“I write very emotional music, and most of the time it’s pretty angry,” says the reigning queen of shred metal, Nita Strauss. Right now, however, she’s the picture of morning contentment. Speaking with Guitar Player via Zoom, the guitarist is happily seated in the back of her tour bus, having wrapped the first date of her Summer Storm solo tour the night before in Nashville. On her lap are her two dogs: Bentley, a Pomeranian Chihuahua mix, and Motley, a Chihuahua mix. Strauss pats their heads and strokes their fur.
“The back lounge of the bus is their little kingdom,” she says. “They have everything they need, and they love it when people come by to visit them. They’re true little road dogs. I take them out on all of…
