As the hard-rock scene began to give way to alternative music around the turn of the decade, Wentworth decided it was time to shift gears and find another way to get his music heard.

"The rock 'n' roll scene kind of dried up for a while there," the 35-year-old hot-stuff guitarist recalled. "The were fewer clubs and lower pay and it just wasn't the best time to be playing out with a band."

So Wentworth retreated into the studio, where he crafted the all-instrumental CD "Caught in a Jam," on which, he plays every instrument except drums.

"I had written some material -- about four or five songs -- that I wanted to record in the studio," explained Wentworth, who also produced the record, with engineering assistance from Pete Bankert, at Downriver Sound in Trenton.

"Then I wrote the rest in the studio, just jamming and bouncing around ideas.

"It came together from the ground up, by recording drum and rhythm tracks and then laying the leads down on top of that."

Four years in the making, Wentowrth released the CD in November through his own mail-order distribution system, and he said it's making quite a splash in hard-rock circles around the midwest.

"I couldn't be happier with the way it's been received, Wentworth said. "I'm relying strictly on word of mouth, but the response has been terrific. But I didn't do this to sell it. I did it because I wanted to do it."

The 10-song CD begs comparisons to albums by Joe Satriani and Steve Vai, in that it showcases Wentworth's incredible, heavy metal riffing. But the record also mixes elements of blues and jazz into a satisfying stew of varied influences that should establish Wentworth as a guitar hero for the nineties.

"Caught in a Jam" represents a change of pace for Wentworth, who, after gigging for more than 10 years, said he felt he had done everything he could as a live musician. Working in the studio provided a whole new set of challenges for the guitarist, who is also a certified sound-recording engineer.

"Live, you can make mistakes and no one notices, but the studio's not real forgiving," he said. "Playing live, you get an instant response that you don't get in the recording studio. On the other hand, recording is a lot of fun and I love to tinker in the studio."

Recently, however, Wentworth has enjoyed the best of both worlds. At a recent gig in Jackson, he played lead guitar backed only by a copy of "Caught in a Jam" that had the lead guitar lifted from the mix.

"Playing out is fun and I still love doing it," he said. "This was a chance to really do my own thing live and it worked out pretty well."

In fact, Wentworth hopes his recent foray into the studio will eventually lead him to a band in need of his considerable guitar-playing talents. To that end, he likened "Caught in a Jam" to a resume, designed to showcase his ability.

Besides, he figures, once a road warrior always a road warrior.

"I'm always looking for the next big thing and I'd love to go out on tour again," he said. "But I've been doing this for a long, long time and if I play out anymore, it's going to have to be on the national level." Visit Michigan Live.