Come gather 'round peopleWherever you roamAnd admit that the watersAround you have grownAnd accept it that soonYou'll be drenched to the bone.If your time to y...
It’s not news that the music biz is a tough business for musicians, even more so today than ever before. You can only imagine how many mega doses of conviction,...
We average over a hundred sessions a year here at TrueFire. We’re either working on a new project with an artist that we’ve worked with in the past, or we’re pr...
nyone who has ever dived into the deep waters of songwriting will emphatically agree that it’s a highly personal, introspective and complex craft. One can learn...
"All things come to those who wait,” so said British poet Violet Fane, back in 1892. Heinz spinned it with “The best things come to those who wait.” Whoever get...
Over the next couple of years, he was touring regularly and sharing stages with artists such as Tommy and Phil Emmanuel, both of whom served as mentors. In ...
I was a fan of Adrian Legg’s music long before I had the opportunity to see him perform live, which finally happened at a crowded and absurdly noisy NAMM conven...
I smile every time I hear his music. Heck, I smile anytime I hear or see his name. Tony McManus has that effect on his audience, peers, friends, and even total ...
We all have our own personal lists of favorite guitar solos? I’d bet dollars to donuts that at least one of your favorite solos was recorded on a Steely Dan rec...
David Hamburger was the very first artist who dared to collaborate with us back in the day when instructional books, audio CDs, and DVDs ruled the music educati...
The Beatles’ I Want To Hold Your Hand resonated in the ears of 211-million people around the world after its release in November 29th of 1963. 18-million of tho...
It’s not uncommon for me to bring Andy Aledort’s name up in conversation with a fellow player or music enthusiast and then be asked, “Which Andy Aledort?”
Th...
I first set eyes on a Nik Huber guitar in a crowded booth on NAMM’s main floor. Nik had about 15 guitars on display - all of them already sold by noon of the fi...
Guitar virtuoso, brilliant recording artist, passionate educator, and gifted composer, Pete Huttlinger passed in January of this year of heart failure after yea...
I could fill this entire edition of Riff with my impressions, accolades and studio stories about Robbie Calvo. There are so many facets and colors to his ta...
Everything about Pat Martino is “extraordinary” in the fullest sense of the word. At age 15, Pat was already playing professionally on the jazz circuit. Since t...
Frank and I go way back. We started working together on TrueFire projects fifteen years ago and became fast friends almost immediately. Everyone loves Frank, an...
“Brothers from another mother,” is how Robben Ford described Andrew Ford to me. We had just finished Robben’s first series of TrueFire sessions and Robben asked...
In The Jam features world-class artists including Larry Carlton, Robben Ford, Keith Carlock, Steve Smith, Carl Verheyen, Stu Hamm, Frank Vignola, Julian Lage a...
One of the highlights of every summer and winter NAMM convention is Muriel Anderson’s All Star Guitar Night benefit concert. Each event features a variety of 12...
Racing heart, shortness of breath, adrenalin rushing through every vessel in my body — I felt like a kid visiting Disneyland for the first time. Bright, shiny, ...
Once upon a time, way back in the early years of TrueFire, the phone rang on my desk late in the afternoon. I remember being buried with work and up against a d...
The Navy has its SEALs, the Army its Rangers, the Marines have their Raiders, and law enforcement has their SWAT. All comprised of select individuals, trained t...
Born in a cross-fire hurricane to itinerant Appalachian mountain people and then sold for a barrel of gunpowder to a wandering clan of Eastern European gypsies, Brad (thankfully) found his way home at TrueFire and is a frequent "penner" of Riff content.
