NEW RELEASES - NEWS - CYBER NOTES - MEET A.G.
A landmark 1980 vinyl firestorm produced by Al DiMeola, John McLaughlin, and Paco de Lucia has been reissued on CD by Columbia/Legacy. The live recording Friday Night in San Francisco includes new liner notes, performance photos, and 20-bit sound.
Guitarists looking to add some spice to their Christmas repertoire will appreciate two new Mel Bay books: A Scottish Christmas for Guitar, by Al Petteway (see "The Next Generation," December '97), and Ancient Christmas Music for Acoustic Guitar, by Gerald Garno, who is also coauthor of a new Segovia book/CD set (see Reviews, page 39).
A three-CD box-set retrospective of Simon and Garfunkel's career has been released by Columbia/Legacy. Old Friends' 59 tracks include 15 previously unreleased songs: three newly discovered studio recordings, ten live performances, and two early demos.
Ricky Skaggs has returned to his roots with Bluegrass Rules, his first pure bluegrass recording in 15 years, released by his new Skaggs Family Records label and distributed by Rounder. Look for an extensive Skaggs interview in an upcoming issue.
New York&endash;based singer-songwriter Jack Hardy, founder and former editor of Fast Folk magazine, has recorded 11 albums, but The Passing is the first to appear in the U.S. The disc was released by 1-800-PRIME-CD, which plans to issue Hardy's entire oeuvre in 1998 as The Collected Works.
The South Lawn of the White House was the scene of the 1997 National Medal of Arts ceremony on September 29. Doc Watson joined fellow honorees Betty Carter, Angela Lansbury, Tito Puente, Jason Robards, and others in receiving the prestigious award from musician Bill Clinton and his wife, Hillary.
Allen Shadd of Jacksonville, Florida, won the flatpicking contest at the '97 Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas, and Todd Hallaway of Scottsdale, Arizona, was awarded the fingerpicking crown. Shadd was trailed by Cody Kilby of Cowan, Tennessee, and Greg English of Sevierville, Tennessee. Hallaway's closest pursuers were Jalan Crossland of Ten Sleep, Wyoming, and Jason Fowler of Toronto, whose arrangement of "Good King Wenceslas" was featured in the December '96 issue.
Paul Simon has taken his songwriting to the Broadway stage. His new musical Capeman, written over the last decade with Nobel Prize&endash;winning playwright- poet Derek Walcott and starring Ruben Blades, opens in January.
David Wilcox and Michael Hedges were the first two subjects of the Artist's Profile, a new PBS program featuring interviews and performances by recording artists in the jazz, folk, new age, and world music fields. Thirteen half-hour episodes will be produced for broadcast in the 1998 season by Ecliptic Productions, (303) 688-9268.
Elton John's guitarists John Jorgenson and Davey Johnstone will be recording Groovemasters, Vol. 2, live on portable minidisc recorder during John's current world tour. The all-acoustic CD is due to be released in the spring on Solid Air Records.
Tim O'Brien recently became the first artist to have three No. 1 albums in a row on the Gavin Americana charts. In addition, the title track from his Sugar Hill album When No One's Around has been recorded by Garth Brooks for the country superstar's new CD Sevens.
Bob Dylan performed for the Pope in Bologna, Italy, on September 27. In his speech to the crowd of 200,000, the pontiff quoted "Blowing in the Wind," answering the question "How many roads must a man walk down?" with the number one--the road to Christ. The times they are a changin' indeed.
Clarence White fanatics can view a complete discography of his ultra-rare recordings at www.urban.or.jp/home/koa7/ byrds.htm; find out more than they really want to know about their hero at the Byrdwatcher's site, www.ebni.com/byrds/; lobby for a multi-CD/video box set at www.sierra-records.com/; or order the online newsletter Clarence White Chronicles from colonels@ac.mbn.or.jp.
Look for Acoustic Guitar at the Winter NAMM trade show in Los Angeles, January 29&endash;February 1. Acoustic Guitar is pleased to present the fourth annual Acoustic Café concert on Friday evening, January 30, at the historic Troubadour in West Hollywood. Performers include the Kingston Trio, Preston Reed, Jacques Stotzem and Thierry Crommen, Danny Barnes and Steve James, plus other special guests. For tickets, visit sponsors C.F. Martin and Co., D'Addario and Co., Santa Cruz Guitar Co., and Fishman Transducers at their NAMM show booths.
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