Blues, Americana and psychedelia permeate a slew of recent notable guitar flavored roots music releases, from a cast of musicians that includes legends Levon Helm, Elvis Costello and Mick Fleetwood, club veterans like Zora Young (with guest Hubert Sumlin), and Nashville blues newcomer Mark Holder.

Nearly 20 years have passed since Neil Young first began talking about his long-running Archives project. Like Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, and handful of others, Young was known to have amassed a treasure trove of unreleased material that even included entire studio albums. These recordings remained in the vaults not necessarily because they were of inferior quality, but rather because Young’s capricious nature often sent him in new directions before a particular project was completed. To look backwards, or to rest on his accomplishments, was never Young’s way.

Keeping a band together for 20 years is an immense accomplishment in and of itself. But maintaining a career that manages to thrive with each passing year is pure anomaly. And that’s exactly the case for New Jersey’s punk icons The Bouncing Souls, who are spending this year sporadically releasing songs from their eighth album 20th Anniversary Series.

Throughout rock and roll history, bands that have members from the same gene pool have also managed to craft some of the greatest rock and roll songs of all-time. From metal to southern rock, the five acts mentioned in this column epitomize the connection that siblings can have when rocking out together. It also proves that the special chemistry between brothers is something that’s hard to replicate. Check out this week’s tribute to brother bands below … and check back next week for part two of this sibling diary.

One year-and-a-half ago, an anonymous buyer forked over a whopping $82,750 for a mailbox that was hit by a falling meteorite in Claxton, Ga.

Many of the most successful electric guitar designs of all time have emanated from Gibson’s R&D departments in, first, Kalamazoo, Mich., and later Nashville, Tenn., but the brains behind the Les Paul, the SG, and the ES-335 also issued forth a handful of guitars that just didn’t take off in the same major way, sales-wise at least. Some of these were simply too far ahead of their time, and found a fan base years later, often after having been deleted from the catalog. Others were just too out-of-left-field to ever be widely accepted, although few failed to win at least a handful of devotees. Many of both types would become undeniable classics further down the road, but just didn’t sit right in the market at the time of their birth. Let’s take a look at five of the freakiest electrics to waltz out of the Kalamazoo factory in the 1950s and ’60s.

We could write you a novel about why you would love to own a Les Paul, but don’t take our word for it! We combed the archives for hours to find 10 of the most highly regarded, hardest-rockin’ guitarists in the business on record about why the Gibson Les Paul is what they reach for first. Listen in:

He was due to make his triumphant return to the stage in just 17 days, and the world patiently awaited with open arms and anxious hearts. But instead, Michael Jackson’s sudden death brings to a sad end the spectacular life of this special, once-in-a-lifetime performer, who was as adored around the world by millions of fans almost as much as he was mocked for his extravagant and peculiar lifestyle.

Word has it that there’s a hole in Gibson’s tone arsenal. The crunch and punch of rock, the jangle and chime of pop, the wail and moan of blues, the bop and purr of jazz… all this Gibson excels at. But the twang of countrified styles? Nah, just like Charlie don’t surf, Gibson don’t twang.

Long before the Fillmore was a nation-wide chain of music venues, it was a pair of history-making concert halls run by the rock impresario Bill Graham in New York City and San Francisco. The Bay City’s Fillmore was where the area’s rock royalty preened before their loyal subjects, developing the West Coast’s psychedelic ’60s sound.