Rig Rundowns

Irish rock band Fontaines D.C. is a dual-guitar ensemble featuring Carlos O’Connell and Conor Curley. At first, the duo used similar guitars, amps, and settings in an effort to work as a symbiotic saw buzzing their way through songs. The indistinguishable incisions lacerated their earliest work with angsty piss and vinegar. But as the quintet’s musicianship has evolved, they’ve embraced wider infl...

“‘Stumbled into guitar’ is a good way of putting our start with the instrument. [Spencer Stewart] and I formed the band in 2015 and that’s when I got my first electric guitar,” admits The Band CAMINO’s vocalist and guitarist Jeffery Jordan. That sort of sideways T-bone collision into guitardom allows this pop-minded duo to avoid typical tonal tropes like worrying about tubes versus modeling, or im...

The 15-year history of  Rig Rundown  has established that guitar gear fascination (and obsession) runs deep in our community. It’s the life blood of our show. But if there was ever antithetical example to guitar gluttony and equipment idolatry, it would be American Football. Their original self-proclaimed “bedroom college project” focused on self-expression, musical creativity, and worki...

PG ’s John Bohlinger hung with Alter Bridge’s two-man guitar army, Mark Tremonti and Myles Kennedy, before their sold-out show at The Orpheum Theater in Memphis. Tremonti and Kennedy showcased some beautiful signature Paul Reed Smith guitars, as well as a not-yet-released PRS signature amp. Thanks to techs Dave Pate and Scott Davis for their help with the details. Brought to you by  D’Addario...

Emily Wolfe doesn’t play guitar. She bends it to her will. Like a bronco buster taming a stallion, she saddles up on her signature Sheratons and lets it rip. Much of the magic felt and heard on her self-titled debut was pure adrenaline hitting your speaker. And while her second album, 2021’s Outlier, incorporates Wolfe’s love of Motown grooves and modern-pop stickiness refreshening her songwriting...

Steve Vai is much more than a great guitarist. The American guitarist has established himself as a key figure in guitar culture, and one of the world’s leading masters of shred. Vai broke on the scene in 1980 as Frank Zappa’s transcriptionist, until Zappa hired Vai, age 20, to join his touring band—Zappa allegedly called Vai his “little Italian virtuoso.” Bolstering his guitar theatrics with sharp...

It might actually be easier to list the artists Derek Wells  hasn’t  worked with, than the ones with whom he has. The Nashville-based multi-instrumentalist and producer has lent a hand to more than 100 number one singles over the years, with household staples like Kenny Chesney, Maren Morris, Dolly Parton, Carrie Underwood, even Shakira. He’s also piled up production credits with artists...

When some people travel, they take photos on their phone to remember the trip. Old-soul voyagers will recount their adventures with pen and paper. But for Alejandro and Estevan Gutiérrez, who together make the globetrotting Ecuadorian-Swiss duo Hermanos Gutiérrez, their experiences conjure soundtracks, and a visit years ago to the American Southwest changed their sound forever. A couple years afte...

Nashville has long been the hub for all things country music but in the last two decades, transplant rockers like  Jack White ,  the Black Keys ,  Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine ,  Judas Priest’s Richie Faulkner  and others, have all have made the 615 home. Adding to its growth is the organic blossoms generated via the rock block, cultivating names like Paramore,  All Them...

For more than two decades, trailblazing acoustic guitarists Rodrigo Sánchez and Gabriela Quintero have been blending metal, flamenco, pop, and jazz with their Grammy-winning duo Rodrigo y Gabriela, and they’re not showing any sign of slowing down. They’re currently on the road in support of their seventh full-length album,  In Between Thoughts…A New World , released in April. It’s a character...

A decade ago,  Vince Gill  and Paul Franklin recorded  Bakersfield , a tribute to the raw-boned country music that came out of the rough-and-rowdy clubs patronized by oil-field hands and agricultural workers in the ’50s and early ’60s—packed with songs  by Merle Haggard and Buck Owens . And we visited with them for a  Rig Rundown  then. Now, just for the good times, t...

Full Rig Details:https://bit.ly/NileRodgersRR Subscribe to PG's Channel: http://bit.ly/SubscribePGYouTube Since the early ’70s, the guitar legend has trusted his 1960 “Hitmaker” Strat to turn out chart toppers that have changed the course of music history and shaped cultures around the world. We explore its unusual origins and DNA as well as uncover some ordinary tools making extraordinary grooves...

It’d be hard to argue that anyone has changed their sound as much as Billy Strings has in the last 10 years. If you reference the pre-war traditional collaboration albums he first did with Don Julin ( Rock of Ages  and  Fiddle Tune X ), and his solo debut EP  Billy Strings , and then witnessed one of his recent high-voltage shows, the songs and sounds are both worlds apart … yet fam...

Canadian alt-country group  the Bros. Landreth  have become known for bringing not just layers of blues, rock, and eclectic modern influence to the traditional country sound, but for Joey Landreth’s depth as a guitarist and stunning tone on the instrument. Built on a lifetime of brothers Joey and Dave’s absorbing classic country music, the band was launched with the release of 2013’s&nbs...

Kurt Ballou  takes tone very seriously. He’s been on the leading edge of aggressive guitar sounds since 1990, and  Converge ’s fourth album, 2001’s  Jane Doe , is still seen as a game-changing release, with its ferocious performances and masterful production. His sonic temple,  God City Studio , is  the  destination for artists looking to make their rawest, heaviest,...

Tennessee has a rich tradition that has helped shape American music. Memphis was a big contributor to blues, soul, and early rock ’n’ roll thanks to Sun, Stax, and the influx of Delta musicians. Nashville has been the long-standing capital of country music, and more recently, has developed as a hotbed of Americana storytellers. The Smokies and the surrounding Appalachian areas have given us bluegr...

Over the last four decades, the courageous and creative Flaming Lips have put out 16 studio albums. Their genre is an alphabet soup that ranges from acid rock and ambient to zany psychedelia, all while pumping on a pop heartbeat. They’ve won three Grammys, written and filmed an alien colonization movie and soundtrack ( Christmas on Mars ), reimagined  Dark Side of the Moon  with Henry Ro...

Since we last saw  Yvette Young in 2019 , the guitar-playing musical illustrator has been challenged, and proven courageous. “I went from a situation where I was afraid of one of my bandmates, and did what I needed to do to free myself from what I felt to be an emotionally, and thus creatively draining, situation,” Young  revealed to  PG  earlier this year . She parted ways wit...

Maestro  Warren Haynes  invited  PG ’s John Bohlinger to Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium, where they hang out after Gov’t Mule’s soundcheck and take a tour through his live rig. This Gibson-heavy collection has been a 40-year-work in progress for the guitarist, who has spent his career playing with David Allan Coe, Dickey Betts, The Allman Brothers, The Dead, leading Gov’t Mul...

It’s all about the yin and yang … and the heavy guitar tones when  Scott Holiday of Rival Sons  plugs in and rocks out onstage. This year, the band has got something special cooking: a pair of albums, the just-released  Darkfighter  and the upcoming  Lightbringer , speaking of yin and yang. On the current  Darkfighter  tour, Rival Sons recently stopped at  N...

Two months ago,  Lindsay Ell  released her latest single, “Sweet Spot,” plus she’s on the way to issuing a new album, following up 2020’s  Heart Theory . And for the tour leading into her next record, she’s also got a passel of updated gear since her  2018 Rig Rundown . No surprise, since there’s always something new happening with Ell—whether it’s touring under her own banner...

Theo Katzman  plays with a fluency and fire that makes this guitarist, producer, singer, and songwriter an MVP of modern, funk-fueled rock and pop. At a recent gig at Nashville’s Brooklyn Bowl outpost, Katzman—who’s also a member of the formidable  Vulfpeck  collective—invited  PG ’s Rig Rundown team to soundcheck, to see the gear that makes his tone sing. And Katzman’s tech, N...

Fourteen years after their Grammy-winning debut,  Raising Sand ,  Robert Plant  and Alison Krauss followed up with  Raise the Roof —which was nominated for three more Grammys. Now on tour, the duo also has a new band that includes bassist Viktor Krauss, guitarist  JD McPherson , and utility player Stuart Duncan. But before they hit the road, Krause, Duncan, and McPherson—a...

Our third  Rig Rundown  with Periphery’s Jake Bowen,  Mark Holcomb, and Misha Mansoor —at Nashville’s  Marathon Music Works  on April 2—caught the band on their final tour stop for a spring run in support of the brand-spankin’-new  Periphery V: Djent Is Not a Genre . Our time with the triumvirate of tone reminded us that these fellas never rest their ears. They know g...

“Tone is not important,” is an interesting phrase to hear while filming a Rig Rundown. But  Underoath’s Tim McTague  has good reason to shake his head at tone purists. “Gear infatuation can be super cool because it’s a passion or a hobby, but it’s not necessary for me to do my job. I don’t want to degrade anyone who is into it, but it’s not my thing,” admits McTague. So, what is his thin...