Latest articles by Glenn Kimpton
Hooked on “bombastic lead rock guitar” before catching the songwriting bug, Seb Wesson is on a search for songs with meaning
Wesson's full-length solo debut was made in collaboration with his Martin D-28 and a ’68 Fender Pro Reverb amp rescued from the trash outside a London guitar shop, and features 10 tracks with a story to tell
Meet Muireann Bradley, the 17-year-old fingerpicker on a quest to bring turn-of-the-century folk-blues to Gen Z
This teenage folk and blues singer-songwriter is wise beyond her years – and nailed every song on her debut album in one take
Cash & Carter’s Ross O’Reilly is using a one-take guitar approach to write new songs for the old frontier
Cash & Carter's No Use Praying EP is essential listening for fans of Chris Stapleton, John Mayer and George Ezra, but maybe also of John Wayne, Randolph Scott and Sergio Corbucci too
“He taught me that it was OK to play the music you wanted to play”: Why John Mayall was the godfather of British blues guitar
Best known for his Bluesbreakers band, which launched the careers of Eric Clapton, Peter Green and Mick Taylor, Mayall was a gifted pianist, guitarist and harmonica player
The Last Dinner Party’s Emily Roberts on bringing jazz into pop, and how St. Vincent shaped her playing (and her gear)
Her band has the biggest-selling debut album in nearly a decade in her native UK, and secured tours with Hozier and Florence & The Machine. Guitarist Emily Roberts explains how her background in jazz, theater and a Queen tribute band inspired her evocative playing style
Conchúr White on going solo, McNally guitars and finding a new voice with fingerpicking
White's debut album, Swirling Violets, finds the former Silences guitarist exploring the outer reaches of his imagination and changing his approach because this time out, the set all hangs on him
How Sophie Giuliani went from ballet dancer to Olivia Rodrigo’s guitarist – and what she learned from John Mayer
The Australian guitarist is now an LA native with a roll call of credits including Rodrigo, Empress Of and Mayer Hawthorne, and she runs her own masterclass out of Pickup Music
Nat Myers is making rootsy blues guitar relevant again – and keeping the one-man ramblin’ band tradition alive
Nat Myers’ debut album, Yellow Peril, was produced by the Black Keys frontman – and it’s a modern-day classic of its genre
Meet James Frankland, the classical-loving instrumentalist fusing Rachmaninoff and Guns N’ Roses
Frankland is taking influences from all across the musical spectrum to forge a sound that is all his own. He unpacks his journey from 13-year-old rookie to debut album, Fate’s Right Hand
“I’m constantly going back to Davey Graham… He is massively neglected as an insanely creative player. For me, he’s like Jimi Hendrix – his stuff should be analyzed in forensic detail”: Henry Parker on his journey from metal to virtuoso folk
The English folk phenom returns with Lammas Fair, an album introducing proggy psych to his sound. He discusses his approach to open tunings, paying tribute to acoustic great Michael Chapman, and making the most of resonant strings
“We lived on a train for 15 days and played 65 shows. The boxcar was a stage, and we would pull into towns that don’t get live music very often”: How Tenille Townes is taking her country sound to the people
The Canadian country star's latest EP is a journey in every sense, written on the road as she toured the country, playing boxcar gigs and raising money for a good cause
“Music saved me from a lonely existence, and now it’s teaching me how to relate to others and how to relate to myself”: Mat Davidson, aka Twain, found belonging with a guitar in his hand
Mat Davidson has played with Big Thief, The Low Anthem and more, but under his own steam as Twain he is chasing new horizons – with the help of the “Honda Civic” of acoustic guitars
“I still love that idea of a solo singer-songwriter being able to communicate with just their guitar and vocal”: Christina Martin on making the leap from cheap Gretsches to fancy Duesenbergs, and why pedals stress her out
On her new album, Storm, the Canadian-born, Austin-based singer-songwriter is cultivating a more orchestral sound, but as she explains, you can strip it all back to her voice and guitar
“When I want to know what I’m doing, I play the keyboard. And if I don’t want to know what I’m doing, I play the guitar”: Christopher Libertino on film scoring, music journeys and taking the leap into the great instrumental unknown
Libertino is a multi-instrumentalist, composer and academic, and his latest album, Cartography, finds him chasing new musical horizons and facing the biggest challenge of his career
“I was inspired to get away from the standard chordal structure we’ve all heard a thousand times”: Producer, luthier, songwriter like no other – Jonathan Wilson will take you on a strange trip
He toured with Roger Waters, produced Roy Harper and Father John Misty, and built electric guitars that became highly sought-after. Now, new album Eat the Worm finds the Laurel Canyon experimentalist messing around with song form, “f**ked up” Stratocasters and songs about Joe Bonamassa
“We wanted to make something that was atmospheric and not mimicking anything else. But, really, this record is about coming out of grief”: Emma Tricca is finding redemption in vintage Martins and fingerstyle folk
Her guitar approach may be shaped by Joan Baez, Bob Dylan and John Renbourn, but Aspirin Sun finds Emma Tricca chasing a folk sound that's all her own
“Robbie’s music seemed to come from the deepest place at the heart of this continent, its traditions and tragedies and joys”: Remembering Robbie Robertson, 1943-2023
Founding member of The Band, Martin Scorsese collaborator and one-time lead guitarist for Bob Dylan, Robbie Robertson led a remarkable career
“I got into ES-style guitars because of that scene in Back to the Future!”: How Chris Stapleton, the humble capo and Marty McFly shaped Ashley Sherlock’s breakthrough debut album
The Gibson artist discusses the guitars, approaches and songwriting philosophies that informed his debut record, Just A Name
“The thing about the electric guitar is you have an amplifier, so you don’t have to overplay… In fact, it sounds more powerful if you don’t”: Carl Baldassarre on how an academic love of Led Zeppelin inspired his dynamic new album
The Professor of Classic Rock discusses his creative journey, his great six-string epiphanies and the enduring influence of Jimmy Page
“The nylon-string guitar is obviously the most beautiful instrument in the world”: Norwegian singer-songwriter Juni Habel on making hazy acoustic folk without a steel-string in sight
Habel's soft-focus folk hits hard, and fans of Beth Orton, Joni Mitchell and Ane Brun should check out her nylon-string stylings
Meet Xander & the Peace Pirates, the triple-guitar band discovered by an ex-Gibson CEO, featuring Liverpool's answer to Stevie Ray Vaughan
Henry Juszkiewicz broke the UK blues-rock outfit – they explain how they balance three distinctly different guitar styles
Two people, 13 instruments, countless happy accidents and a Hawaiian Gretsch: Inside The Blackheart Orchestra’s horizon-chasing sound
Chrissy Mostyn and Rick Pilkington explain how a project that started with just one acoustic guitar and two voices has become “the smallest orchestra in the world”
A.A. Williams: “I didn’t have lessons or learn other people’s tabs or anything. I think there’s a punk-rock quality in that”
A pianist and cellist who never learned to play guitar in standard tuning, Williams is a player like no other, and her new album, As the Moon Rests, is a wild trip into new sounds and textures
