If you were to only know about one country guitarist, you’d want to know about Chet Atkins. On this episode, we’re talking about the man people called “Mr. Guitar”—the Country Gentleman himself—and how he developed his style and transformed the way we approach our instrument.
Atkins’ recognizable eloquent sound is full of punchy bass notes, jazzy chords, cascading righthand patterns, and cleanly articulated melodies, and it can be heard all over the history of electric guitar music. How did he create his style? How can you fake it on your own? And was Chet Atkins responsible for the second most popular signature model guitar of all time?
Halestorm announces new album "Everest" and fall tour with Lindsey Stirling and Apocalyptica. Produced by Dave Cobb, the album explores the band's journey with deep lyrics and epic musical detours. "Darkness Always Wins" is the first single impacting Active Rock radio.
Halestorm, the GRAMMY-winning band initially formed by siblings Lzzy and Arejay Hale with guitarist Joe Hottinger and bassist Josh Smith, have announced Everest, their sixth studio albumoutAugust8 on Atlantic Records. Today the band also announced the “nEVEREST Duality tour,” a US/Canada tour this fall with Lindsey Stirling and supported by Apocalyptica. Tickets go on sale this Friday, May 2 at 10 AM local time.
Last week, the band offered a glimpse of Everest with “Darkness Always Wins,” the first song to be revealed from the upcoming collection. The song teases an album, produced by GRAMMY winner Dave Cobb (Brandi Carlile, Chris Stapleton, Jason Isbell), that dives deeply, both lyrically and sonically, into the band’s mountainous climb over the last couple decades.
“Our albumEverest is a story of our journey as a band, full of beautiful endings and new beginnings,” says Halestorm frontwoman Lzzy Hale. “We weave a tangled web of melancholy, frustration, anger and the vast purgatory of love and love lost. It is a rollercoaster of epic musical detours, great songwriting and completely unhinged twists and turns. Everest is an auditory representation of the 4 pillars of Halestorm. Let us reintroduce ourselves and invite you into our world…if you dare.”
Rolling Stone said of “Darkness Always Wins,” "What the song has going for is its catchy, brooding, and dramatic in all the ways we love Halestorm songs to be,” and Revolvernoted "The arrangement remains lean even as the amps begin to crank into the red, though ‘Darkness Always Wins’ still sports some exquisite minor-key melodicism, a metal-chunked bridge, loud-as-hell requiem bells and a classically rippin’ rock guitar solo."
“Darkness Always Wins” impacts at Active Rock radio this week, but already debuted as the “Greatest Gainer” at the format with early airplay last week.
The newly announced nEVEREST tour follows an epic run first supporting Iron Maiden in Europe and dates with Volbeat in the US with a one night-only-performance at Black Sabbath’s final show in Birmingham, England. See below for a full list of upcoming dates.
PG contributor Tom Butwin reveals his favorite songwriting secret weapon: the partial capo. Watch how the Shubb C7 and C8 can simulate alternate tunings without retuning your guitar—and spark fresh creative ideas instantly.
The C8 covers five of the six strings, leaving either the low E or high E string open, depending on how it's positioned.
Standard setup: Placed on the 2nd fret while leaving the low E string open, it simulates Drop D-style sounds—except you're still in standard tuning (key of E). You get that big, droning bass feel without retuning.
Reverse setup: Flipping the capo allows the high E string to ring, giving you shimmering drones and new melodic options across familiar chord shapes.
A flexible tool that lets you simulate alternate tunings and create rich sonic textures—all while keeping your guitar in standard tuning.
The C7 covers three of the six strings—either D, G, and B or A, D, and G—depending on how it's flipped.
Typical setup (D, G, B): Creates an open A chord shape at the 2nd fret without needing your fingers. This frees you up for new voicings and droning notes in the key of A.
Reversed setup (A, D, G): Gets you close to a DADGAD-style tuning vibe, but still keeps you in standard tuning—great for modal, spacious textures often found in folk or cinematic guitar parts.
Use it alone or stack it with the C8 for wild, layered effects and truly out-of-the-box inspiration.
Introducing the Future Impact V4 - VIP, the latest evolution in Panda Audio's renowned synthesizer pedals. Designed in response to popular demand, the VIP model is significantly smaller while retaining all the powerful features of the Future Impact V4. With its pedalboard-friendly dimensions of 5”x3.25”x2.5” and weighing less than 12 oz, the VIP seamlessly integrates into any setup.
The Future Impact V4 is an incredibly versatile pedal with an exceptional range of sounds. In addition to producing synthesizer sounds such as basses, leads and pads, it can function as an octaver, chorus, flanger, phaser, distortion, envelope filter, traditional wah-wah, tremolo, reverb, etc., and even has a built-in tuner. It can potentially replace an entire pedalboard of dedicated single-effect pedals.
The very powerful signal processor of the Future Impact V4 is able to replicate the various oscillator, filter, amplifier and envelope generator blocks found in classic synthesizers. In addition, it contains signal processing blocks more traditionally used for processing the sound of an instrument such as a harmonizer block and audio effects such as chorus, distortion and EQ. These architectures complement each other in a very flexible way.
Setting the standard for the bass guitar synth pedals since 2015, together with an enthusiastic community and long line of great artists, the Future Impact V4 is the guitar synth platform for the next decade.
Guitarist Sonny Sharrock was one of the most forward-thinking guitarists coming out of the ’60s, and his music stayed on the cutting edge throughout his long career.
His credits include Miles Davis’ Jack Johnson and Herbie Mann—next to whom he performed in Questlove’s 2021 documentary, Summer of Soul—and his tunes have been covered by Santana and the Messthetics. But it’s as a bandleader and collaborator where Sharrock cut his wildest recordings. As groundbreaking as Sharrock’s music could be, his distorted tone and melodic tunes helped bring rock listeners into the jazz tent. Our callers let us know how much Sharrock meant to them and why he’s one of the “top guys of all time.”
