This
guide to essential acoustic guitar recordings appeared in the pages
of Acoustic Guitar a few years back, and a lot of new—and
vintage—music has made its way to disc in the meantime. What's
missing from this list of great guitar recordings? Give us your top
picks in the Players
Forum at Guitar Talk at www.acousticguitar.com.
BLUEGRASS
AND COUNTRY
BLUES
CELTIC
CLASSICAL AND FLAMENCO
FINGERSTYLE
FOLK
JAZZ
POP/ROCK
SINGER-SONGWRITER
WORLD
Let’s say you’re curious about acoustic blues guitar but have heard
hardly a lick of it. The overflowing blues section of your local record
superstore makes your head spin, and you don’t want to bet $15 on judging
a disc by its cover. What recordings do you need to hear to get a sense
of the expanse of blues styles, old and new? Which artists define the
state of the art, and which currently available CDs offer the best introductions
to their work?
We asked a group of Acoustic Guitar contributors to answer these
questions for the gamut of acoustic-guitar–based styles, from bluegrass
to world music. Ten writers each chose ten CDs within a particular category
of music—adding up to the 100 CDs described below. For fanatics like
these, winnowing a whole genre (or several genres) down to a mere ten
selections was a major, hair-pulling challenge. There just isn’t room
to include all the worthy artists. And there’s also the perennial difficulty
of deciding how to categorize all of the genre-bending music out there.
So rather than thinking of these CDs as comprising a complete collection,
consider them as a starting point for exploring a style of music and
guitar artistry.
And if you’re shocked not to find one of your favorite CDs included
here, tell us about it: go to the Players forum in Guitar Talk, the
online Acoustic Guitar discussion forum.
—Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers
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BLUEGRASS AND COUNTRY
Norman Blake, Home in Sulphur Springs, Rounder 0012 (1995,
originally released 1972).
The Carter Family, When the Roses Bloom in Dixieland,
Rounder 1066 (1995, recorded 1929–1930).
Jerry Douglas, Russ Barenberg, and Edgar Meyer, Skip, Hop, and
Wobble, Sugar Hill 3817 (1993).
David Grier, Lone Soldier, Rounder 0309 (1995).
The Kentucky Colonels, Appalachian Swing, Rounder SS 31
(1993, originally released 1964).
Tony Rice, Guitar, Rebel 1582 (1991, originally released
1974).
Larry Sparks, Classic Bluegrass, Rebel 1107 (1989).
Gid Tanner and His Skillet Lickers, Hear These New Southern Fiddle
and Guitar Records, Rounder 1005 (1987, recorded 1924–1934).
Merle Travis, The Best of Merle Travis, Rhino 70993 (1990,
recorded 1946–1953).
Doc Watson, The Vanguard Years, Vanguard 155/58-2 (1995,
recorded 1963–1971).
The acoustic guitar's prominence in country music was established in
the '20s, soon after New York A&R men—looking for artists to record
what their catalogues referred to as "hill country tunes"—first ventured
to the South. One of their most important discoveries was the Carter
Family, whose records featured Maybelle Carter's distinctive bass-lead
style of guitar playing and often sold between 50 and 100 thousand copies
each. Maybelle’s most popular guitar piece is probably "The Cannonball,"
which is included, along with some of the Carters’ most loved songs,
on the recent Rounder reissue When the Roses Bloom in Dixieland.
At the same time, guitarist and singer Riley Puckett, the linchpin
of the popular string band Gid Tanner and His Skillet Lickers, was laying
down the foundations of what would become the bluegrass rhythm guitar
style. His wild, oddly syncopated, sometimes random-sounding bass runs,
heard throughout Hear These New Southern Fiddle and Guitar Records,
veered between barely controlled chaos and rock-solid stability, a feat
that would later be one of the hallmarks of Clarence White's playing
with the Kentucky Colonels.
As country music's popularity grew and radio and stage shows like the
Grand Ole Opry became dominant forces, the focus changed from smaller
traditional groups to larger, often electrified bands that could provide
a slick, entertaining show. Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys, a supercharged
quintet of banjo, fiddle, mandolin, guitar, and bass, was highly influential,
becoming the standard model for string bands of the era. Increasingly
overwhelmed by its louder siblings, the acoustic guitar, usually played
by the lead singer, found itself relegated to an accompaniment role.
Those guitarists who wanted their instrument to remain in the foreground
often had to rely on amplification. Merle Travis, whose fingerpicking
influenced Chet Atkins and others, was usually heard playing an electrified
archtop guitar. He had a number of hits with novelty songs like "So
Round, So Firm, So Fully Packed," but his acoustic versions of folk
songs like "I Am a Pilgrim" and "Nine Pound Hammer," which can be heard
on the Rhino collection The Best of Merle Travis, became folk
and bluegrass standards.
It took a trio of virtuosos, along with the resurgence of interest
in folk music in the early ’60s, to bring the acoustic guitar back to
the front of the stage. Doc Watson's flamboyant flatpicking of fiddle
tunes like "Black Mountain Rag" and his Travis-influenced fingerpicking
on tunes like "Windy and Warm" showed how exciting the acoustic guitar
could be in the right hands. As demonstrated by the wide range of styles
on The Vanguard Years, his performances plundered the entire
history of country music and influenced a generation of musicians, guaranteeing
the vitality of this music for decades.
While Watson unleashed the full potential of the guitar, the first
guitarist to make his guitar the defining feature of a full bluegrass
band was Clarence White. White's rhythmically knotty and harmonically
complex solos are best demonstrated in duets with his mandolin-playing
brother Roland on Appalachian Swing, while his syncopated rhythm
guitar and ability to match the breakneck speed of the banjo and fiddle
are spotlighted when his band, the Kentucky Colonels, is at full throttle.
White's unfortunate death in 1973 passed the mantle to Tony Rice, whose
debut album Guitar is arguably the best-sounding bluegrass guitar
performance on record and remains as thrilling today as when it first
appeared more than 20 years ago. Rice's depth of tone and rhythmic drive
have not been matched, though his flashy pentatonic runs have spawned
legions of imitators.
Rice's style has remained the dominant influence in bluegrass, but
a number of other guitarists with styles not as ripe for imitation have
made important contributions. Larry Sparks is perhaps the best example,
on this list, of the traditional Monroe-defined role of the guitar player
in a bluegrass band, though as you can hear on the appropriately titled
Classic Bluegrass, his fiery bass runs and occasional bluesy
solos often overpower his cohorts. Norman Blake's playing, as heard
on Home in Sulphur Springs, harks back to both Riley Puckett
and Maybelle Carter in his traditional repertoire, in the starkness
of the sound, and in his flatpicking, a virtuosic extension of Carter's
style of playing melody and rhythm at the same time. Russ Barenberg
has followed a more suave path than many of his confreres, preferring
to let his finely tuned melodic sense and his interest in group interplay
(a hallmark of the remarkable trio on Skip, Hop, and Wobble)
control his guitar rather than vice versa. David Grier, too, has managed
to avoid the lure of Rice-mania. He shows off his personal, virtuosic
style, influenced by White as well as Django Reinhardt, on his latest
release Lone Soldier.
Grier's relatively recent appearance on the scene bodes well for the
future. It is clear that this music, though based in tradition, will
continue to spawn innovators and virtuosic, dynamic practitioners, making
it increasingly difficult in years to come to narrow the list of essential
guitarists to a mere ten.
—Scott Nygaard
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BLUES
Blind Blake, Ragtime Guitar’s Foremost Fingerpicker, Yazoo
1068 (1990, recorded 1925–1930).
Big Bill Broonzy, The Young Big Bill Broonzy, Yazoo 1011
(1991, recorded 1928–1935).
Mississippi John Hurt, Avalon Blues, Rounder 1081 (1991,
recorded 1963).
Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Milestone
47022 (1992, recorded 1925–1929). Distributed by Fantasy.
Lonnie Johnson, Steppin’ on the Blues, Columbia/Legacy
46221 (1991, recorded 1925–1932).
Leadbelly, King of the 12-String Guitar, Columbia/Legacy
46776 (1991, recorded 1935).
J.B. Lenoir, Vietnam Blues, Evidence 26068 (1995, recorded
1965–66).
Blind Willie McTell, The Early Years, Yazoo 1005 (1989,
recorded 1927–1933)
Charley Patton, Founder of the Delta Blues, Yazoo 2010
(1995, recorded 1927–1934).
Frank Stokes, Creator of the Memphis Blues, Yazoo
1056 (1990, recorded 1927–1929).
The blues repertoire is probably the largest and most influential body
of American acoustic guitar music on record. Early artists like Sylvester
Weaver ushered in a golden era of players who had an incalculable influence
on jazz and country guitar as well as contemporary electric blues and
virtually every form of modern acoustic guitar music. There’s no real
top ten here, especially with the wealth of material now available.
There are several artists, though, whose work can be used as musical
signposts on the blue highway.
Blind Lemon Jefferson expressed the very essence of what blues is.
The apogee of a regional style, he influenced countless others from
Little Hat Jones to Lil’ Son Jackson (and gospel slide master Blind
Willie Johnson). My favorite single Lemon Jefferson disc is the eponymous
Milestone set. Not only does it include most of his best songs and guitar
playing, but the mastering does a lot to improve on the awful job Paramount
did when originally recording this genius.
Alongside the Texas sound, the music of the Mississippi Delta is at
the root of the blues experience. The most recorded exponent of this
style is Charley Patton, whose magnificent guitar playing and song style
directly influenced everyone from Son House to Robert Johnson to Howling
Wolf. Document has a complete Patton set (as they do with most of the
artists mentioned here). A solid "best of" selection is Yazoo’s Founder
of the Delta Blues.
In the ’20s and ’30s, Blind Willie McTell was king of a court of Georgia
musicians that included Barbecue Bob, Peg Leg Howell, and Curley Weaver.
A top-notch set of McTell recordings from this era is The Early Years.
From stomping ragtime to mournful slide pieces, McTell had it wired.
Simply the best 12-string guitarist ever, and one of the very great
blues songwriters.
The name Blind Blake rounds out a list of four essential early acoustic
bluesmen. No guitarist should be without sides by this virtuoso, whose
speed, control, and articulation are seldom matched by players in any
style. Like his elder colleague Papa Charlie Jackson, Blake excelled
at fast, raggy blues and influenced guitarists such as Blind Boy Fuller
and Reverend Gary Davis, who also adapted the archaic guitar style known
as Piedmont or Seaboard. The Yazoo CD Ragtime Guitar’s Foremost Fingerpicker
is easy to find and an excellent Blake sampler.
Lesser-known scions of the early guitar blues are legion, and every
real fan has his or her own favorites. High on my list are a pair of
guitarists from Memphis, Frank Stokes and Dan Sane. Their rocking synchro-mesh
duets frame a variety of blues and pre-blues themes. Try a listen to
Frank Stokes, Creator of the Memphis Blues. It’s a lead-pipe
cinch you’ll also dig contemporaries like Furry Lewis or Memphis Minnie
with Kansas Joe and jug-band scientists such as Will Shade or the incredible
Tee Wee Blackomon.
The postwar era saw increasingly electrified blues. T-Bone, Lightning,
and Muddy all fueled a trend that culminated in the strangled howl of
Guitar Slim’s Les Paul. Early explorers of the newer, rocking styles
were acoustic players though: Kokomo Arnold, Memphis Minnie, Scrapper
Blackwell, and Tampa Red. Two standouts are Big Bill Broonzy and Lonnie
Johnson, who took the blues from its roots to the brink of rock ’n’
roll (and back) during their long careers. The Young Big Bill Broonzy
and Lonnie Johnson’s Steppin’ on the Blues feature choice
ensemble and solo acoustic work from Broonzy and Johnson in their prime.
The folk revival began a new era for acoustic blues, and when it comes
to folk blues, the daddy of ’em all was Leadbelly. Huddie Ledbetter’s
gigantic repertoire included many powerful blues, and his 12-string
was a sound to itself in American recorded music. No single disc contains
all Leadbelly’s best blues performances. I’ve chosen Columbia/Legacy’s
King of the 12-String, but equally good is the Best of CD
on England’s Music Club label (MCCD 1006).
The number of superlative folk blues revival recordings from Robert
Pete Williams to Paul Geremia makes a logical single choice impossible.
So I threw the stuff against the wall and the one that landed on top
was a collection of Mississippi John Hurt’s Library of Congress recordings
called Avalon Blues. Every guitarist should have some Hurt music
in the house and, I swear, if they played this in maternity wards the
world would be a better place.
The idea of electric artists doing unplugged blues albums is a popular
one these days, but not new. Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, and others (unfortunately
not Howling Wolf) did this back in the ’60s. The standout in this genre,
and one of the best acoustic guitar blues records ever made, is J.B.
Lenoir’s Vietnam Blues. This set of purely original music, unlike
most unplugged stuff, rocks just as hard as the artist’s definitive
electric sides.
So . . . there are ten of my favorite acoustic blues guitar discs (anthologies
and related work by country, jazz, and gospel artists aside). Fortunately,
none of us is ever going to have to make these choices. It’s more a
matter of finding extra shelf space. Good luck and good listening.
—Steve James
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CELTIC
Dan Ar Bras, Acoustic, Green Linnet 3035 (1985).
Luka Bloom, Riverside, Reprise 26092 (1990).
Kevin Burke and Mícheál Ó Domhnaill, Portland,
Green Linnet 1041 (1982).
Martin Carthy, Martin Carthy's Second Album, Topic 341
(1966).
Dick Gaughan, Coppers and Brass, Green Linnet 3064 (1992;
originally released 1977).
Dick Gaughan, Handful of Earth, Green Linnet 3062 (1991;
originally released 1981).
Andy Irvine/Paul Brady, Green Linnet 3006 (1981).
Dougie MacLean, Indigenous, Dunkeld 15 (1991).
Arty McGlynn, McGlynn's Fancy, Emerald BERCD 011 (originally
released 1980).
Ossian, Dove Across the Water, Iona IR004 (1982).
It would be difficult to get any three guitarists to agree on what
is and what ain't Celtic guitar. That's probably a good thing. Lengthy,
impassioned, Guinness-drenched argument is as much a part of Celtic
culture as are the jigs, reels, and ballads. But for the sake of brevity,
allow me to suggest that Celtic defines the varied musical expressions
of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, and any other self-identified
Celtic outpost (like Galicia), and however one contrives to use the
guitar to help the music flourish in the modern world is fair—and, by
definition, Celtic.
Historically, the guitar first gained Celtic popularity as a replacement
for the piano in accompanying either singers or melodic instruments
like the fiddle. Only in living memory (largely within the last generation)
has the guitar become equally important as a chordal instrument and
as a vehicle for hot pickers to play melodies in all their ornamented
splendor. While it's nearly impossible to whittle a list down to ten,
here are ten matchless examples of styles and techniques any guitarist
might enjoy exploring.
I want to start with the first Celtic balladeer who changed my life.
I chanced upon Martin Carthy when he guested at the Aberdeen Folk Club
in 1970. He effortlessly spun through a dozen open tunings in as many
(mostly) Scots ballads. His fingerpicking was spare but with anvil-solid
thumb attack. He lingered over lines, adding or dropping beats to emphasize
the story, yet always propelling the music forward. He implied powerful
chords with as few as two strings, and the songs bored holes in my brain.
My favorite song from that night, "Peggy and the Soldier," can be found
on Carthy's nearly flawless Second Album.
Equally adept at letting a lyric breathe rhythmically while providing
smoldering accompaniment is Scotsman Dick Gaughan. He favors a flatpick
and often punctuates his ballad singing with linear melodic flourishes.
Gaughan's Handful of Earth represents some of the finest Scots
and Irish balladry ever recorded. His "Erin-Go-Bragh" is a stunning
integration of chordal accompaniment and fiery melodic work. Gaughan
is also among the finest interpreters of Celtic dance tunes with flatpick
technique. On the all-instrumental Coppers and Brass, he shows
how guitar ornaments can mimic fiddle bow skips or even bagpipe squawks.
He occasionally shifts tunings to E A D E A E or E A A E A E to imply
pipe drones under the melody.
Besides being an Irish flatpicking master, Paul Brady is a fine mandolin
and bouzouki picker. He freely adapts double-course technique to the
guitar, giving his ornaments a rawness and urgency. On the album Andy
Irvine/Paul Brady, he toys with counter-rhythmic accompaniment on
his famous setting of "Arthur McBride." Any of Brady's early trad recordings
are worth finding.
Mícheál Ó Domhnaill is probably the most widely
imitated Irish guitarist. He built a unique style around D A D G A D
and establishes interlocking rhythms and counter-rhythms that are positively
sexy in their restraint. While any of his work with the Bothy Band is
hot, check out Portland, one of his duo albums with fiddler Kevin
Burke. It's a beautiful production that clearly showcases his technique.
Arty McGlynn is another Irishman who's played in every conceivable
band configuration, most recently as rhythmic anchor with Patrick Street.
But on his first solo album, McGlynn's Fancy, he tackles jigs,
reels, slow airs, and more with a smoky simplicity that lets the melodies
ring.
Relative newcomer Luka Bloom exploded onto the Irish scene in 1990
with the album Riverside, wielding a baffling rhythmic right-hand
technique. Sure, he's less traditional than some of his colleagues,
but his trad roots show clearly in impassioned songs that just beg to
be turned up and played along with.
Among the Scottish players, Tony Cuffe of Ossian and Dougie MacLean
are each worth studying for their flatpicking and fingerpicking styles.
Ossian's Dove across the Water shows off Cuffe's quiet and delicate
accompaniment in a band setting, while MacLean's Indigenous offers
a slow-burning and occasionally rocking approach to Scottish balladry.
Finally, it would be a shame to leave out the Bretons in any Celtic
collection. Dan Ar Bras (also spelled Ar Braz) is a singular Breton
guitarist with 25 years of recordings to choose from, both solo and
with bands like Alan Stivell's. He sings in French, Breton, and English;
fingerpicks with airy assurance; and drives songs with sometimes feverish
chording. Start with his first solo album, Acoustic, then work
your way through his career.
The list of greats doesn't stop here. I'd have included Mick Hanly's
gorgeous A Kiss in the Morning Early, but it's very hard to find.
Findable and highly recommended are anything by Christy Moore, Kieran
Halpin, Brian McNeill, or Dáithi Sproule. Listen and be amazed
at the breadth of emotion and tonal color their Celtic guitar styles
generate. It's a wide-open tradition, and the more the merrier.
—Danny Carnahan
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CLASSICAL AND FLAMENCO
Julian Bream, Julian Bream Edition, Vol. 12: 20th-Century Guitar
I, RCA 9026-61595 (1995).
Miguel Llobet, The Guitar Recordings 1925–29, Chanterelle
CHR 001 (*year).
Paco de Lucia, Siroco, Mercury 830913-2 (1987).
Ramon Montoya, Grandes Figures du Flamenco, Vol. 5, Le
Chant du Monde LDX 274879 (1988). Distributed by Harmonia Mundi.
Presti and Lagoya, Baroque Music for Guitars, Philips
422-285-4 (recorded 1962–1965).
Niño de Ricardo, Grandes Figures du Flamenco, Vol. 11,
Le Chant du Monde LDX 274927 (1991).
Sabicas, La Guitarra Flamenca, Alfa AF-CD10 (*year). Distributed
by FTC.
Andrés Segovia, The Segovia Collection, Vol. 1,
MCA Classics 42068 (1987).
Andrés Segovia, The Segovia Collection, Vol. 3,
MCA Classics 42069 (1988).
John Williams, From the Jungles of Paraguay: John Williams Plays
Barrios, Sony SK64-396 (1995).
You won't travel far in the land of the classical guitar without encountering
the imposing figure of Andrés Segovia (1893–1987). And with good
reason; through his extraordinarily compelling playing, Segovia managed
to bring the guitar from its 19th-century salon milieu into today's
largest concert halls. The Segovia Collection, Vol. 3, provides
an excellent introduction to the maestro's golden tone and unique plasticity
of phrasing in a program built around such core Spanish fare as Albéniz'
Leyenda, Tárrega's famous tremolo study Recuerdos de
la Alhambra, and four lovely Sor études.
For years it's been commonplace to dismiss Segovia's playing of Baroque
master J. S. Bach's music as Romantically skewed. It's true that his
rubato, portamento, and fleshed-out harmonies sound very different from
the commanding austerity of a Pepe Romero or the highly ornamented renditions
of Eliot Fisk and Sharon Isbin. But artists always reflect their times,
and when all is said and done, Segovia's magisterial pacing and broad
tonal palette are a superb match for the somberly unfolding magnificence
of the D minor chaconne and the ringing elegance of the third cello
suite's dance movements. These two works are the centerpiece of the
all-Bach CD The Segovia Collection, Vol. 1, and it's a must.
Segovia always described himself as completely self-taught, but it
seems that he may have gotten more than he let on from his friend and
older colleague Miguel Llobet (1878–1938). Llobet was Tárrega's
star pupil, and in his playing we can hear both Tárrega's legacy
and an obvious antecedent to Segovia's sound. Llobet's complete recordings
are on The Guitar Recordings 1925–29; there are pieces by Bach,
Sor, and others, as well as several of his excellent and still-popular
arrangements of traditional Spanish songs.
In the late ’50s, Julian Bream emerged as a foil to Segovia; if the
venerable Spaniard had poetry and warm sonority, the young Englishman
had sharp clarity and a penchant for the hard-edged contemporary repertoire
that Segovia shunned. Bream's 1966 LP 20th Century Guitar included
Frank Martin's jaggedly kinetic Quatre pièces brèves
and the 18-minute Nocturnal of Benjamin Britten (written for
Bream), and it was a landmark. The CD equivalent (Twentieth Century
Guitar I) unfortunately omits the Britten, substituting appealing
but less significant works by William Walton and others, but it remains
an essential work.
There used to be considerable buzz about who would eventually replace
Segovia. The Maestro put his own spin on it in 1958 when he dubbed the
young John Williams "a prince of the guitar." The title didn't quite
suit Williams; if his technique was flawless, his sometimes perfunctory
interpretations and art-rock excursions seemed to refute the Segovian
esthetic. But in his revival of the piquant neo-Romantic music of guitarist/composer
Agustín Barrios (1885–1944), Williams has found a labor of love.
From the Jungles of Paraguay: John Williams Plays Barrios is
a stunner; Williams’ impeccable articulation is fueled with tremendous
energy and passion.
"Nothing is more beautiful than a guitar, save perhaps two," said Chopin.
Well, maybe. With a plucked string's attack, multiple guitarists need
near-telepathic rapport to really sound together. The challenge was
brilliantly met by the duo of Ida Presti and Alexandre Lagoya, who used
every effect from thumping pizzicato to clarion ponticello in their
exquisite dialogue. If not for Presti's untimely death in 1967, they'd
be at center stage today; as it is, they paved the way for today’s duos,
like the marvelously fluent Assad brothers. Their only readily available
single recording is the Philips cassette Baroque Music for Guitars;
for a wider repertoire, there's a Philips three-CD set.
If flamenco is an art with ancient roots, the solo flamenco guitar
is nonetheless a relatively new phenomenon. It wasn't until 1936 that
the great Ramón Montoya (1880–1949, not to be confused with his
nephew Carlos) broke the ice with a legendary series of recitals at
Paris' Salle Pleyel, taking his instrument for the first time beyond
its traditional role of accompanying the complex syncopations and modal
melisma of the dance and song. A virtuoso by any standard, Montoya's
joyous lyricism and abundant invention are apparent in his Paris recordings,
available on Volume 5 of the Grandes Figures du Flamenco series.
The dominant guitarist in the decades following Montoya's death, Sabicas
(born Agustin Castellón, 1912–1990), was something of a paradox.
A Spanish Gypsy who left Spain in 1937 and lived in South America, Mexico,
and New York City, Sabicas was born far north of flamenco's Andalusian
center and first learned to play by listening to records. But he became,
if anything, an even greater virtuoso than Montoya, with a gorgeous
tone and an expression that ranged from a melting tenderness to an arresting
ferocity. The full range of his art is represented on La Guitarra
Flamenca, which comprises two legendary Elektra LPs he cut in the
late ’50s.
Within Spain, Niño Ricardo (born Manuel Serrapí, 1904–1972)
was regarded as highly as Sabicas. Ricardo was a different sort of player
from Montoya and Sabicas, voicing his urgently intense creativity through
a harsher, less fluid technique. At the same time, Ricardo's plangent
sound evokes the music's Arabic heritage much more vividly than the
others, as you can hear in Volume 2 of the Chant du Monde series.
In Spain's Sherry country, new wines are blended with older vintages
to infuse the traditional taste with fresh vigor. Flamenco has evolved
similarly, most strikingly in the emergence of the phenomenal Paco de
Lucia (born Francisco Sánchez, 1947). From his first recordings
in the ’60s, it was obvious that he was a force to be reckoned with.
What nobody could have foreseen was that he would wind up trading licks
with Al Di Meola and John McLaughlin; the three toured extensively in
the early ’80s. In his milestone 1987 disk Siroco, Paco de Lucia
reinvented flamenco, weaving the harmonies of his American experience
seamlessly into the fabric of his Iberian art.
—John Lehmann-Haupt
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FINGERSTYLE
Robbie Basho, The Acoustic Guitar Artistry of Robbie Basho,
Fantasy TAKCD-8902 (1996).
Pierre Bensusan, Près de Paris, Rounder 3023 (1993,
originally released 1975).
Alex de Grassi, Turning: Turning Back, Windham Hill
1004 (1978).
John Fahey, Return of the Repressed: The John Fahey Anthology,
Rhino R2 71737 (1994).
Davey Graham, Folk, Blues, and All Points in Between,
See for Miles CD48 (1964).
Michael Hedges, Aerial Boundaries, Windham Hill 1032 (1984).
Leo Kottke, Six- and 12-String Guitar, Takoma 6503-2
(1996, originally released 1969). Distributed by Fantasy.
Laibman and Schoenberg, The New Ragtime Guitar, Smithsonian/Folkways
3528 (1971)
John Renbourn, Sir John Alot, Shanachie 97021 (1992, originally
released year 1969).
Various artists, Windham Hill Records Guitar Sampler,
Windham Hill 1072 (1988).
Instrumental acoustic fingerstyle guitar as a separate genre is a relatively
new phenomenon. Before the ’60s few fingerpickers played exclusively
instrumentals, and those who did, like the great Chet Atkins, fit fairly
neatly into other established musical categories, such as country and
western. Things began to change in the early 1960s as young American
and British guitarists began to take traditional licks and apply them
to new formats and types of music. Though originally classified as folkies,
these pickers—and those of the next generation—eventually began to be
defined in new categories they invented. Here are ten of the most influential
records in this movement that have stood the test of time.
My list must begin with John Fahey, who started recording in 1959.
Fahey took traditional blues and country acoustic guitar licks and used
them to create a sort of classical music. Being a composer became the
defining aspect of his music and image, as it is for many of today’s
players, who describe themselves as guitarist-composers. The Rhino double-CD
Return of the Repressed contains cuts from many of Fahey’s best
LPs and is an excellent introduction to his music.
Robbie Basho followed Fahey on Fahey’s own Takoma Records label. He
was in some ways even more influential on the current crop of guitarist-composers
with his love of Eastern music and more self-consciously artsy image.
His albums have been out of print for years, but there is a double-LP–length
CD scheduled for late summer release entitled The Acoustic Guitar
Artistry of Robbie Basho, which features cuts from his early LPs
and extensive notes by guitarist and Windham Hill Records founder Will
Ackerman.
Another guitarist to debut on Fahey’s label was Leo Kottke, who took
the Fahey/Basho idea, made it more accessible, and sold it to a mass
audience. His 1969 LP Six- and 12-String Guitar remains Kottke’s
best-seller and could be the most influential guitarist-composer record
ever made.
While Takoma artists were redefining fingerstyle guitar in the States,
Brits were doing the same on the other side of the Atlantic. The first
was Davey Graham, who released an LP in 1964 called Folk, Blues,
and Beyond that mixed Celtic, blues, East Indian, and other influences
in a new way. All the cuts from that groundbreaking LP, along with cuts
from his later releases, are on the CD Folk, Blues, and All Points
in Between.
John Renbourn moved things further away from folk roots with Sir
John Alot, an eclectic, all-instrumental LP from the late 1960s
that was extremely influential on younger players. He offered his own
unique reading of the blues by playing them with a gentle, mellow touch,
and he also dabbled in pre-Baroque English styles.
Pierre Bensusan is one guitarist who was heavily influenced by Renbourn,
Graham, Bert Jansch, and others of the British school. Playing exclusively
in D A D G A D tuning, Bensusan burst on the scene as a teenager in
the mid-1970s with Près de Paris. Certain trills that
he effortlessly executed have become near clichés of modern fingerstyle,
and his bright tone and attack echo today as well.
The next big wave of fingerstyle guitar hit the States in the late
1970s when Windham Hill Records came along, patterned on the Takoma
Records model but with more artiness in its packaging and music. One
of the first artists to debut on the label was Alex de Grassi, whose
effortless flowing arpeggios and relaxed style defined what came to
be known as New Age guitar—though he hates that categorization. His
album Turning: Turning Back was his first and most influential
release.
Equally important is Aerial Boundaries, a Windham Hill release
from the early 1980s by the fabulous Michael Hedges. On this record
Hedges’ first showed off his exciting two-hand tapping techniques, which
sent scores of young guitarists scurrying to the woodshed for some heavy
practicing.
The effect of de Grassi, Hedges, and Ackerman on the guitar-playing
community was so vast that soon Ackerman was flooded with audition tapes
from young up-and-coming guitarists. The result was the landmark 1988
Windham Hill Records Guitar Sampler, which includes works by
Chris Proctor, Ed Gerhard, Andrew York, and other players who have carried
the fingerstyle tradition into the ’90s.
My final choice represents another fingerstyle guitar movement from
the second half of the 20th century: ragtime guitar. It began when David
Laibman began arranging Joplin rags and piano novelty tunes for guitar
in Greenwich Village in the late 1950s. The technical demands of the
style were appealing to many young pickers, such as Stefan Grossman,
who went on to popularize many of Laibman’s and other ragtime guitarists’
arrangements in his books, concerts, and the record company he founded,
Kicking Mule. The New Ragtime Guitar, an album of duets recorded
by Laibman and his cousin Eric Schoenberg in 1971, features some amazingly
graceful and spontaneous playing considering the complexity of the arrangements.
—Dale Miller
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FOLK
Joan Baez, Joan Baez, 2, Vanguard 2097 (1987, originally
released in 1961).
Ry Cooder, Boomer's Story, Reprise 26398 (1972).
Elizabeth Cotten, Freight Train and Other North Carolina Folk
Songs and Tunes, Smithsonian/Folkways 40009 (1989, originally
released 1958).
Rev. Gary Davis, Pure Religion and Bad Company, Smithsonian/Folkways
40035 (1991, recorded 1957).
Woody Guthrie, Dust Bowl Ballads, Rounder 1040 (1988,
originally released in 1940).
Ian and Sylvia, Four Strong Winds, Vanguard 2149 (1963).
Peter, Paul, and Mary, In the Wind, Warner Bros. 26224
(1963).
Harvey Reid, Steel Drivin' Man, Woodpecker 107 (1991).
Various artists, The Prestige/Folklore Years, Vol. 1: All Kinds
of Folks, Prestige/Folklore 9901 (1994, recorded 1960–1964).
Distributed by Fantasy.
The Weavers, The Weavers at Carnegie Hall, Vanguard 73101
(1988, recorded 1955).
Folk music, even as practiced by the folk, is not a single genre at
all, but the place where a number of traditions converge and mingle:
blues, rags, and gospel; Appalachian ballads and dance tunes and their
Irish, English, and Scots ancestors; topical, political, and union songs;
what we now call world music; and even Broadway songs and Tin Pan Alley
pop.
Two of the seminal figures on the list come from the same period and
region. Elizabeth Cotten and Rev. Gary Davis were born in the last decade
of the 19th century in the Carolinas, and both played in the ragtimey,
two-finger Piedmont style, but with strikingly different results. On
Freight Train and Other North Carolina Folk Songs and Tunes,
Cotten recorded some of the music she had been making for herself and
her family for more than 50 years, an encyclopedia of rags, dance tunes,
hymns, and adaptations of parlor pieces. "Freight Train," written when
Cotten was a teenager, was the first fingerpicking tune that most folk-boomers
learned, though probably from Peter, Paul, and Mary's version rather
than the composer's.
Rev. Gary Davis had a more direct influence, thanks as much to his
teaching as his performing and recording. The street-singer mix of ragtime
and gospel heard on True Religion and Bad Company defined folk
for a generation of revival musicians, with "Candy Man" and "Cocaine
Blues" becoming coffeehouse standards. Davis' prodigious technique,
like Blind Blake's, set a standard of guitar virtuosity and inventiveness
that ordinary mortals spend lifetimes pursuing.
Woody Guthrie was the godfather of all singer-songwriters, from Pete
Seeger and Ramblin' Jack Elliott to Bob Dylan and his imitators.
But he also used old folk tunes as the settings for new lyrics to protest
poverty, injustice, and bigotry or to celebrate the natural and human
potential of "this land." The songs of Dust Bowl Ballads extend
the vision of Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath not only directly,
as in "Tom Joad," but in the dryly funny "Talking Dust Bowl Blues" and
the grim "Vigilante Man."
The Weavers are a pivotal group, a link between Woody Guthrie's social
and political awareness and the topical/protest singers of the 1960s.
In their instrumentation, arrangements, and repertoire, they are also
the ancestors of a host of pop-folk groups from the Kingston Trio on.
The 1955 Carnegie Hall concert includes songs from Africa, Indonesia,
Israel, the Caribbean, and Spain, as well as American folk standards
such as "Darling Corey" and "Lonesome Traveler."
The Prestige/Folklore Years four-CD set documents the full range
of the folk revival of the 1960s, featuring such city-dwelling, middle-class
performers as Bonnie Dobson, Geoff Muldaur, Tracy Nelson, Tom Rush,
Peggy Seeger, and Eric von Schmidt, as well as originators Gary Davis
and Jesse Fuller. While it's hard to choose just one CD, the "folkiest"
in the coffeehouse sense is probably Volume 1, All Kinds of Folks.
Ramblin' Jack Elliott's Woody Guthrie delivery works equally well on
the Appalachian "Roll in My Sweet Baby's Arms" and the Piedmont-style
"Railroad Bill." Dave Van Ronk, a key figure for his fingerpicking and
his gruff, jazzy vocals, offers Leadbelly's rough and rural "Whoa Back
Buck" and the delicate "Green Rocky Road."
Folk music approaches art music in the polished voices and sophisticated
harmonies of Peter, Paul, and Mary; Ian and Sylvia; and especially Joan
Baez. Baez' stunning voice and sense of drama transform Appalachian
and British love tragedies into folk lieder, and her guitar work, backed
by the Greenbriar Boys on Vanguard’s Volume 2, manages to be
sensitive or old-timey as required. Peter, Paul, and Mary's In the
Wind takes a more "popular" and playful approach to folk. Their
guitar arrangements are also more foregrounded, switching easily between
the Cotten picking they popularized ("Freight Train," "Don't Think Twice,
It’s All Right") and the driving, up-tempo strumming ("Very Last Day")
that was the folkie's answer to rock ’n’ roll.
The Canadian duo Ian and Sylvia offer similarly arresting vocal harmonies,
and their arrangements, especially of African-American material, can
be even more propulsive than PP&M's. The first-rate dual guitar
work by Ian and John Herald make "Jesus Met the Woman at the Well" and
"Ella Speed" really move, but the speed champ must be the French Canadian
voyageur song "V'la l'bon vent."
In some ways, Ry Cooder offers an American version of English folk-rock,
a reimagining of the rural music of the first half of our century. His
career has been eclectic as well as electric, mixing blues, jazz, R&B,
and Guthrie-esque Depression songs with Caribbean, Tex-Mex, and Hawaiian
styles. The arrangements on Boomer's Story are as eccentric and
on-the-money as a Thelonius Monk bebop blues. But even in the most electrified
of Cooder's performances, you can hear Blind Blake, Sleepy John Estes,
and Blind Willie Johnson syncopating and sliding along.
With Harvey Reid we are back to the wandering minstrel, though Reid
is more a virtuoso picker than a social commentator. In Steel Drivin'
Man, he opts for a repertoire of folk classics (if that's not an
oxymoron) such as "Arkansas Traveler," "Railroad Bill," and "Red River
Valley," played with a simplicity and directness that should remind
us of a central truth about folk music: that, rough or polished, urban
or rural, inherited or composed, it really is art music, and
that it belongs to all of us.
—Russell Letson
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JAZZ
Derek Bailey, Solo Guitar, Vol. 2, Incus 11 (1991).
Charlie Byrd, Brazilian Byrd, Columbia 52973 (1965).
Larry Coryell, Tributaries, Novus/BMG 3072-2 (1979).
Al Di Meola, World Sinfonia, Tomato R2 79750 (1991). Distributed
by Rhino.
Bill Frisell, In Line, ECM 1241 (1983).
Mahavishnu John McLaughlin, My Goals Beyond, Rykodisc
10051 (1987, originally released 1970).
Pat Metheny, New Chautauqua, ECM 1131 (1979).
Joe Pass, Song for Ellen, Pablo 2310-955-2 (1994). Distributed
by Fantasy.
Django Reinhardt, Peche à la Mouche: The Great Blue Star
Sessions, Verve 835-418-2 (1992, recorded 1947 and 1953).
Ralph Towner, Lost and Found, ECM 1563 (1996).
By historical and technical necessity, the story of acoustic guitar
as a prominent voice in jazz goes back to the beginning, to the player
who was arguably the first jazz guitar hero, Django Reinhardt (1910–1953).
The collection of recordings contained on Peche à la Mouche:
The Great Blue Star Sessions stems from the last phase of Reinhardt's
life, and it amply captures his fiery way around chord changes and melodies.
This was recorded after Reinhardt’s lauded Hot Club of France work with
violinist Stéphane Grappelli and after the bebop palace coup,
and touches of bop's influence can be heard in Reinhardt's phrasing.
Mainstream jazz guitarists who came up during the '50s, when fat-bodied
electric guitars became the norm, found themselves drawn to the gentle
dynamics of the nylon-string. Toward the end of his life, jazz guitar
virtuoso Joe Pass (1929–1994) was seeking a purer and ever-less amplified
sound, which makes his posthumous release Song for Ellen especially
poignant. Pass brings a natural elegance and bursts of intensity to
the instrument on standards like "Someone to Watch Over Me" and "Just
Friends" as well as on the cryptic title cut and the brief original
blues, "Satellite Village."
One of the adamantly unplugged guitarists in jazz, Charlie Byrd studied
classically and concertized in that field during the '50s before falling
in love with the sound of Latin American, especially Brazilian, music.
Along with Stan Getz, Byrd kicked off the bossa nova craze of the '60s,
which helped draw attention to the fruits of Brazilian music. On Brazilian
Byrd, Byrd approaches the music of the late, great Antonio Carlos
Jobim with a subtle, clean-machined approach to the nylon-string.
Later jazzers were finding new idioms to stir into the jazz soup, including
American folk traditions. From the beginning, Pat Metheny's signature
voice on the hollow-body Gibson 175 had an acoustic-like resonance and
a lyricism that separated him from his more amped-up contemporaries.
On his 1979 solo album New Chautauqua, Metheny began his long
series of periodic sideline projects. Acoustic guitar parts figured
heavily into the textural mix, playing up the inherent triadic folk
influence in his music.
Like Metheny, Bill Frisell always manages to give the electric guitar
a personal, intimate stamp, savoring textures rather than tumult. And
though Frisell was later to become regarded as an important new electric
stylist, his acoustic contributions have been significant. On the beautiful,
impressionistic In Line, Frisell multitracks electro-acoustic
guitars and adds cellist David Darling sparingly.
Ralph Towner is another veteran of the acoustic realm. He was a pianist
before he fell headlong into classical guitar studies and then veered
sideways into jazz, an angular approach that has helped define his trademark
style. Towner fares well on both classical guitar and 12-string, which
he turns into a percussive instrument. After countless albums with his
pioneering chamber jazz group Oregon, and as a solo artist and collaborator,
Towner's 1996 album Lost and Found is as fine and definitive
an example of his guitar playing as any he has done.
British guitarist John McLaughlin is famous for his loud, fast, exploratory
aesthetic on the electric guitar, but over the years he has also contributed
greatly to the acoustic guitar in jazz, through his jazz/Indian group
Shakti, his group Belo Horizonte, and his more recent guitar trio. The
classic album My Goals Beyond consists of one side of extended,
meditative group improvisations akin to Miles Davis’ In a Silent
Way, followed by a remarkable pastiche of all-acoustic tracks. Pieces
such as Charles Mingus’ "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat" and Miles Davis’ "Blue
in Green" have an intensity within lightness that still sounds fresh.
Al Di Meola, another fusioneering mainstay, made his first big splash
as a primarily electric guitarist in the mid-’70s, bringing both rock-minded
energy and technical precision to Chick Corea's Return to Forever.
But he also brought passion and exacting strategies to the acoustic
guitar, especially in his flamenco-meets-jazz-meets-high-octane-riffing
supertrio with Paco de Lucia and John McLaughlin. But Di Meola's most
significant contribution to the acoustic guitar legacy in jazz was World
Sinfonia. Inspired by late nuevo tango musician Astor Piazzolla,
Di Meola put together a group featuring guitarist Chris Carrington and
bandoneon (tango accordion) player Dino Saluzzi. In this setting,
Di Meola's fretboard pyrotechnics, graced with a sharp timbral clarity,
serve the passion of the music.
Larry Coryell has also traversed through jazz from a variety of angles
during the last 25 years, from the electric funkification of his ’70s
fusion group the 11th House through mainstream roots-rediscovery in
the '80s, including ambitious adaptations of classical music for guitar.
On the 1979 album Tributaries, Coryell fares nicely on all-acoustic
turf, joined by fellow guitarists John Scofield and Joe Beck.
Off to the far left end of jazz guitar practice, British improvisation
titan Derek Bailey takes every route on the guitar except the expected,
coaxing a dry and often profound vocabulary of gestures, weird harmonics,
and uncharted tones from the instrument. Bailey settled into the studio
on June 22, 1991, to record the seven separate improvisatory pieces
that make up Solo Guitar, Vol. 2. The question burns: is Bailey,
who aligns himself with no particular stylistic ideology or ism, a jazz
guitarist per se? Only if you view jazz as meaning freedom. Bailey's
work on the acoustic guitar, like all great jazz, pushes the envelope
of expressivity.
—Josef Woodard
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POP/ROCK
The Beatles, Rubber Soul, Capitol 90453 (1966).
Crosby, Stills, and Nash, Crosby, Stills, and Nash, Atlantic
82651 (1969).
Dire Straits, Love over Gold, Warner Bros. 23728 (1982).
The Eagles, Desperado, Asylum 5068 (1973).
Emmylou Harris, Wrecking Ball, Asylum 61854 (1995).
Daniel Lanois, Acadie, Opal/Warner Bros. 25969 (1989).
Dave Matthews Band, Under the Table and Dreaming,
RCA 66449 (1994).
The Roches, Keep on Doing, Warner Bros. 23725 (1982).
Traffic, John Barleycorn Must Die, Island 842780 (1970).
Chris Whitley, Living with the Law, Columbia 46966
(1991).
Here’s the thing: Just about any form of aesthetic ranking or winnowing
should be done with the long view in mind. Lots of terrific pop music
has been bludgeoned by unimaginative radio programmers and bad cover
bands, but that is not the music’s fault. In plotting out this list,
I tried to listen with fresh ears and not to lose sight of the music’s
original context. The emphasis here is on bands (as opposed to singer-songwriters)
and on the rock scene after the heyday of Elvis and the Everlys.
The first title that came to mind was Rubber Soul by the Beatles.
This is a remarkable album, and daring in the context of the band’s
prior work. There’s an earthy, nascent poetry in the slice-of-boho-life
vignette of "Norwegian Wood" and traces of musical sophistication in
the bridges of such songs as "We Can Work It Out" that presage the brilliant
Revolver and the sublime Sgt. Pepper.
The next three selections, Crosby, Stills, and Nash, the Eagles’
Desperado, and Traffic’s John Barleycorn Must Die, have
so many rock chestnuts on them that it’s hard to recall how fresh and
alive all that music was. Sit down and really listen to Stills’ battery
of prewar Martins, recorded as beautifully as they were played, and
the songs—artful and organic at the same time. Similarly, the Eagles’
second album, with songs like "Tequila Sunrise" and "Desperado," can
seem a bit stale now, but the whole record stakes out a landscape all
its own, with instruments and styles of American music that were decidedly
unhip in the mainstream music biz. Across the pond, Traffic’s methods
were similar, with very different results, as Steve Winwood and company
provided their haunting take on British folk forms. They, too, were
no doubt sending their label execs into conniptions, issuing a record
too retrospective for the hip crowd, too modern for the purists.
The next selection takes a sharp left turn into obscurity. The Roches’
Keep on Doing is just as beautiful and strange as it can be;
with production and backup from Robert Fripp and assorted King Crimson
members, it put a bit of an art-rock spin on their essential folkiness.
There are no monster chops, but there are songs and wonderful,
layered guitars.
All of these records are by no means purely acoustic. Something in
the mongrel nature of popular music seems to dictate that there be at
least some voltage running through it. But these records all
have a strong acoustic vibe to them, and even the electric instruments
contribute to that spirit. Dire Straits’ Love over Gold is a
perfect illustration of this: there are plenty of electric flourishes
and dynamic peaks, but the lasting impression is chiefly Mark Knopfler’s
eloquent nylon-string playing and songwriting. This album is a stone
masterpiece from top to bottom.
The next three albums—Daniel Lanois’ Acadie, Chris Whitley’s
Living with the Law, and Emmylou Harris’ Wrecking Ball—all
bear the imprint of Lanois and his Mafia. Acadie, Lanois’ loving
musical tribute to both his French-Canadian roots and his abiding passion
for the music of New Orleans, was released pretty stealthily, but like
another highly influential underground record, Spirit of Eden by
Talk Talk, its impact has grown exponentially. Lanois is best known
for the spiky ambience of his production for U2, Peter Gabriel, and
Robbie Robertson, among many others, and while there is a certain formulaic
component to his work, it is unequaled, I think, in modern popular music.
Living with the Law stands as one of the best records, in any
category, of the ’90s. Whitley’s playing, writing, and singing all brought
new dimensions to modern blues, a form that is too often treated like
taxidermy. Produced by longtime Lanois collaborator Malcolm Burn, with
Lanois’ band playing backup, this record pulls off the remarkable illusion
that every sound on it—from the muscular drums to the string patches—somehow
flowed directly out of Whitley’s beat-to-hell National. Finally, there
is Wrecking Ball, on which Emmylou Harris’ pairing with Lanois
and his sensibilities made for some true magic. Wrecking Ball is
the crowning example of Harris’ impeccable instincts for what songs
to choose and what players to tap.
Finally, I have included the Dave Matthews Band’s Under the Table
and Dreaming. Again, there is no monster playing on this record
(save for the drummer, Carter Beauford, who is ten monsters all at once),
but it succeeds utterly on Matthews’ own terms. He set out to demonstrate
that acoustic popular music could cover as much of the waterfront as
electric music. Along the way, he slipped in some sophisticated voicings
and odd structures not normally permitted to see the light of day, and
opened the doors a little further for those of us who might want to
do something that can’t be so readily pigeonholed.
Each of these records was a genuine article of faith and passion. Some
caught fire and others languished, but they have all contributed significantly
to the vocabulary of popular acoustic music—augmenting and stretching
it almost past recognition in some cases, and in other instances reconfirming
well-worn traditions.
—Andy Markham
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SINGER-SONGWRITER
Bruce Cockburn, Dancing in the Dragon’s Jaws, Columbia
48736 (1979).
Shawn Colvin, Live '88, Plump 5901 (1995).
Nick Drake, Pink Moon, Rykodisc 4436 (1972).
Bob Dylan, Blood on the Tracks, Columbia 33235 (1974).
Bert Jansch, When the Circus Comes to Town, Cooking Vinyl
092 (1995).
Joni Mitchell, Blue, Reprise 2038 (1971).
Paul Simon, Paul Simon, Warner Bros. 25588 (1972).
James Taylor, Greatest Hits, Warner Bros. 3113 (1976).
David Wilcox, How Did You Find Me Here, A&M 5275 (1989).
Neil Young, Harvest Moon, Reprise 45057 (1992).
If for no other reason than sheer portability, the acoustic guitar
is probably the ideal instrument for the singer-songwriter. Its relatively
quiet nature allows musicians to play at all hours, and performing for
a small audience requires no additional accessories. With knowledge
of just a few basic chords and a simple strum or fingerpicking pattern,
an aspiring writer can turn thoughts and emotions into songs.
Without question, the king and queen of the singer-songwriter movement
were James Taylor and Joni Mitchell. Taylor's landmark single "Fire
and Rain," from Sweet Baby James (1970), ushered in pop
music's sensitive phase. This was acoustic-based autobiography at its
best. His Greatest Hits collection is one of the rare examples
of a "best of" set that conveniently packages the essential songs of
an artist in one place.
While Taylor delicately fingerpicked his acoustic and scratched the
surface of youthful angst, Joni Mitchell was picking, slapping, and
strumming her acoustic guitar in a variety of impossible-to-figure-out
tunings and raising the autobiographical stakes considerably on her
classic release Blue. Mitchell's songs, which were deeply personal
and poetic accounts of her romances, inspired a whole generation of
songwriters.
Paul Simon's self-titled solo debut followed his multi–million-selling
pop masterpiece Bridge over Troubled Water, which featured his
singing partner Art Garfunkel and utilized all the technical studio
wizardry of the day. Simon's solo debut was a decidedly low-tech affair,
and the results were extraordinary. Simon's deft and aggressive acoustic
guitar technique was showcased on songs like "Peace Like a River," "Armistice
Day," and "Everything Put Together Falls Apart" in a way that we haven’t
heard since.
Another ’60s icon, Bob Dylan, returned to form as a songwriter on his
1974 release Blood on the Tracks. Featuring powerful songs like
"Tangled up in Blue," "Simple Twist of Fate," and "Idiot Wind" and sporting
subtle acoustic production values, Blood on the Tracks stands
out as one of the few Dylan releases of the past 20 years to be favorably
compared to his mid-’60s triumphs.
Two lesser-known but quite influential singer-songwriters, both of
whom are talented fingerstyle players, are Bruce Cockburn and Nick Drake.
Drake is a mysterious character partially due to his alleged suicide
and to his limited legacy of four recordings. Pink Moon is a
startling collection of glimpses into the psyche of a disturbed genius,
set against the stark background of Drake’s acoustic guitar stylings
with no other adornments. Cockburn’s Dancing in the Dragon’s Jaws,
on the other hand, is a joyous release that saw the Canadian singer-songwriter
finally crack the American Top 40 with "Wondering Where the Lions Are."
While Cockburn has successfully recorded over a dozen albums since,
many of his fans still view Dancing in the Dragon’s Jaws as the
high-water mark of his acoustic-based recordings.
After the disco movement and other calamities within the record biz
threatened the careers of all but the most successful singer-songwriters
in the early ’80s, the end of the decade saw a new wave of talent begin
to crop up on the revitalized folk circuit.
Tracy Chapman and Suzanne Vega scored Top Ten hits, and artists like
Greg Brown, John Gorka, and Brooks Williams garnered critical raves.
David Wilcox and Shawn Colvin, who both had been greatly influenced
by James Taylor and Joni Mitchell, became standard bearers for this
new generation. Wilcox's major-label debut How Did You Find Me Here
caught everybody by surprise with its mix of humor, wit, and sensitivity.
Colvin has released several albums to growing sales and acclaim, although
her solo acoustic Live ’88 is the best place to get to know her
as a player and singer.
Two veteran artists who have released titles in the ’90s that rival
or surpass anything from their illustrious pasts are Neil Young and
Bert Jansch. Young, the well-known eclectic who’s just as comfortable
in a solo acoustic setting as with Pearl Jam, delivered a warm, confident,
and graceful set of songs on Harvest Moon. The beautiful "Unknown
Legend," "From Hank to Hendrix," and "You and Me" sit well with the
biting "War of Man" on this triumphant return to Young’s folk troubadour
persona.
Jansch, whom Neil Young has called the Jimi Hendrix of acoustic players,
made his first record for Transatlantic over 30 years ago, and it is
still in print. Although many of the players he has influenced—Donovan
and Jimmy Page, for example—have gone on to international stardom, Jansch
never really broke through commercially. But he has continued to grow
musically, and his recent When the Circus Comes to Town may be
the best thing he has done since his debut. Jansch is a fingerstylist
capable of brilliant and complex accompaniment, and his work in D A
D G A D tuning on the title track is staggering.
With such great music coming from veteran artists as well as inspired
newcomers, the singer-songwriter scene is in one of its most vital phases
since the ’70s.
—James Jensen
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WORLD
Ry Cooder and Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, A Meeting by the River,
Water Lily Acoustics 29 (1993).
Dama and D’Gary, The Long Way Home, Shanachie 64052
(1994).
Sol Hoopii, Master of the Hawaiian Guitar, Vol. 1, Rounder
1024 (1991, recorded 1926–1930).
Baaba Maal and Mansour Seck, Djam Leelii, Mango 9840 (1989).
Distributed by Island.
Joseph Spence, Living on the Hallelujah Side, Rounder
2021 (1989, recorded 1972–1978).
Trío Matamoros, Sangre Conga, Nuevos Medios 65595
(1992, recorded in the 1940s–’60s). Distributed by FTC.
Various artists, African Acoustic: Sounds Eastern and Southern,
Original Music 001 (1988, recorded 1950s).
Various artists, Brazil—Roots—Samba, Rounder 5045 (1989).
Various artists, Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar Masters, Dancing
Cat 38032 (1995). Distributed by Windham Hill.
Various artists, The Music of Venezuela, Zu-Zazz 2018
(1991).
What is intriguing about the acoustic guitar is not its international
ubiquity but the many different ways the world’s guitarists have adapted
it to their local music. Rather than accepting the shape, size, and
tuning of the guitar as standard, indigenous musicians everywhere have
experimented with new tunings, techniques, and stringing configurations.
Perhaps the most revolutionary new technique, slide guitar, was developed
in 19th-century Hawaii. Sol Hoopii, Master of the Hawaiian Guitar,
is an excellent introduction to this innovative style. Hoopii was the
most popular slide player in the ’20s and ’30s, and the influence of
his blend of traditional music and jazz can still be heard on modern
dobro and pedal steel players.
As if inventing steel guitar weren’t enough, the Hawaiians also created
one of the most entrancing fingerpicking styles ever: slack key. Hawaiian
Slack Key Guitar Masters is a collection that beautifully demonstrates
the breadth of this increasingly popular style, from the gentle melodies
of Ray Kane to the fretboard gymnastics of Ledward Kaapana.
The Hawaiians are generally credited with creating the slide guitar,
but there are other instruments, like the chitra vina from India,
that also use a bar to stop the strings. A Meeting by the River,
by V.M. Bhatt and Ry Cooder, is an exploration of this other slide tradition.
Bhatt plays an instrument he calls the Mohan vina, sort of a slide guitar
with sympathetic strings. He and Cooder sensitively mix a variety of
slide traditions, including blues, country, and Indian, culminating
in a near-perfect fusion on "Isa Lei," an old Hawaiian melody.
The blending of regional styles, as in the music of Bhatt and Cooder,
is a process that has been going on for centuries. Modern technology
is accelerating the process and, through recordings, giving musicians
an audience far beyond their immediate area. The Cuban group Trío
Matamoros, for instance, was a profound influence on African guitarists
in the ’30s and ’40s. The blend of two guitars and simple percussion
with sweet vocal harmony, as heard on Sangre Conga, is irresistible.
On African Acoustic: Sounds Eastern and Southern, you can hear
the influence of Trío Matamoros as well as such unexpected musicians
as Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family. These recordings were made
in the ’50s by Hugh Tracey and feature 19 tracks from nine countries.
This is the music of transition: new urban styles are being created
from ancient rural melodies, and the new instrument—the guitar—is replacing
the old.
Djam Leelii, by Senegal’s Baaba Maal and Mansour Seck, is the
fulfillment of the promise made by the guitarists on African Acoustic.
Seck and Maal have moved beyond the European influences implied by the
guitar and use rippling arpeggios and staccato bass lines that recall
the kora and mbira. This is truly African guitar playing.
The guitar styles of Madagascar’s Dama and D’Gary have trace elements
of all the cultures that have influenced Malagasy society over the centuries.
On The Long Way Home you can hear bits and pieces of East African,
Arab, Indian, Polynesian, Welsh, and French music in Dama and D’Gary’s
intricate fingerpicking and subtle rhythms. This music is at once mysterious
and familiar.
The great story in 20th-century world music is the fusion of African
rhythms and European harmonies in the New World. Almost all of the popular
music in North and South America is the result of this combination.
Brazil—Roots—Samba is a strong introduction to the style that
is the root of contemporary Brazilian music. This is not the raucous
carnival music you might expect, but rather a subtle, guitar-based song
form. This music is earthier than the more upscale bossa nova (Ipanema
is, after all, an exclusive resort town), but its gentle, insistent
rhythm is difficult to resist.
The huge number of regional styles in Latin America have given rise
to a bewildering array of variations on the guitar. One of the most
common is a small four-string version called the cuatro. On The
Music of Venezuela the cuatro is often featured as the lead
instrument, while the larger six-string handles the rhythm and harmony.
Venezuelan musicians don’t seem to be hindered by the lack of two strings,
and they play the cuatro with a fire that recalls the virtuosity
of flamenco.
The acoustic guitar is not a traditional instrument in most cultures,
and consequently the musicians who take it up do not always feel bound
to the old ways of playing music. The Bahamian guitarist Joseph Spence,
for instance, had a very conservative repertoire consisting primarily
of hymns, but his playing was anything but stodgy. Living on the
Hallelujah Side, a recording made in the ’70s, showcases his highly
syncopated guitar playing and peculiar vocal style that is as much a
mellow, tropical form of glossolalia as it is singing. Ry Cooder is
just one of the many guitarists who claim Spence as a big influence.
And so continues the blending and reinvention of traditions that is
at the heart of today’s world music.
—Michael Simmons
Excerpted
from Acoustic
Guitar magazine, September
1996, No. 45.
