Macy Gray, Lisa Loeb and Nita Strauss to be honored at the
2019 She Rocks Awards
The Women’s International Music Network presents 7th annual event celebrating
women in music on January 25, 2019 at the House of Blues Anaheim
The Women’s International Music Network (the WiMN) reveals Macy Gray, Lisa Loeb, and Nita Strauss as the first announced honorees at the upcoming 2019 She Rocks Awards. Recognizing women who stand out as role models in the music industry, the 7th annual live awards event will take place on Friday January 25, 2019, at 7:30 p.m. at the House of Blues in Anaheim, CA during the NAMM Show.
GRAMMY® Award winner Macy Gray is a singer, songwriter, producer and actress who started her career in 1999 with the hit song “I Try,” and has since gone on to sell more than 25 million albums globally. In September 2018, she brought her unmistakable rasp and soulful style to fans around the world with her critically well-received, tenth full-length album, RUBY. Her appearance in Training Day alongside Academy® Award winner Denzel Washington, has become an iconic hallmark.
Platinum-selling, GRAMMY® Award-winning artist Lisa Loeb is a singer-songwriter, producer, touring artist, author and philanthropist who started her career with the Number 1 hit song “Stay (I Missed You)” from the film Reality Bites, and was the first pop musician to have a Number 1 single while not signed to a recording contract. She also designs Lisa Loeb Eyewear, writes children's books, and supports non-profit causes. Lisa’s latest release, Lullaby Girl, is available exclusively from Amazon.
Currently on tour with Alice Cooper, acclaimed guitarist Nita Strauss has shared the stage with diverse artists including Jermaine Jackson and celebrated tribute band The Iron Maidens. Her skill and exuberant stage presence have earned her a stellar reputation and endorsements including Ibanez Guitars (she's the first female Ibanez signature artist with her own model), Marshall Amplification, DiMarzio pickups, and more. Nita's debut solo album, Controlled Chaos, launches on November 16, 2018.
More 2019 She Rocks Awards honorees will be announced soon.
Laura B. Whitmore, founder of the WiMN and co-producer of the She Rocks Awards, shares, “We are excited to honor these unique and super-talented women who are also true champions for women in music. We look forward to welcoming Macy, Lisa and Nita as our newest honorees.”
The She Rocks Awards pays tribute to women who display leadership and stand out within the music and audio industry, and is a premier event during the NAMM Show, bringing together industry professionals, music icons, artists, fans and the media. Past honorees of the She Rocks Awards include Melissa Etheridge, Pat Benatar, The B-52s, Colbie Caillat, Sheila E, Chaka Khan, Ronnie Spector, Orianthi, The Bangles, and many more, plus a collection of role models from all walks of the music and audio industries.
The 2019 She Rocks Awards will take place on Friday, January 25, 2019 at the House of Blues Anaheim at 7:30 p.m. This high-energy evening includes live music, awards and speeches, celebrity appearances, a fabulous silent auction, amazing gift bags and so much more! Tickets are now on sale, available in four tiers that include dinner and more. This event is open to the public; a NAMM Show badge is not required to attend the She Rocks Awards. Find out more and purchase tickets at sherocksawards.com.
The 2019 She Rocks Awards is sponsored by Gretsch, Sennheiser, PRS Guitars, Marshall Amplification, Seymour Duncan, Martin Guitar, Reverb.com, Roland, Rat Sound Systems, D’Angelico Guitars, Zildjian, Fishman, Guitar Center, Berklee Online, Gator Cases, Sabian, PreSonus, M.A.C Cosmetics, Paul Mitchell, The Music People, SoundGirls, On-Stage Stands, NAMM, 108 Rock Star Guitars, Future Publications, Guitar World, Guitar Player, Bass Player, Electronic Musician, Musicradar, Parademagazine, Guitar Girl Magazine, KVR Audio, Music-News.com, and more. For information regarding She Rocks Awards sponsorship opportunities, please contact info@thewimn.com.
Keeley Electronics NOCTURNE Reverb Developed in collaboration with Andy Timmons, the NOCTURNE showcases a brand new reverb space based on our unique Halo delay algorithm. From subtle ambience to cinematic space, the NOCTURNE allows players to create that same expressive, touch-sensitive bloom that trails effortlessly behind every note, without the cross-talk from echoes.
The NOCTURNE pedal gives you three new reverb modes — Nocturne, Spring, and Plate — each designed to be the guitar and amp’s perfect companion. The Plate reverb is based on our extensive analysis and modeling of the stereo tube plate reverb that was in Austin City Limits studio since the mid-1970s. The Nocturne’s Spring reverb features our finest sounds based on both stand alone reverb tanks and tube amplifier combos. The simple four-knob layout of Tone, Level, Decay, and Modulation makes it easy to shape each gorgeous reverb space. Each reverb mode can be made a preset so you can store your favorite sounds. Alt features include our first pre-delay time control, allowing you to create slapback echo effects.
- YouTube
The NOCTURNE offers a flexible signal path with True or Buffered Bypass, ExpressionPedal control, Remote Switching, and MIDI compatibility for up to 72 presets. Whether you’re running mono or stereo, wet/dry, or full wet for parallel rigs, the NOCTURNE adapts easily to any setup. Built on Keeley’s award-winning Core architecture, every component and line of code is tuned to make this reverb feel musical and alive.
Operation is easy with the Nocturne – if the indicator LED is blue then it's 'wysiwyg'; the knobs set the tone or level of each reverb mode. If the LED is red, each reverb is a favorite or preset, where you can save the settings for each reverb mode.
Like every Keeley pedal, the NOCTURNE Andy Timmons Reverb is designed andmanufactured in Oklahoma, USA. Engineered for the working musician, and voiced for inspiration.
Features
A Brand New Reverb -’Nocturne’ based on the Andy Timmons’ signature HALO sound
Three reverb modes: Nocturne, Spring, Plate
Intuitive four-knob control layout: Tone, Level, Decay, Modulation
Store and recall presets with dedicated footswitch
Trails on/off, True or Buffered Bypass selectable
Expression and MIDI control with up to 72 preset locations
Stereo outputs with Wet+Dry or Wet-only operation
Made in the USA
$269 USD
Dealer Contact:
Danny Black, Sales Director • Phone: 1-405-341-2025 • Email: dealer@rkfx.com Visit theKeeley Electronics website, onYouTube and on Facebook and Instagram.
Steve Morse with his original Ernie Ball Music Man Signature guitar onstage in October 2025 with tour guitarist Angel Vivaldi.
Photo by Stuart Tyson
If you were reading guitar magazines in the ’90s, you’re familiar with Steve Morse’s “Open Ear” column. Running for many years in Guitar (née Guitar for the Practicing Musician), Morse shared his thoughts on session work, practice routines, practical tips for guitarists, and various other parts of his life. For years before I’d ever heard a note of his playing, I read his wisdom monthly.
With every column was a short bio that began, “Steve Morse is one of the busiest guitarists in the industry.” At the time, that busy-ness played out in his writing—Steve was very active. Eventually digging into his background, I learned just how prolific he really was.
Morse first caught ears with the Dixie Dregs—whose origin story reached back to their time as students at the University of Miami (alongside luminaries like Pat Metheny, Jaco Pastorius, and Hiram Bullock), where wunderkind headed after leaving high school early. Together, they assembled a barn-burning blend of ’70s Southern rock, jazz, and bluegrass.
When the Dregs ran their course, Morse joined Kansas. And after that, he joined Deep Purple. (By the time they parted ways in 2022, he was Purple’s longest-running guitarist.) In 1985, he introduced the Steve Morse Band, along the way racking up a list of collabs and guest spots that’ll make your head spin.
Offstage and amidst musical globetrotting, his drive has kept him working well beyond the fretboard, and he has, at times, pursued a career as a commercial airline pilot—he still flies to this day—and he currently owns and oversees the daily operations of a small Florida hay farm.
All the while, the music never stopped. His latest Steve Morse Band release, Triangulation, featuring bassist Dave LaRue and drummer Van Romaine, is a high-flying shredathon that treats glorious rock melody and proggy twists and turns with equally explosive abandon. Below the surface, there’s a heavier backstory, the album’s origin tracing back to the passing of Morse’s wife Janine in 2024, and Morse in a physical battle with arthritis that has been slowly deteriorating his technique. So it is, then, that his first solo record since 2009’s Out Standing in Their Field stands as a testament to the power of music, of the human spirit, and, ultimately, of Morse’s hard work and perseverance. It’s also a coming together of sorts for the band as well as for the friends the guitarist has gathered as guests, which include Eric Johnson, John Petrucci, and Morse’s son, Kevin.
We caught up with Morse while he was on tour in New Jersey to have an inspiring talk about Triangulation, his guitar habits, and the importance of hard work.
The Steve Morse Band, left to right: Drummer Van Romaine, Morse, and bassist Dave LaRue.
TC Electronic Flashback (x3) with Steve Morse Delay TonePrint
GigRig Wetter Box
Ernie Ball volume pedal
Roland GK-3 pickup
Roland GR-55 Guitar Synthesizer
So this is the first new music you put your name on since 2009. You’re back with Dave LaRue and Van Romaine, and then you have a couple collaborators on here. And let’s start by talking about the collabs. You’ve got Eric Johnson, John Petrucci, and, of course, your son, Kevin. How did those collaborators end up on the record?
Steve Morse: It was kind of late in the game. We’d already been recording the album. I felt like, at this rate of putting out one every 16 years, that I was going to be pretty old by the time the next one rolls around, so that could be it. I have some old friends that’re just amazing guitar players, and I hate to ask them for favors, but I finally broke down and did. When it comes to favors from friends, even if it’s not convenient for them, they will probably say yes, so I felt guilty about doing it. But it turned out everybody, I think, had a good time.
The Eric Johnson tune, “TexUS,” I wrote in the style of that late-’70s sound that I heard him playing—melodic rock, not jazzy at all, just straight down the middle but with a lot of melody.
“Triangulation,” the John Petrucci tune, was also arranged for him, like “you play this part, I’ll play this part.” John doesn’t do anything halfway. He was playing the song super perfect, as usual, right in the middle of just being as busy as he’s ever been with Portnoy back in the band.
The third tune with my son, Kevin, we played at my wife's memorial. He, on his own, volunteered to make a recording of it. It grew organically. It starts off real lonely and minor key, I was imitating an oboe with the electric guitar and playing classical at the very beginning, and then Kevin comes in and it keeps slowly growing from there.
Obviously there’s a much greater significance on that song, but this isn't the first time you collaborated with Kevin. What’s it like to have your son as part of your records? How did he get involved?
Morse: Well, it’s the biggest deal. I’ve been one of those people that never pushed music on him. Of course, if I owned a 7-Eleven, I would have him come in and learn by working here. Yes, you’re my son, but you still have to work, you know? That’s what dads do.
I think it really pushed him to have his own identity. But we’re planning on doing more music in the future.
Triangulation is the first Steve Morse Band record since 2009 and includes guest appearances from guitarists Eric Johnson, John Petrucci, and Kevin Morse.
Why was now the time to make a new record?
Morse: I always have ideas, and I’m always working on ideas. After my wife died, there was no big project coming up. There was nothing. I was stuck in this sort of limbo. I just decided to start working on an album. Dave [LaRue] lives in the same town as I do. He would come over and be the guinea pig for the new bass and guitar parts.
We made a template of each song by working on the parts, sitting next to each other in the studio, and making fine adjustments and constant editing. Everybody had the same template and tempo to work on their parts.
When you were on Rick Beato’s podcast, something that caught my attention was you were talking about coping with arthritis. When did that first start affecting you?
Morse: I was in Purple, and it was killing me then, probably eight or 10 years ago. It just got to the point where I’ve tried every cure there is. In fact, I just did a bunch of radiation treatments; it’s supposed to help the inflammation and pain.
I just have a genetic predisposition, but I’m doing more things. I’m eating better and concentrating on an anti-inflammatory diet and all these cures, plasma injections and cortisone injections, the radiation, every supplement known to man. Obviously, you can’t cure it.
“Imagine writing, and they say, ‘You’ve got a six-year-old’s vocabulary.’ How do you do it? With music, it involves making artful placement of things.”
On the record, you sound like you have full control of your technique. I think it’s great that you talk about it because it’s something that so many players deal with.
Morse: It reduces my vocabulary, and I hate that, but there’s nothing I can do. Imagine writing, and they say, “You’ve got a six-year-old’s vocabulary.” How do you do it? With music, it involves making artful placement of things. So there’s a lot of time spent finding the ideal phrase.
Something that’s really interested me about your career is that you’ve had other professional trajectories. You were a commercial airline pilot. Is that something you still do?
Morse: Yeah, I fly all the time. I’ve never stopped flying.
And you also own a farm, right? Is that an active business?
Morse: Yeah, it’s small, like 56 acres. It’s open grass hayfields. I also have a little runway for the airplanes.
I had helpers when I first took this over, but it just didn’t go well, so I just do everything myself. I’ve scaled down to a manageable level of hay production. I cut the hay first, then ted it with a fluffer, then rake it into rows, and then bail it into square bales and round bales. I have to pick up the bales and put them all in my hay barn to keep them from spoiling when the rains come. And then I deliver them over the winter to my customers that are nearby using my tractor and big wagons. The people on my road hate me because I go slow—I can’t go fast.
How do these parts of your life—flying and running your farm—influence your art? And how important is it to have a life outside of music?
Morse: That’s cool that you’re touching on that. I think it’s very important, because you have more to say with the music if you have a life outside of it.
The biggest part of my extracurricular thing is fixing stuff because I’ve got old hay equipment, old machines—like my lifts that I use to cut the trees, it puts me 70 feet in the air and it’s got a whole level of maintenance that it needs—and I have to learn the systems for each one. So, a lot of my life is spent looking for manuals and looking for sources of parts and learning hydraulics and learning the way that electrical systems work, so that I can basically fix everything.
Every once in a while, I have to ask for help. Like, if I’m rebuilding a cylinder, a hydraulic cylinder is really big, I can’t do it. I have to take it to the shop, and that bugs me.
But my main thing is just that I’m known as the handyman. I’ve fixed stuff all around the farm. Two other families live there—my wife’s mother and my stepdaughter—and they live in the other two houses on the farm, so I have to keep those up and then cut the grass for everybody.
“A lot of my life is spent looking for manuals and looking for sources of parts.”
So I work all day, basically. I don’t wake up early, but when I do wake up, I just go straight outside and start working until dark. Then I’ll work on music after dinner.
I think it’s super important, because when I’m doing laps in the tractor, cutting weeds or whatever, I’m thinking about stuff. And I’m always experimenting with things in my mind. Melodies and parts come to mind that I've been working on recently, and I just kick it around.
I’ve never been bored. I remember it as a kid. When I was trapped somewhere, in school or something, I remember that it was a horrible, horrible feeling.
When I’m at a gig and I walk by and see a guy welding something in back, I stop and ask questions: How are you doing that? Did you preheat that? Does that make it crack? I’m a student of everything.
Morse’s daily life extends well beyond the fretboard and includes running a hay farm. He explains, “You have more to say with the music if you have a life outside of it.”
Photo by Nick Nersesov
Have you always been into fixing things?
Morse: Well, it’s necessity. I’d see my dad doing his thing in the workshop, and part of me paying off my guitar and amplifier was to paint the house and do manual labor outside—cutting the lawn and shoveling snow. So there was always stuff to do that gets you familiar with the real world.
But I wasn’t good at mechanic-ing until it became a matter of necessity. My first car, the radiator hose blew and I was out on the interstate and I hiked over to a store. I bought a radiator return hose, and I was like, “Wow, I fixed my car and made it home.”
“Everything that breaks gives you an opportunity to learn.”
After that, it was me pulling the band trailer with my station wagon forever and never having a trip without a mechanical problem, so I got more and more used to that and more and more interested in the science of things. And as an airplane pilot, I think the safest way to fly is to understand every system on the aircraft. Part of me getting ready for my airline career involved getting my mechanic’s license for working on aircrafts—that made me more employable, just one of the things you had to put in your resume back then.
Everything that breaks gives you an opportunity to learn. But man it feels good when it works right.
With all this work on your plate everyday, it makes me very curious about your daily guitar habits.
Morse: It depends on the day. I try to rotate things. People that are in training, they might do cardio one day and heavy lifting the next day and cross training another day. I do a mix between technique, discovery and writing—discovery could be transcribing if you’re not into composing—and, of course, playing for gratification, which means playing along with something and exercising what you’re doing. But the technical part is probably what I concentrate the most on, because it gets harder and harder to make things work. And now I have to keep up a technique where I pick with two fingers and a thumb and flex a little bit of my wrist, and a technique holding the pick the same way with a stiff wrist when that starts to really hurt. And when I can’t grasp the pick any more, I hold it with the side of my thumb using a stiff wrist also. There’s a lot of challenges, but I have a strong desire to keep playing as long as possible.
John Scofield is an absolute titan of jazz guitar. He’s had an illustrious solo career spanning over four decades and he’s shared the stage with the most important musicians of our time. In this lesson we’ll look at his brilliant single-line approach that endears him to jazz audiences around the globe.
Ex. 1 is about as Scofield as we can get without consulting a patent lawyer, though a good case could be made that he took this idea from pianist Thelonious Monk. You can hear this descending whole-tone-based lick in many of Sco’s solos. The notes impart a strong Bb7#11 sound and the final note is pushed off the fingerboard and returned in a vibrato-like motion. That’s another great Scofield-ism that just can’t be ignored.
Ex. 1
Turn up that chorus pedal and hone your string-skipping chops with Ex. 2, a 1980s-style 16th-note funk lick. The basic sound is G7, but with a host of alterations. The G half/whole diminished scale (G–Ab–Bb–B–C#–D–E–F) is clearly important, but it doesn’t explain everything Scofield plays. As Scofield has mentioned regarding playing over vamps like this one, “I’m not really sure what I’m doing. It’s just an in-and-out bop style.” Feel free to include chromatic approaches and blues licks as done here as well.
Ex. 2
The IIm–V–I lick in Ex. 3 shows how Scofield could extend basic bebop mannerisms into something distinctly original. It’s clear that the thinking is F Lydian dominant (F–G–A–B–C–D–Eb) over both the Cm7 and the F7 chords. Scofield would occasionally “summarize” both chords as simply F7.
Ex. 3
Scofield’s now-classic albums with Medeski, Martin, and Wood have garnered mass appeal among funk and jam band enthusiasts over recent decades. Most of his playing on these records is roots-based and you’ll hear plenty of straightforward, blues-inspired licks like this one (Ex. 4) in B minor.
Ex. 4
The B Dorian (B–C#–D–E–F#–G#–A) lick in Ex. 5 is a good example of how Scofield develops a simple motive and answers it with contrasting material. Pinch harmonics can always be used in Scofield’s style. Don’t be concerned with these harmonics generating a specific pitch or even getting them to sound perfect—the randomness is all part of the charm.
Ex. 5
Superimposing ideas in novel ways is important to Sco’s approach and a great way to generate interest over static harmonies. Ex. 6 begins with a simple root/fifth figure in Bb that’s shifted up a half-step to B, and finally resolving back to Bb at the end. It’s an effective way to establish tension and release in a line.
Ex. 6
In recent years, Scofield has embraced a cleaner tone on some of his straight-ahead recordings. Think Vox amp and no RAT. Ex. 7 is an ever-flowing line that he might play over the first phrase of an F blues. Notice how the pickup bar is a G7 idea over the C7 and the first part of measure 1 is actually a C7 line over the F7. This kind of “misalignment” is something that intermediate players often miss, trying to faithfully match the chords all the time. Before long, the music is back on track and matching the chords in a more predictable manner, at least until the eclectic use of an A major line leading into the Bb7. Finish everything up with a Sco trademark major seventh double-stop.
Ex. 7
Ex. 8 is a particularly guitaristic way to play over the second phrase of an F blues. Even though the line is fingered in the 6th position, why not use an open string? The open high E (a #11) gives us the opportunity to get a cool angular sound to the Bb7 line that would otherwise be impossible.
Ex. 8
This phrase (Ex. 9), which begins in the 8th measure of the blues, shows Scofield’s mastery of bebop language. The D7b9 lick pushes into Gm7, which begins the final phrase of the 12-bar form. The IIm–V is clearly a simple sequence from C Lydian dominant (C–D–E–F#–G–A–Bb). The big lesson here is the importance of knowing your bebop fundamentals.
Ex. 9
Now that we’ve broken out the nuts and bolts of this lesson, let’s listen to few essential Scofield tracks to get our ears right. Even jazzers were making music videos in the 1980s.
John Scofield Protocol
“Protocol” from Still Warm, has a classic fusion groove thanks to drummer Omar Hakim and bassist Darryl Jones (both of whom played with Scofield in Miles Davis’ group). Sco’s tone is wide thanks to his signature chorus sound, an often-imitated element of his style.
Wee
When Enroute landed in 2004 it instantly became a classic guitar trio album. Recorded live at the Blue Note, it featured Sco’s longtime trio of drummer Bill Stewart and mentor/electric bassist Steve Swallow. “Wee” is a “rhythm changes” tune, which isn’t that groundbreaking, but the playing takes Denzil Best’s most well-known composition to another planet.
Chicken Dog
In 1998, Scofield teamed up with funk-jazz stalwarts Medeski, Martin, and Wood for A-Go-Go, which is a standout in Sco’s discography. This was the album that introduced him to the jam band scene and informed many of his more recent albums.
Back in August, at Cory Wong’s Syncopated Summer Camp in Nashville, Wong hosted a late-night interview and hang session with Italian guitar hero Matteo Mancuso. If you weren’t there, you’re in luck: This week’s episode of Wong Notes features that exclusive rendezvous in its entirety, recorded live in front of an audience of camp attendees.Mancuso unearths his roots on the guitar, from starting on the electric guitar to learning Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, and Jimi Hendrix while using his father’s finger-picking style. “Later on, I discovered about the pick, but I was too lazy to start again,” says Mancuso, who shouts out other fingerstyle players like Wes Montgomery and Django Reinhardt.
Mancuso credits his unique playing vocabulary to his atypical approach to the instrument, which meant he had to “find some solutions to some technical problems” that he encountered while learning to play. What kind of warm-ups does he turn to when he wants to get his fingers and brain moving? Mancuso has a few thoughts, but it all has to be “goal-oriented.”
Mancuso and Wong, both veteran bandleaders at this point, swap advice and techniques on heading your own band, arranging, and writing, plus scores of other obscure tricks of the trade. Tune in and listen to get the goods.
How session ace, producer and Pat Benatar guitarist Neil Giraldo took over the ‘80s airwaves and earned a spot in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Neil Giraldo joins the Axe Lords for a deep dive into the guitars, amps, and outboard gear behind mega-hits like Pat Benatar’s “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” and Rick Springfield’s “Jessie’s Girl,” on which he nailed the legendary solo in one take, thank you very much.
The Ohio native (just like Dave!) walks us through his go-to BC Rich Eagle and Marshall 2x12 combo rig, how a Schaefer-Vega wireless feeding an Eventide H949 became his signature stereo sound, and why he leans on heavy strings, aggressive muting, and low gain instead of shred-style distortion. Neil also talks about how music grounded him as a kid, discusses his touring rig, and shares some of the secret recording tricks he uses to shape his tone in the studio.
Along with his musical partner and wife Pat Benatar, Neil is also the author of best-selling children’s bookMy Grandma and Grandpa Rock!
Follow @neilgiraldoofficial and @benatargiraldo for news, tour dates, and more.
Axe Lords is presented in partnership with Premier Guitar. Hosted by Dave Hill, Cindy Hulej and Tom Beaujour. Produced by Studio Kairos. Executive Producer is Kirsten Cluthe. Edited by Justin Thomas at Revoice Media. Engineered by Patrick Samaha. Recorded at Kensaltown East. Artwork by Mark Dowd. Theme music by Valley Lodge.
Follow @axelordspod for updates, news, and cool stuff.
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