeFrancesco, Pat Martino, and Lee Ritenour)
4. Give Me One Reason (feat. Joe Bonamassa and Robert Cray)
5. “68″ (feat. Neal Schon, Slash, and Steve Lukather)
6. In Your Dreams (feat. Lee Ritenour, Neal Schon, and Steve Lukather)
7. My One and Only Love (feat. George Benson)
8. Moon River (feat. George Benson)
9. Why I Sing the Blues (feat. Keb’ Mo’, B.B. King, Vince Gill, Lee Ritenour, and Jonny Lang)
10. Daddy Longlicks (feat. Joe Robinson)
11. Shape of My Heart (feat. Lee Ritenour, Steve Lukather, and Andy McKee)
12. Drifting (feat. Andy McKee)
13. Freeway Jam (feat. Lee Ritenour, Mike Stern, and Tomoyasu Hotei)
14. Fives (feat. Guthrie Govan and Tal Wilkenfeld)
15. Caprices, Op. 20, No. 2 and 7 (feat. Shon Boublil)

Below is a preview of the album:

Joe Bonamassa recently spent some time in Nashville with Epiphone Guitars working on an upcoming Epiphone version of his signature Gibson Custom Shop guitar. Like his original Gibson, it looks like the Epiphone model will be a gold top Les Paul with a black back, black plastic components and a unique knob combination. Epiphone’s blog entry about the meeting indicated that the guitar will be out “very soon”. According to members of Joe’s forums, a Gibson USA (non-Custom Shop) version of Joe’s signature Les Paul is also in the works for a release in the near future. It should be an exciting year for guitar-playing fans of Bonamassa!

Rich Murray recently mentioned that highlights from this past weekend’s Crossroads Festival will be shown in theaters on July 27. I couldn’t make it to the show, so I have been awaiting word on when the DVD will be released. The fact that it will be played in high-definition in theaters is a nice surprise! It is a one-night event, with the movie starting at 7:30 local time at over 475 theaters across the US. Click here (PDF) to see if it will be playing near you.

One of my favorite modern classical guitarists and composers (and former LAGQ member) Andrew York has recently released a new album titled Centerpeace. This album features collaborations with guitarist Andy Summers and pianists Allaudin Mathieu and Mitsuko Kado. There are a mixture of composed songs and improvisations; in fact, half the tracks on the album are improvisations between Mathieu and York. You can preview and purchase Centerpeace on York’s site.

Below is a video of Joe Bonamassa playing “Further On Up the Road” with Robert Randolph during this past weekend’s Crossroads Festival in Chicago. It’s nice to see Joe playing one of his Wildwood “Bonaburst” guitars.

Helmet have announced a new album called Seeing Eye Dog to be released on September 7, 2010. The album will feature 10 tracks, including a cover of the Beatles’ “And Your Bird Can Sing.” On the album, guitarist Page Hamilton is joined by drummer Kyle Stevenson, guitarist Dan Beeman and bassist Chris Traynor. Traynor may be familiar to Helmet fans, as he was a member of Helmet for 10 years from 1996-2006. Dave Case will be the touring bassist, replacing former bassist Jon Fuller.

Helmet will be releasing multiple formats of the album, including digital only, CD and digital, and limited edition vinyl. Each format will include a live album recorded in San Francisco in 2006.

Although Derek Trucks is largely taking this year off from touring, he hasn’t stopped making music. He and wife Susan Tedeschi recently recorded a track called “Space Captain” with Herbie Hancock. Below is a video of the song recorded at Trucks and Tedeschi’s Jacksonville, FL studio:

The Los Angeles Times recently spent some time with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers talking to them about the recording process for their album Mojo, which will be released this week.  I was interested to hear that the album was recorded live with no overdubs. I can’t wait to hear the whole album. I love the bluesy sound of the songs I’ve heard so far.

Black Country Communion have updated their website with a video interview with the band members about how the band came together and about the recording process. They’ve also announced an album release date of September 21 for North America and September 20 for Europe.

The album will be named Black Country and the track listing for the album will be:

1. Black Country
2. One Last Soul
3. The Great Divide
4. Down Again
5. Beggarman
6. Song Of Yesterday
7. No Time
8. Medusa
9. The Revolution In Me
10. Stand (At The Burning Tree)
11. Sista Jane
12. Too Late For The Sun

Tony Conley has been able to review the album and has also posted an interview with lead singer and bass player Glenn Hughes.