Last week, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit paid tribute to the late Dickey Betts with a performance of In Memory of Elizabeth Reed at the Sound Amphitheater in Gautier, Mississippi. The concert, which came a day after Betts’ death at the age of 80, saw Luther Dickinson of North Mississippi Allstars joining Isbell and co. on stage, as they delivered a touching rendition of the iconic instrumental from The Allman Brothers Band’s second album, Idlewild South. READ MORE: “He has a wonderful lack of knowledge or respect for this past of mine”: David Gilmour on working with Alt-J producer on hi ..read more

Garbage frontwoman Shirley Manson has spoken about her love for Dave Grohl, describing him as “the most incredible expanse of joy” one can hope to meet. In a recent chat with NME, Manson discusses her experience working with the Foo Fighters rocker on the band’s 2005 album Bleed Like Me. Grohl famously played drums on the track Bad Boyfriend. The record was reissued earlier this month. READ MORE: “I told him: ‘Hey. F**k you, Chuck!’”: Steve Miller recalls his “awkward” time working with Chuck Berry “Dave Grohl is the most incredible expanse of joy that you can hope to meet as a human b ..read more

Nine years after his last record, David Gilmour is here to shake things up with a new full-length album featuring Alt-J producer Charlie Andrew. The album, titled Luck and Strange, is set to arrive on 6 September, though fans can listen to the lead single The Piper’s Call now READ MORE: Peter Frampton dubs Ozzy Osbourne the “Betty White of rock and roll” Luck and Strange was recorded over a five-month period in Brighton and London, and sees Gilmour joining forces with Charlie Andrew, the producer best known for his work with English indie band Alt-J. Speaking of the album’s making, Gil ..read more

Like many big artists, Coldplay are somewhat divisive. In 2016, VICE pondered why the band are so loathed – hell, we can even go back further. There are Digital Spy forums from nearly 20 years ago complaining about the ‘rubbish’ middling rockers. However, streaming numbers suggest a very different story. READ MORE: Coldplay called “useful idiots for greenwashing” after partnering with oil company to cut tour emissions In its hunt to find England’s top 10 most streamed rock and indie bands, Radio X has discovered that Coldplay are the most streamed English band worldwide. Pulling in 31 billi ..read more

What do Ozzy Osbourne and late actress Betty White have in common? They both deserve endless adoration for a lifetime of work in their respective fields, according to Peter Frampton. The guitarist was recently announced as a 2024 inductee of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, alongside the Dave Matthews Band, Foreigner, and Ozzy Osbourne, who is being inducted for a second time, this time for his solo work. READ MORE: “I’m a fighter and I’m not giving up”: Peter Frampton on why he keeps performing despite suffering with a degenerative disease And in a new interview with Rolling Stone, Frampton ..read more

Steve Miller has named Chuck Berry as the most awkward musician he has ever worked with in a new interview. READ MORE: Guitar played by Chuck Berry sells for more than £20,000 Although Miller does say he “loved” Berry, he admits that the musician was difficult to work with but changed his tune once Miller raised his voice and called him out. “When the Miller Band backed him, at Bill Graham’s request, first thing he said at rehearsal was: ‘Okay, no one take a shave or shower until we’ve played,’” he tells Classic Rock. “Just before the gig, he disappeared and returned loaded as a zombie on d ..read more

A mahogany Telecaster-style guitar hand-built for Keith Richards is going up for auction at $400,000. The T-style guitar was built for the Rolling Stones guitarist by his guitar technician Ted Newman Jones, also founder of Newman Guitars. It’s been authenticated by Stones gear expert Andy Babiuk, who was able to confirm that it’s the guitar used by Richards to record the band’s 1978 album Some Girls, while Richards also played it on the subsequent tour. READ MORE: “He was important to American music – and to all music”: Keith Richards pays tribute to Lou Reed with cover of I’m Waiting for th ..read more

In the very nearly three years since Thomas Ripsam succeeded longtime Martin CEO Chris Martin IV, it’s safe to say he’s seen most of what the never-dull guitar industry has to offer – from pandemics and an unprecedented guitar boom, to more recent slowdowns and industry-wide contractions in the face of an increasingly uncertain world. READ MORE: The Martin GPCE Inception Maple is Martin’s most important guitar of recent years Through this period, however, the German-born executive has steered Martin on an increasingly bold and progressive course. The latest summit of this mission to evolve ..read more

Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme began downtuning his guitar while a member of stoner rock titans Kyuss, but he was in a firm minority at the time. READ MORE: “Some nights, that’s magical. Other nights, it’s terrifying” Josh Homme on Kyuss’ legendary generator parties In a recent interview with Tom Power, Homme says, “In Kyuss, one of the reasons [why] I wanted to detune is because I wanted something that was mine, and there was no example of tuning down to B, and C … There was no such thing. I think, maybe Black Sabbath was [down]tuning some songs, but I’d never heard them befor ..read more

Renowned A&R executive Tom Zutaut has revealed that Guns N’ Roses’ debut album Appetite For Destruction was almost dropped by record label Geffen over its initially poor sales figures. Although the seminal 1987 record would go on to become the seventh best-selling album of all time in the US – as well as the best-selling debut album – it didn’t look that way at first, especially with MTV being so reluctant to play the Welcome To The Jungle video before Geffen intervened. READ MORE: Gibson releases a replica of Slash’s Jessica Les Paul – “his number-one live guitar for more than thre ..read more