A-J Charron

Redemption is one of the best things I’ve put in my CD player in a long time. There’s not a weak song anywhere to be found here. Everything is done superbly, from the writing, to the performing, to the production. Redemption is one of those albums that have you begging for more.

After listening to Disguise the Limit’s new album, Redemption, A-J felt that he just had to get in touch with the guys in the band. Guitarist Mark Summers agreed to share his thoughts on the group’s latest album and on his own career as well.

Here’s an extremely interesting album by one of the best bands around. Pain of Salvation’s music just keeps growing on you over time.

Gilbert Isbin Group: Water With a Smile Anything bearing Gilbert Isbin’s name is always welcome. Gilbert is one of the best guitarists worldwide. Don’t look for the guy playing scales at 300 miles per hour, Gilbert plays with his heart and does things that most of us can only dream of. Add to his music, [...]

I said I hoped to hear more from this Highlander and he has delivered magnificently! Duncan’s newest album is once again a treasure!

This a great album which you will be listening to time and time again. Kudos to the Normans!

Here’s a guy who can really write fabulous song after fabulous song. And present them in such a way so that you don’t need the frills to realize what you’re listening to.

If you like fantastic guitar, played by one of the top guitarists, with emotional accents and a skill born only from experience, then you’ll enjoy Martin Barre’s Stage Left.

Sometimes you write down something that sounds good and later (often much later) you figure out why. Here’s an interesting look at this from A-J, concerning one of his songs, Jasmine Scents.

Read A-J Charron’s fascinating interview with this guitarist whose work spans four decades. Martin offers some fine advice concerning the nature of playing for a living and the attitudes that make it a lot easier on one’s well-being. A definite must-read!

Great musicianship, on guitars and bass make for a cozy album of Rock, Jazz and Fusion. With a lot of blending in genres, the Bernd Brothers show their licks in a variety of styles.

A nice effort for guitarist Bob Ernst. Considering that this is a do-it-yourself album (Ernst writes, produces, arranges, plays guitars, bass and does the drum programming).

Sarah Pillow is an incredible artist. A delight for the ears, but more, a grand pleasure for the soul. She’s in a class by herself.

Being naïve can both hurt and help you. It’s a great asset to the artist or songwriter but it can also lead one to make less-than desirable (read disastrous) choices. A-J explores both sides of this trait in this interesting and thoughtful article.

To kick off their new European tour, Arena, oddly enough, played to North American dates. The first was Québec City, where they’ve played many times before, the next was their first ever presence in Montreal.

Eat This It’s Safe Tom Yoder’s debut CD is simply awesome! I could stop this review at that, and it’s enough to describe this wonderful album by a master guitar-slinger. Yoder credits a long list of guitarists for their influence, yet he manages to sound like none of them; he sounds like himself. He has [...]

This album contains 16 tracks. Six are played on the guitar and are covers of Villa-Lobos, Tarrega, Granado, Albéniz and Wyatt, while the 10 others are on piano and are all compositions.

The album sure bears its title well, it is indeed Freestyle Guitar. Never overdone, not a show of technique and speed, but just good guitar, quite well played and, as I said before, good songs.

Static Transmission is 51 minutes of pure fun the way only a very few artists know how to create. Certainly this album is one you will be listening to regularly for years to come.

One incredible songwriter/performer/guitarist meant getting two interviewers in for the job! Janis Ian kindly answers our questions on everything from getting into the business to internet music sharing. She even passes on a great tip that Chet Atkins gave her…