Guitar

Apart from being the guitarist for Bruce Springsteen and playing mob guy Silvio on The Sopranos, Steven Van Zandt is also a radio DJ. We talk with Van Zandt about creating the music for the new movie Christmas with the Kranks.

Before he played guitar for Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Page was a session musician in London studios. Rock historian Ed Ward looks back at Page's early career. Led Zeppelin will be honored with a Lifetime Achievement Grammy next month.

Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews two CDs: Pork Chop Blue Around the Rind from Fast and Bulbous, and The Hills Have Jazz from Eugene Chadbourne.

Guitarist Link Wray died on November 5 at the age of 76. He's credited with inventing the power chord in the 1950s. His first big recording hit was the 1958 instrumental Rumble. When he went to record the song, he wasn't happy with the sound on the amp, so he pierced holes in the speaker cone to create additional distortion. Guitarists including Pete Townshend and John Lennon were influenced by his work. Wray's other hits include Rawhide and the Batman theme.

For lovers of jazz music, the year 2005 brought a wealth of reissues by critical artists from Jelly Roll Morton to John Coltrane.

Guitarist and singer Ali Farka Toure of Mali died March 7 at the age of 66. Farka Toure was a booster of Mali's march toward independence.

In the age of the sampler, three innovative guitar players are taking their instruments to new heights: Richard Leo Johnson, Dominic Frasca, and Jonas Hellborg.

Dave Alvin is best known for his work in the Blasters and X, as well as his solo career. His new CD West of the West is a tribute to California songwriters, and features Alvin performing songs by Jerry Garcia, Tom Waits, Brian Wilson, Merle Haggard and others.

Fresh Air rock historian Ed Ward considers the legacy of Lonnie Mack, who sings soulfully and plays a mean guitar.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews the guitarist and singer's new album, The Blues Rolls On. Released in early September, the disc includes collaborations with B.B. King, George Thorogood, James Cotton and more.

With his band the Belmonts, singer-songwriter Dion rose to fame as a '60s teen idol, topping charts with hits like "The Wanderer" and "I Wonder Why." The latest album in his long career is Heroes: Giants Of Early Guitar Rock.

The guitarist opens up about his music, his legendary journeys on the road with The Rolling Stones and his occasionally contentious relationship with lead singer Mick Jagger in a new memoir called Life.

Doc Watson, who was called "a living national treasure" for his virtuoso flat-picking and his repertoire of traditional folk and bluegrass tunes, has died. He was 89. Fresh Air remembers the blind guitar and banjo player with excerpts from a 1988 interview.

Lage began playing guitar at the age of 5 and appeared on stage at the Grammys at 13. He talks to Fresh Air about growing up a guitar prodigy, his father's gentle coaching and his new trio album.

As a guitarist in Wilco, Nels Cline is known for his sonic explorations with feedback, distortion and unfettered improvisation. His new album, Lovers, is a collection of lushly arranged versions of American popular songs, covers and originals.

Halvorson, a prolific jazz guitarist, plays with harmonies and melodies as she leads an eight-piece band on her new album. Critic Kevin Whitehead calls Away With You "richer than ever."

We listen back to a 2008 interview with singer Glen Campbell whose hits included Witchita Lineman, By the Time I Get to Phoenix, and Galveston. He died Tuesday Aug 8 at the age of 81.

British singer-songwriter Tracey Thorn writes music that chronicles themes in women's lives that aren't often addressed in pop lyrics. Take, for instance, the single "Babies," off her new solo album Record. The song is meant to be a humorous ode to birth control, but there's also a deeper feeling to it.

Dale told Fresh Air in 1993 that his distinctive guitar style came, in part, from the ocean waves he surfed: "The waves did create my feelings of that sound." Dale died March 16.