September 29th, 2009 by Gibson Lifestyle

This is a banner year for the wide-armed “Americana” music brand. An Americana category has been added to the Grammy Awards, Elvis Costello followed the duo of Allison Krauss and Robert Plant into the loosely defined genre with his Secret, Profane and Sugarcane, and Billboard published the debut Americana sales chart as part of its first supplement devoted to the category.

September 29th, 2009 by Gibson Lifestyle

The name of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s new God & Guns is missing one of the disc’s most important “G’s” — guitars. But they’re only absent in that title, because track-for-track it’s dozen songs feature some of the biggest, brawniest tones in the legendary southern rock band’s 30-plus-years career.

September 29th, 2009 by Gibson Lifestyle

One way to assess the breadth of Jimi Hendrix’s enduring influence on music is to look at some of the guitarists he’s inspired. Here’s a list of 10 — some obvious, some not — who have not only carried on Jimi’s licks and tricks, but subscribed to his artistic message: “be yourself.”

September 28th, 2009 by Gibson Lifestyle

Next month the unlikely duo of Son Volt’s Jay Farrar And Death Cab For Cutie’s Benjamin Gibbard will release One Fast Move Or I’m Gone: A Tribute To Big Sur, a collection of twelve songs that were inspired by Jack Kerouac’s legendary 1962 novel Big Sur and will accompany an upcoming documentary of the same name. That got us thinking about other tributes to musical and literary icons, so here’s a quick list of some of the artists who came to mind. If you’ve got any additions, feel free to post them below in the comments section since we just finished our summer reading list.