Revolt of the ILX Brigade: New Post-Fahey Folk For PPL that post in the Takoma & Tompkin's Square Threads

hey all, i wanted to make a new thread for discussion that's been happening a lot on the Takoma Obscurities thread and/or the Tompkin's Square Records thread, obv for stuff that's new (takoma is mostly old stuff) and not necessarily on Tompkin's (which is an awesome label)....

for reference the other threads:
S/D: Tompkins Square Records

Takoma's one-offs and obscurities

anyway, this is about all i care about these days, so you know the drill, kinda more out there folk instrumental stuff (but NO RULES MAN vox are cool too) that's in the vein of post-Fahey/post-Bert Jansch/post-Jack Rose/post-whatever stuff....or really anything that woud appeal...

I'll start off with one of the best albums I've bought this year:

http://softabuse.com/images/NB%20banner%20crop.jpg

Nathan Bowles - A Bottle, A Buckeye (Soft Abuse Records)

Hard to believe our planet had not yet been graced with Nathan Bowles solo recordings until now, but such is the case. After years of playing in celebrated ensembles, touring the world, and honing his skill on a host of instruments, Bowles unveils his first solo effort: A Bottle, A Buckeye. The spacious, rollicking, meditative, and above all powerful record bridges the methods and constructs of his two most notable groups – Black Twig Pickers (old-time) and Pelt (outer limits) – while inhabiting a space all its own.

Armed only with a 5-string openback banjo (built by Nathan's neighbor Greg Galbreath at the Buckeye Banjos workshop) and a bottle of Elmer T. Lee, Bowles recorded and mixed the record with Jason Meagher at Black Dirt Studio over two days in December 2011. Bowles' recent focus on the instrument's various possibilities is on full display – bowed & drummed textures, clawhammer boogie, and banjo soli sidewinding. With a mixture of traditional folk tunes, original compositions, and reinterpretations of material from players who've passed on, this is a varied ride with a serious player at the helm.

says The Wire:

Armed with an instrument built by a friend (the Buckeye of the title) and a bottle of bourbon, these recordings have an intimate intensity that keeps the production austere. That means uptempo pieces like “Charlie’s Pontoon” or “Craig Street Hop” demand an attentive (and happy) ear instead of footstomping thoughtlessness. When Bowles bows or slides (as on “Beans”) and brings the tempo down for the traditional “Elk River Blues” or "Uttararama”, the virtues of a serious banjo album are clearer still: inventive, distinctive, tuneful. In a world with too many solo guitar players,Bowles shows the banjo to be a valid riposte.

listen to a stream of the album here:

http://soundcloud.com/soft-abuse/sets/nathan-bowles-a-bottle-a

Yes! Thread title is great, thread is great. Checking out Nathan Bowles now. I've been really hooked on that Daniel Bachman album, I believe you recommended that to me. The overtones are immense, and it's hard to believe he's only 22. Looking forward to see what he does next.

Good idea, this, and yes, the Bowles album's a treat.

soft abuse is one of the best little indie boutique labels out there, really diverse and always cool shit

(btw global, yr in mpls i believe and soft abuse is local so this should be at roadrunner, treehouse, and probably hymies on vinyl)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iq-OwpIilAY

Have really enjoyed the couple of Dean McPhee albums I've got. British solo electric guitar guy who plays with a great deal of poise and a really nice tone.

Digging the Ulaan Markhor songs on the Soft Abuse soundcloud page right now. Steven R. Smith stuff is good to check out for fans of guitar in general (he records as Ulaan Markhor and a bunch of other names as well).

Nathan Bowles is great! He played in Kid Millions Man Forever group here in Virginia last year. His faces after about 25 minutes of straight single-stroke rolls were pretty amazing.

That Dean McPhee is nice. I am a sucker for solo electric players right now too. Been going through a Loren M. Connors kick, so will check out more McPhee.

Yeah, McPhee reminds me of Connors a little bit, but he's not half as bluesy in feel nor as out-there emotionally as Loren.

haven't heard bowles, will check him out.
i've been digging Yair Yona, he's got a bunch of stuff up for sampling on the free music archive: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Yair_Yona/

excellent thread, will bookmark, UMS remains a key ilm figure

do you folks fuck with william tyler? think he's got a new record coming out soon on merge? great guitarist.

lol, i started this thread William Tyler
he's great, want to hear that live album that came w/ the imaginational anthem box set recently, this sample song is amaaaaaazing: https://soundcloud.com/tompkinssquare/country-of-illusion-by-william

yeah dig william tyler!
already got some new stuff i haven't heard to check out! thread is a success

dean mcphee is really beautiful stuff...thanks nickB, also glad you posted it despite the fact that i put "folk" in the title and this is electric, it totally fits in with the stuff like this i've been digging

C Joynes is a name I came on Honest Strings (the Jack Rose tribute, actually a really good resource for this thread I would say).
Listening to "Revenants, Prodigies, and the Restless Dead" right now and digging it.

Yeah that's a good one, forgot where I got a hold of it but have enjoyed a number of things I've heard from him.

Cian Nugent and Nick Schillace are definitely on my 'must listen' list.

despite the fact that i put "folk" in the title and this is electric, it totally fits in with the stuff like this i've been digging

haha well fahey played electric too in his last phase don't forget... actually the only time i ever saw john fahey he played electric. anyhow glad you enjoyed it!

huh i don't know much about later period fahey, but yeah "folk as dude with acoustic guitar" is horrible for ppl that like mumford & sons more than richard thompson

yeahhh, i was just watching this late period fahey show where he plays electric
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlCOQr7o8A4
i was digging it! i dunno, i feel like there is a fine line when some of these takoma guys play electric, like things get a little too ethereal, or it sounds like run-of-the-mill indie movie soundtrack fodder. but it can work! that mcphee thing sounds great.

yeah shit that would be on this thread is always gonna be flirting with either new agey atmospherics or prairie home companion post-sellout kottke dorky stuff

holy crap, that line is so fine too -- at least i have confidence that you guys can hear the difference. it can't wrap itself up too quickly or too neatly.

bookmarking!

to be honest i still don't know how i feel about electric fahey. i appreciate him trying to do something new, but it never had quite the same resonance with me as his older stuff, it's didn't really got into my bones in the same way and i've never gone back and revisited it since. maybe i should...

great grammar nickb

ha! i mean, the electric fahey is more interesting to me than actually enjoyable at this point. but i do think it's *really* interesting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1S9mF8Ns5Q

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVhC3yf9sE4

<3 blackshaw

Blackshaw is the best, though I kind of think of him differently than these other dudes bcz he's British.

Liking this Daniel Bachman track I'm streaming from NPR.

Yeah, good interview with him yesterday on NPR's All Things Considered, playing and talking about Jack Rose. They also mentioned his Tiny Desk Concert (a series of short acoustic sets in a small space, prob suiting him better than, say, Gogol Bordello, although they coped, kind of). Was gonna say Blackshaw too, and dig the way his piano can sound like his guitar.
From a different direction, was just now immediately grabbed and held by the solo guitar on Ned Sublette's Kiss You Down South. Worked w Branca, Cage, Ashley, LaMonte Young etc., though mainly familiar to me via Willie Nelson's excellent cover of "Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other", writing/producing for Afropop Worldwide, plus his intriguingly reviewed histories of Cuba and New Orleans. Willie and all the rest of that get smoked by his guitar, with nylon strings like steel springs, but only when necessary. I wanna say some it reminds me of the Latin American composer Augustin Barrios, as played by John Williams, though haven't heard that in a while. As I recall JW's renditions: gently fearless, lyrical acrobatics--although Sublette's got a rough, earthy emphasis too. Lyrics fit perfectly, even when they're occasionally too glib (and the meta "Flow" doesn't flow all that well, by his usual standards). Good strong, tuneful voice too, always. But dammm, that guitar. Goes electric on the last track, but def not new age, or noise age, for that matter. Nor is it too tasteful (likes his f-bombs, he does).

And comparisons don't take me too far, because he just seems really inventive to me.

new william tyler tune -- actually sounding pretty far afield from takoma-y stuff, but great -- http://www.spin.com/articles/hear-lambchop-guitarist-william-tylers-misty-cadillac-desert

Wow, that William Tyler song is great, definitely along the lines of what I want winter to sound like right now. Love the extra instrumentation.

Also, this is exactly the kind of stuff I want this thread to deliver, hope others agree. Fine with straight-up fingerpicking too.

will check out that william tyler

btw when i started this i forgot that Paul Metzger is only a legendary musician in MInneapolis...basically, back in the 80s he was the head of TVBC...they were a post-punk band...but like imagine Metal Box era PIL used that as a basis for jazz improv type stuff...Freddy V0tel was the drummer, he later joined the Cows on Am Rep...

but now Metzger does stuff for "modified banjo" and acoustic (also TVBC still plays some)....some stuff is faheyesque, other stuff more indian type stuff, others kinda "crabwalk" eugene chadbourne type stuff...kinda depends on the show...but anyway he's a pretty amazing dude

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCu882dXXmc

http://paulmetzger.net/

Have checked out Metzger before, but never seen him live. Think it is the type of thing that would be very cool in person, especially getting to see some of the modified instruments. Any records in particular that represent his stuff well?

a couple that are pretty good

http://roaratorio.com/15.html

http://roaratorio.com/14.html

that said, it's definitely nice to live in the same city because yeah i'm not sure you'll ever totally capture the live experience especially because it's usually a lot of improv, plus he does a lot of one-off lineups with other acoustic players...or jazz dudes...or noise rock guys etc

new william tyler album is magnificent -- only complaint is that it lacks a little "edge" or something, occasionally seems a little bit too pretty. But overall, really really good.

some of it definitely has that jim o'rourke bad timing vibe, which is always a good thing.

Glad W. Tyler isn't making perfect albums quite yet, gives him room to grow. Dude is young, so hopefully he develops into some really interesting territory.

Thanks for the extra Metzger info, will try to delve a littel deeper. Cool he does a lot of mixing it up locally, and does a lot of improv.

yeah like honestly i'm not sure he would consider himself a folk artist really, he's kinda more on the art music scene but he definitely roots it in folk...and banjo has a certain folk quality you can't hide

just had a show with Bill Orcutt of Hairy Pussy that i really regret missing, i guess they were both in full on fahey worship mode

Harry!
I saw Orcutt recently and he said "I'm trying to learn how to play songs"
It was charming.

orcutt wins the "best song title" sweepstakes on the latest imaginational anthem -- "John Fahey Commemorative Beer Can"
i've never seen him live, but i've watched a few youtubes -- he really mangles that guitar.

william tyler record does end with a feedback / drum machine freakout, so maybe it does have a little edge.

tyler is the tyler streaming somewhere?

Orcutt is kind of American Primitive Death Blues by way of Cecil Taylor

xp not that i know of, i just got sent the promo mp3s.

#ballerstatus

#bragginboutmp3s

aquarium drunkard paying dividends? :)

thought that said 'american drunkyard' at first

i'm so well-respected in the blogging world these days that PR dudes are sending me PONO promos.

fuuuuck dude, tell neil you need a prototype

honestly, i honestly want a PONO i hope it's not too much

even after reading neil's book, i don't even really understand what it's going to be -- an ipod? but different?

haha i haven't read the book

i mean i think there are hi-fi digital music players already on the market, but is PONO like a different music format (like distinct from WAV or FLAC or whatever lossless formats?)...i know there are sites that sell 24-bit digital audio files now....

...and thus we have proven that it's pretty much impossible for tyler and i to be on a thread for more than 20 post w/o talk turning to neil young

otherwise known as the pono conundrum

here's a guy that i found on spotify i know literally nothing about: Sean Smith (btw spotify is a little tricky because it's got his bio confused with a jazz bassist of the same name and spelling) anyone know this guy?

his s/t album from 2007 is pretty good stuff

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cpy8cqFDH1Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5uRDNsKCQI

also skip ahead to the 9 minute mark

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThanInD0LBs

(more stefan grossman type stuff than fahey but goddamn how good is she??)

early stuff is kinda boring dude talking but as a mpls person did appreciate the Profane Existence mention

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZ-xmJAFnqk

^ awesome

XD

dudes i was just checking out adrian legg albums on spotify :/

this stuff is a dangerous game

you want to play the game, you got to know the risks.
just saw this relevant mix by danny paul grody, who is on the latest imaginational anthem thang. grody!
http://rootstrata.com/rootblog/?p=7754

god i'm going to end up sad & alone with a pile of used michael hedges records.....

Well now you've made me go youtube Adrian Legg performances. Slippery slope indeed.

hey you're never alone when you have michael hedges records to keep you company

I find Michael Hedges to be really terrible. The precursor to that slap and tap Andy McKee Youtube gibberish. I can't believe that the recent Fahey show uploaded to Youtube, the New Varsity series, were of him opening for Hedges. Slippery slope indeed.

I bought this Alex De Grassi album for $1 because it was in mint condition and was only $1, but it's pretty good for light (not lite) guitar music. It took me forever to remember his name because all I could remember is what the cover looked like.

http://991.com/newGallery/Alex-DeGrassi-Turning-Turning-B-495700.jpg

friend of mine put out this solo acoustic guitar CD a few years ago -
http://www.josephbrenna.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/josephbrennacover.jpg
he's the one who hates fahey though! much more into things like Hedges. Though I think he's actually not that into acoustic guitar playing, really, this was more of a side-trip for him.
http://www.josephbrenna.com

the exact point at which this stuff starts to sound like "healing music" is my tipping point

Tyler, thanks for that! I have now moved on form A. Legg to listening to D.P. Grody's album "In Search Of Light", which is really nice. Synth and acoustic guitars and a few other instruments so far. Nicely layered and detailed (lots of overdubs), but hitting the spot on a slow wintery Wednesday for sure. Can stream it on his bandcamp page.

That was in response to that D.P. Grody mix of course

yeah it's pretty good. feel like it's 5-4-3-2-1 til some label is reissuing that great Cromarty record. [which, if you haven't heard it, is up for dl on root blog].

Can't really download right now. What's the Cromarty like? Straight solo fingerpicking stuff of songs?

it's solo fingerpicking except for the last song (which has vocals). really pretty playing, probably closer to john renbourn than fahey.

Thanks Tyler. Will add it to the things to download when I have a slow day at home.

yeah the cromarty thing is really gorgeous

http://www.aquariumdrunkard.com/2012/11/15/george-cromarty-grassroots-guitar/

i mean...just the #swag on the cover alone:

http://www.aquariumdrunkard.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/cromarty.jpg

i like that on the back of that album he offers a pronunciation guide for his name. more people should do that.

does he use IPA symbols and everything??!

haha, no, here it is
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mdjq0dI44F1qzy30io1_1280.jpg

oh sorry that's tiny, here: http://doomandgloomfromthetomb.tumblr.com/image/35789942787

huh! i've heard that name a zillion times and i've never heard it pronounced like that
always cro-MAR-ti
thanks g cromarty!

i know! as in cromwell and thirty! would have never known.

this is a great thread. have nothing new to share atm but was watching this great little set by jack rose earlier
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3esteBtuPrs
he kinda loses it at the end, there's a lot frustration in playing this kind of music i suppose.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vorXt58DZUg

^ Do you guys know Alexander Turnquist? Think he's been around for a few years but I've only just started picking up his stuff. Kind of in a James Blackshaw/Robbie Basho vein of 12-string playing.

steve gunn & mike wexler playing tonight in brooklyn, both some of my fave locals.
gunn is more raga-psych-jamz on acoustic/electric and wexler is more songwriting but both are really great.
union pool! endless boogie are headlining.

hey ian! i hoped you would find this thread.

loving this turnquist

turnquist is on the latest imaginational anthem (which is the only thing I've heard by him), but i was kinda ehhh, because it was sooooo blackshaw-esque. but that clip is pretty great, will check out some more stuff by him.

my running list of dudes that are totally boring new agey guitar player magazine type bullshit you should avoid:

Sergio Altamura
Antoine Dufour (i don't know why i even bothered once i saw the song title "Spiritual Groove (Live)")

but i was kinda ehhh, because it was sooooo blackshaw-esque

yeah, definitely get that impression watching some older clips. got his most recent album and he seemed to be playing a lot higher up the fretboard and chucking in lots of harmonics so it had more of a steffen basho junghans feel. it's okay! but yes, not frollicking naked in wild new fields of discovery

tbh most of the stuff in this thread is probably going to be more evolutionary than revolutionary

yeah, totally

Yeah, had been told about Turnquist by a friend of mine, and I really like that. I like that he has a somewhat maximalist sonic approach, i.e., a lot of open strings and overtones/harmonics going on (and the fast rolls with the fingerpicking), but the melodic movement and chording are pretty minimal. Guess I should listen to more Blackshaw, whom I haven't delved into very deeply yet.

Wow, that drone segment at the end of that Jack Rose video is actually quite astounding. I thought he was using an effect at first, but it really just seems like just his lap slide.

http://youtu.be/vqOTeMGwsYE
this guy is good -- need to pick up his record... i think he's the guy who did that work hard, play hard box set for tompkins square too?

That is good, hadn't listened to him before.

Reminds me of Micah Blue Smaldone's instrumental stuff (touches of more traditional old-time/ragtime type stuff), though Micah writes a lot of vocal downer stuff as opposed to being largely instrumental, which is what has been popping up on this thread. All finger-picking though, worth checking out. Friend of the Cerberus Shoal/Big Blood crew of folks from Maine.

Nathan's "Affirmed" album is great and so is his album of duso with James Elkington.

duos, that is.

yeah checking Affirmed out now. sounds great.
it is kind of interesting w/ these guitar players and the more ragtime-y stuff they all seem to get into sooner or later. it's sort of the least "cool" sounding stuff (not to say I don't like it). is there something technically challenging about playing in that way that draws them to that style?

ok, yeah, this salsburg album is stellar! dig the one vocal track too...

wow this is really great thanks tyler!

btw this horribly album covered peter lang record from 2003 is pretty good!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c5/GuitarPeterLang.jpg

one of the ppl that come up on nathan salsburg's "related artists" on Spotify....#swag

http://img.mp3rally.com/imager/w_500/h_/12acd7dd26092cdfdb8077214cca31d3.jpg

the james elkington/nathan salsburg album is on spotify, really gorgeous

yeah checking that one out next!
guitar jock! intense, showin off the back of the amp. so raw.

just had that bitch re-tubed

scariest thing is, give me ten years and i will look exactly like that dude.

listening to will ackerman right now on spotify

this....isn't that bad....

i may have crossed some very important line

maneli jamal, new guy i guess iranian by way of belarus and austin TX...some of his stuff is a bit too technical and kinda saccharine for my taste but he's super talented

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69MJ4UGzvl4

also found this fingerstyle label candyrat but it (and jamal) sort of have the music school/guitar mag stench about them

http://candyrat.com/

Man, you are doing some work. There is a fine line, and seemingly a LOT of folks who get technical chops of the fingerstyle variety.

yeah it's kinda hard to find stuff that hits that perfect middle ground between indie rock dudes playing dress-up and session dudes new age jacking off stuff

Saw Daniel Bachman live recently, and I gotta say it was a real treat. He is still so young so I am sure he is gonna just get better and better, but despite the songs sounding pretty similar there was a real momentum to all of them and he was just a pleasure to watch. A couple of the songs were close to transcendant, especially his thumb picking. Just a super-nice guy as well.

Can't listen to that guy specifically b/c Youtube is blocked at my work but as far as I know, Candyrat records is overall fairly shite. Pretty sure that 'slapp'n and tappn' stuff would have no traction if it weren't for Youtube. It seems more clever when you can *watch* it because it's technically impressive and they do "crazy" stuff like harmonics and slapping the body of the guitar, but there isn't too much there musically, overall pretty toothless.

^^ where did you see Bachmann? Saw Nathan Bowles recently along w/ the Black Twig pickers recently, was a real good show. The Twigs in particular just looked to be having so much fun, was infectious.

I mean, I'm not normally one to judge a book by its cover (I am) but this pretty much says it all right here:

http://candyrat.com/artists/AdamBenEzra/Openland/cover_large.jpeg

Mike Dawes : Somebody That I Used To Know (Gotye)
Acoustic Guitar
A stunning solo arrangment of Gotye's popular tune, "Somebody That I Use To Know". Played without any overdubs.

And yes nthing the Bowles record, makes me want to learn Clawhammer, and quick.

i didn't get to see bowles :(

yeah honestly this candy rat site is a waste of time

listening to the new bachman, this is great

upper mississippi, that dude is touring all the time. Go see him, I am sure he will come to your city in the next year. Hope to see Bowles, he only lives a few hours from me (missed him here with Bachman and Mark Fosson cause I was outta town, which is just fucking wrong, the show I wanted to see most last year!).

global, I saw Bachman in Charlottesville, Virginia, where I live. I think we are now officially on his circuit, which is cool. I think he is back here in April, which means he will have played here 3 time in 6 months, which is cool with me. He is from Fredericksburg, which is a little over an hour away.

Bachman/Fosson/Bowles? That's killer, would love to see that! Bowles was good, but he seemed a bit tired, as it was 10am and they'd played a show earlier. He had a few hiccups due to a rickety banjo. Record comes across much better than his live show suggested to me. Some really good moments, though.

Seems like the VA area is a hotbed for this sort of stuff. A lot of the past and present notables hail from around there. Proximity to the deeper south that does it?

man it would be cool to try to book a show in mpls with bachman, maybe get peter lang out and spider john koerner or charlie parr to bring out ppl

Found a Bachman release on Spotify I was unawares of, Oh Be Joyful? Skimming it now, a lot of it sounds very similar to the material on Seven Pines. It's cool he's got a very distinct 'style' but I sorta wish there were a bit more variety... for some reason I'm attached to Seven Pines, so since they seem very similar (maybe I'm wrong?) I'll probably jam that one from now on until something newer comes out.

One of my favorites of his is "With Signs Following", awesome drone style track, has a different feel to me than a lot of his stuff. Feels a bit more improvised, and I like that. And whatever's producing those overtones... dig it

Also: Ooooh, that would be a show! Holy shit! Lang has mentioned he was looking to get back into music on some level, and I believe Spider John played this past Sunday? And Charlie Parr is a pretty prolific performer. Sounds pretty feasible, however I know nothing of booking, nothing beyond that I'd definitely be there if/when it came to fruition.

yeah i'm friends w/the booker at the turf, could be possible...parr would just be good because i think he has a fairly consistent draw...lang has played some shows in the last couple years, sporadically

have you ever seen spider john? kind of crazy to be in the same room as the guy you know, and he's still good

i felt very lucky to have seen koerner, ray, and glover at the 400 bar while everyone was still living

Yeah, Virginia has a long history with this stuff. I think it is just naturally part of the culture (parts of Virginia are very southern still). Mike Gangloff (Pelt, Black Twig Pickers etc.) actually goes around Virginia and West Virginia learning songs directly from folks. Really cool seeing a solo Gangloff show, in which he plays solo fiddle and banjo tunes with stories in between about the songs. He also writes some very cool originals. Highly recommend trying to see him if you are into that kind of thing.

bachman live show on youtube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mPSZ_DaIJU

jeez he's just a little kid!

Yeah, Bachman is 21 or 22 or something, which is nuts to me. Really humble about his playing, can tell he wants to take it a lot farther, which is great. Excited to see where he goes with it.

man how talented, wow

Cool thread. I made a spotify list of everything mentioned (or close to it anyway) so far.

http://open.spotify.com/user/theshipment/playlist/2WNjL5jGiUHaSu5CFkN9Xg

I watched Doyle Dykes at the NAMM show a couple days ago. He's kind of incredible.

Spottie! :-) welcome

not sure if he quite fits in here, but i listened to this recent instrumental record by chris forsyth and it's pretty rad, kind of a fairport convention / popol vuh thing happening
http://soundcloud.com/chris-forsyth/sets/paranoid-cat-1

That Chris Forsyth record is very cool (imo), and I think it fits here as far as what I want to get out of this thread. We posted a bunch about him in the rolling psych/drone 2012 thread, but this thread is dealing more with guitar-centric records of note (I think?) and he fits the bill. In league with the Dean McPhee but more expansive. I think Chris and Steve Gunn do similar stuff on an electric when they play with other musicians, and I like them both quite a bit. Think they each have some great records ahead of them.

listening to forsyth now really good!

spottie thanks for making the playlist, very helpful

Yeah glad to help. I have been into Blackshaw for over 5 years but have never really looked into this type of stuff too far beyond that. Got into that William Tyler a bit last year, though.

Hey, which Blackshaw record would be the best one to dive into? I have heard select songs that I liked, but I have no idea what albums they were from. I know he does some piano-based stuff, but I am most interested in his guitar playing, at least as a starting off point.

either 'The Cloud of Unknowing' or 'O True Believers'

I like Cloud just ever so slightly ahead of Believers but both are great.

sunshrine is another good one. still kind of struggling with his more orchestrated later stuff -- it's good, but it seems less special than the more spare material.

Thanks Spottie! Had "Cloud" recommended to me previously, so I think I will start there and move onto "Believers" after that. Something about this general strain of music that works really well in the winter-time.

Spare is what I am looking for actually. Is "Sunshrine" more spare than "Cloud" or are they similar. I want the most undiluted guitar experience, if that makes sense.

Well, "Believers" is what is on Spotify, so guess I am starting there.

cloud is where he started drafting other musicians in i believe, but it's still pretty restrained in that respect. sunshrine is just him (i think) but there's some overdubbed ambient kinda stuff too.

Thanks!

For some more Forsyth listening, this is from his last record "Kenzo Deluxe". It is a really mellow electric guitar thing set to soundtrack "the first ten minutes of cocksucker blues", which is what the song is called. Kinda slight in some ways, but it has really grown on me and is good morning listening/viewing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DDHj-TUOVA

Sunshrine:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_f4SpZXjFlM

Blackshaw is definite winter music.

Just listened to that whole "Sunshrine" youtube, great stuff! Definitely reminds me of early B. Chasny stuff, though it touches on a lot of other things (and the prominence of 12-string is of course different). I really love the early, very minimal part of it. Haven't gotten to explore much more yet, but excited to hear more for sure.

really loving that "first ten minutes of cocksucker blues" forsyth thang.

i figure if we're posting stuff that's more "out there" than fahey/etc we can post stuff that's more "in there" too...Charlie Parr is a Mpls guy, stalwart folk/blues scene guy, done a ton of albums, always loved seeing him live and seems like a nice dude, he runs a little more towards country blues but he's a hell of a picker

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kBHM8WRyHM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kBHM8WRyHM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kBHM8WRyHM

there.

Parr is great, somehow managed to never have seen him yet. He canceled at the Treehouse thing, but they said they'd try and have him back sometime. Can't say I follow his records much, I think I kinda 'get' his oeuvre with the one I currently have. But yeah, would love to see him live. He plays often enough.

yeah his records are good, at least what i've heard, he's on spotify, that said, he's trad enough where you kind of end up wanting to listen to an old smithsonian thing or something

but live he's really great and the whole performance that i posted is great...he mentions the black twig pickers

Yeah, I have seen Mike Gangloff mention Charlie before, he is a fan (and vice versa). Doesn't Parr do some stuff with Alan Sparhawk as well? Think I saw that somewhere.

yeah i think black eyed snakes (another sparhawk band) played on the last album some? anyway, duluth music community (parr is actually duluth i shouldn't do that thing where mpls claims everyone that's from MN) is pretty tiny

I think I generally claim anyone making music in Virginia as "one of our own", for better or worse.

i like charlie parr a lot!

dude i know put out daniel bachman vinyl so i bought one from him when he came in the store and it just kinda went right by me. i have to really like a guitar record to really like a guitar record. i mean lots of acoustic guitar albums are nice and fine and all that. i don't keep many of them. to be honest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRn4T9iXI3U&feature=youtu.be

michael chapman telling stories and singing about fahey, required viewing

^great.
THREAD ALERT
http://ih.constantcontact.com/fs106/1101382621048/img/120.jpg
Don Bikoff released one lone, rare solo album, 'Celestial Explosion', on Keyboard Records in 1968, now reissued on LP/CD/DL by Tompkins Square. Watch the YouTube video of Bikoff playing on the Ted Mack Amateur Hour, taped May 12, 1968. You'll see the sheepish, long-haired, mustachioed musician spinning gold in a style (still?) so foreign to the mainstream listener. The befuddled host concludes after Don's performance, "That's unusual to say the least." A kid from Oyster Bay, LI, Bikoff got his start in Greenwich Village, annoying Dave Van Ronk and playing the folk/blues circuit where he met Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, Jesse Fuller and Mississippi John Hurt. The comparisons to John Fahey's and Robbie Basho's work stated in the LP liner notes touched a nerve with Fahey himself at the time. Today, those comparisons are still inevitable, however they are for lazy ears. Bikoff has his own approach. Don is only 65 years old, and he's still playing strong. Don will appear with labelmate Daniel Bachman at Union Pool, Brooklyn NY on April 30th.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gvl38Ofebec

Nice.

yeah, and here's more:
https://soundcloud.com/tompkinssquare/rindlers-metamorphosis-by-don

oh man this is fantastic!

Gotta say that I am enjoying that I can barely get through all the stuff making its way on the thread. So much good stuff.

this bikoff thing sounds great. it is funny, i wonder about the mention of it touching a nerve with fahey. must've been sort of weird for him as his influence grew -- was he just like "why are all these dudes biting my style, yo?"

digging bikoff's copious use of reverb.

yeah i mean i hear the fahey influence but the reverb and the way he plays gives it a unique feel IMO

yeah he doesn't seem like a copycat. also, not sure if fahey would have called a song "Crystal Lakes Of Frangipani"

William Tyler tour:

Shows
March 7 Savannah Stopover Savannah Ga
March 8 Will’s Pub (w Mount Moriah and Snowmine) Orlando Fl
March 9 Drunken Unicorn (w Mount Moriah and Dent May) Atlanta
March 10 Alabama Music Box (w Mount Moriah and Dent May)
Mobile AL
March 11 Spanish Moon (w Mount Moriah and Dent May) Baton Rouge LA
March 12 South by Southwest, official Merge showcase!
April 4 Phuzz Fest , Winston Salem NC
April 9 The Green Roon, Athens GA
April 10 Double Crown , Asheville NC
April 11 The Pinhook, Durham NC
April 12 9th and Beats, Washington DC
April 13 BSP , (w RIchard Buckner!) Kingston NY
April 14 Ortlieb’s Philadelphia PA
April 16 Mercury Lounge , Manhattan NY
April 17 Space Gallery, Portland ME
April 18 Middle East, (w/ Kinski!) Cambridge MA
April 19 O Patro Vys , Montreal QC
April 20 Silver Dollar, Toronto ONT
April 21 Happy Dog, Cleveland OH
April 22 Lager House, Detroit MI
April 23 The Pyramid Scheme, Grand Rapids MI
April 24 Trumpet Blossom Cafe , Iowa City IA
April 25 First Ave (!), Minneapolis MN
April 26 Hideout, (w/ Brokeback, Rebecca Gates) Chicago IL
April 27 Do317 Lounge, Indianapolis IN

April 25 First Ave (!), Minneapolis MN

YAY

(!)

Not new, but relevant, Lena Hughes parlor guitar record reissue on Tompkins Square??? On spotify.

Yep, we were talking about her on Rolling Reissues 2013:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
LENA HUGHES 'Queen of the Flat-Top Guitar' out Jan 29, 2013
Reissue of Impossibly Rare early 60's LP. New notes by JOHN RENBOURN
CD/LP/DL out January 29, 2013 on Tompkins Square

A musical "amateur" that best exemplified true artistry, Lena Hughes was born in Grape Grove Township, Missouri, in 1904. Though she never recorded any 78s and only one LP, Hughes was most influential through her steady performances at various fiddler conventions and folk festivals throughout the Ozarks. She was an excellent fiddler, banjoist and guitar picker who retained the largely extinct repertoire of parlor pieces and the variety of specialized tunings that were necessary to play them. She lived most of her life in Ludlow, Missouri and passed away in 1998.

Lena Hughes' repertoire can be divided roughly in half: finger-picked numbers adapted from fiddle tunes and recast parlor guitar pieces gleaned from popular sentimental songs, hymns, and 19th century airs. As a faithful attendee at folk festivals, Hughes was accompanied by her guitar-playing husband, Jake. Her most mesmerizing performances, such as Pearly Dew, Spanish Fandango, and Kentucky Moon Waltz, depend heavily upon the resonance of the open chord as it relates to the picking of the melodic line, primarily on one string. This tonal reliance is most similar to the "celestial octave" that Washington Phillips employs, with similar effect, on his Train Your Child. This ethereal harmonic technique, which seems so natural in Hughes' playing, is the holy grail for most finger-picking guitarists. Her lack of pretense and her mastery of this repertoire is what defines her legendary status.

These recordings were made in the early 60's in Arkansas and released in very limited fashion as a private press LP. Remastered by Chris King. Designed by Susan Archie. New liner notes by JOHN RENBOURN.
CD : TSQ 2813 / LP : TSQ 2820

Distributed by INgrooves/ Fontana US, Cargo UK for Europe, FUSE Australia

Also Available : Obscure Giants of Acoustic Guitar Trading Cards (Lena's in there)

very cool

Right nice cover
http://www.tompkinssquare.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/TSQ2813_QueenOfTheFlatTopGuitar.900.jpg

And today, she's on NPR (with Renbourn and others talking about her)
http://www.npr.org/2013/02/06/171294400/the-ancient-vibration-of-parlor-music-revived-by-two-generations

totally sweet record - i wrote a little about it here: http://www.aquariumdrunkard.com/2013/01/30/lena-hughes-queen-of-the-flat-top-guitar/

digging daniel paul grody right now

very meditative, definitely skirts the borderline of windham hill stuff, but i dunno, it's pretty and catching my wintery mood right now

Any links? Nothing on spotify

Grody is on spotify, listening on your playlist :-)

oh damn

wtf just did a search and it wasnt there then now it is IDK what is happening!

I've had some weirdness with searches lately

http://dyllanhersey.bandcamp.com/track/never-going-back-to-sunflower-river
someone just sent me a link to this -- she's not all takoma-y (she sings) but this is a nice lil fahey tribute.

really good sound/video quality clips of six organs of admittance live in 2008, minneapolis, won't embed have to go to the site:

http://scheduletwo.com/video/six_organs_of_admittance/coming_to_get_you

Wow, was just going to revive the thread for something unrelated, but excited to check out that Six Organs video!

don't hold out on us!

Was going to post this Daniel Bachman tour-only 7" song that Tompkins Square just put up. Has some mandolin and background drone on it, really nice sounding track. Dude is going out on tour for like two months straight, so lots of chances to catch him (tour dates are listed with the song on soundcloud):

https://soundcloud.com/#tompkinssquare/brother-green-by-daniel

cool i'll check that out, think he's coming to mpls i gotta go

cool, two shows near me. maybe i'll go to both...

wait now i don't see it :(

i swear global tetra posted about it ;_;

he posted about william tyler upthread?

oh shit that was it! ok i'll stop crying now and go to tyler

Been meaning to dive into this thread for weeks and then I saw Daniel Bachman play on Saturday and he was great. Also a super sweet guy as noted itt. He opened for Meg Baird who was good too but this was the first time I'd ever seen Fahey-ish stuff played live and it was amazing to see the technique in the flesh.

as well as the tour dates listed on the soundcloud, Daniel Bachman's playing Wednesday in San Francisco

Can someone c/p the Bachman dates into here? Soundcloud is wonky on my shitty old laptop

Here you go -

February 28 – KPFA 9pm w/ Derk Richardson
March 1st Oakland – Stranded in store 6pm (w/ Powell St. John)
March 2 Corvalis, OR
3rd – Eugene KLCC 2pm, CD World in store 4pm, WOW HALL (w/ Richard Crandell) 8pm
4th – Salem House Show (email us for details)
5th – Portland OR (in store Music Millennium 6pm) Valentine’s @ 9pm (w/ Marisa Anderson)
6th – Seattle 730 KEXP feature airs / 7pm instore @ Wall of Sound
7th – Palouse WA The Tav
8th – Boise in store at Record Exchange 6pm
9th – Salt Lake City
10th – Fort Collins – Bizarre Bazaar
11th – Denver – The Deer Pile
12th – Amarillo – Palace Coffee
14th – Austin SXSW (Tompkins Square Label Show @ St. David’s Episcopal Church w/Luther Dickinson, Alice Gerrard, Hiss Golden Messenger, Harry Taussig)
16th – Marfa 8 or 9pm Marfa Book Co.
17th – Albuquerque NM – House Show (email for details)
18th – Taos – Taos Mesa Brewing
19th – Flagstaff – House Show (email for details)
20th – Phoenix AZ
21st – Tuscon 21st at La Cocina
22nd – San Diego
23rd – Los Angeles – Human Resources (w/ Chuck Johnson)
24th – Berkeley – Berkeley Arts Festival

April 4 – 1PM East Village Radio, 4PM WNYU New Afternoon Show (both w/Don Bikoff)
April 6th – Northampton
April 7th – Boston
April 8th – Portland – The Oak and the Ax
April 9th – Burlington – Monkey House
April 10th – Hudson *
April 11th – Rochester *
April 12th – Pittsburgh
April 13th – Columbus – Wild Goose Collective
April 14th – Bloomington IN – Landlocked in store 4pm
April 15th – Chicago - The Hideout
April 16th – Bloomington – Normal IL
April 17th – Kansas City, MO– Speakeasy
April 18th – Memphis
April 19th – Nashville
April 20th – Chattanooga
April 21st – Atlanta
April 22nd – Asheville – Izzys Coffee
April 23rd – Greensboro NC
April 24th – Chapel Hill – Night Light
April 25th – Richmond – Weezies
April 26th – Charlottesville
April 27th – Blacksburg – The Cellar
April 28th – Baltimore (w/ Max Ochs)
April 29th – Philly – Highwire Gallery
April 30th – Brooklyn NY – Union Pool (w/ Don Bikoff)

goddamn just went to electric fetus to get the new bad seeds record and picked up "the new possibility: john fahey's guitar soli christmas album" for 3.99....AND an SEALED ORIGINAL PRESS of "artist proof" by chris darrow for 11!

love that fahey xmas album. and the darrow LP is one of my favorite discoveries of the last year or so. perfect record.

it's weird i just listened to that fahey record for the first time yesterday on spotify and there it was! i think it's better than the other xmas album of his

This thread is gold, obviously! You are just reaping the rewards for creating it Upper Miss. Sh@kedown (weird to type that in full for some reason.

haha feel free to ignore the @ which is kind of annoying in retrospect

I will skip the @, no problem. More that it's hard to say in my head while I type it, but not a big deal at all.

That Lena Hughes album, the parts I have heard, is a real treat. A big part of the appeal of this stuff is that I appreciate the "resonance of the open chord" from a guitar so much. Something I have a seemingly endless appetite for.

yeah it's so nice, there's such an unhurried, relaxed feel to it, she's not a super complex player but she's so precise with what she does do and she has a very unique vibe

Agreed. Complexity is not the main thing for me, vibe and tone and all the other stuff goes a super long way. Complexity is fine when done well, but complexity can go wrong really fast when applied to solo guitar.

once again so many thanks to spottie for the spotify playlist

one thing that was mentioned in passing here that is really amazing:

nick schillace

n/p

I've been really enjoying this stuff. Been giving a lot of time to John Renbourn over the last few weeks.

kinda digging this guy http://mikefekete.com/
via a rec on delta slider.

Listening to the new Richard Thompson

Pretty good so far! Songs range from solid to really good, every solo is a fucking stunner

Really good band, and hats off to Buddy Miller, sounds great, recorded analog

I wish all his 80s and 90s records sounded like this

I am pretty out of the loop when it comes to Richard Thompson. Do you have a good recommendation on where to start, keeping in mind I am definitely most interested in his guitar playing. Guess his catalogue is vast and goes in a lot of different directions, but great solos and playing would trump most other things for me (as a starting point at least).

for guitar, maybe Strict Tempo?

I mean, as far as just great records (which have a lot of great playing) the Linda albums: Hokey Pokey, Shoot Out The Lights, I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight, Pour Down Like Silver

there's a Fairport live album that's supposed to be great

Thanks, have had recs for most of those Linda albums, especially "I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight", so maybe I'll start there. Will look for "Strict Tempo" too.

I Want to See the Bright Lights is a pretty good jumping off point IMO, was the first one I ever got and it's just stunning from front to back

Stunning from front to back sounds alright to me. Seems like absolutely the way to go.

probably out of print, but that ryko watching the dark comp is great.

fyi, any new yorkers lurking here, a friend just tipped me that Charlie Parr is playing next Thursday at the Rockwell Music Hall on Allen street.

oh neat! he's really good live

he has a new album out too, i heard it at a friend's house, not on spotify, but i think the band is a lot of guys from the Black Eyed Snakes (Alan Sparhawk from Low's old blues sideproject)

Parr's new record has a band on it? That piques my interest, even moreso that it's Black Eyed Snakes folks... hope it'll end up on Spotify at some point.

Slightly off-topic, but isn't Spotify in dire shape financially? I am starting to realize the extent to which I've become reliant on it, if it went under, I don't know what I'd do.

Start buying records and supporting the arts?

I live below the poverty line and am on food stamps, but nice idea. I do buy records when I can.

actually brings up a question i've wondered about -- i know the spotify payout is tiny for artists, but let's say i listened to a steve gunn record 50+ times on spotify. does his takeaway equal the amount he'd get if i bought it for $6.99 on amazon?

Nope. Fractions of a penny per play = 50 times that still doesn't buy Steve a 16oz Baja Blast.

Not a single artist mentioned in this thread would survive if Spotify was the only game in town. Not intending to derail thread, just seems to me these folks can use our help more than, say, Action Bronson or something.

it's a complicated equation. i've listened to stuff for free for sure, that said, without spotify would i have known about half this stuff to begin with? probably not? it's definitely led to purchases.

ug, music sucks now, i don't know how guilty to feel anymore.

ha yeah, it's all so weird.
i used gunn as an example because that's basically what i did last year -- i streamed that gunn/truscinski album over and over for a couple of months...and then i bought the mp3s. so i guess he got even more out of me. he is probably rolling around on a bed stuffed with my money right now.

I don't think it's too complicated a question. Listen to twenty of these guys on Spotify or Youtube or a torrent or whatever's convenient, pick the five that stand out from the twenty, and buy their records (preferably, from the artist directly at one of their shows). This model makes everyone try harder and still allows for the sort of 'sample before you buy' discrimination among listeners that the interwebs allows. Everyone can afford five records a month.

Action Bronson gives his music away for free btw (pedant alert).

"Everyone can afford five records a month."

Thats $600 a year. Not chump change imo. And why do that when I pay $120 a year for spotify? Why throw extra money when you have it legally already and have no concern for physical media? I already know your answer and get it but like, you know, as matt says, I dont even know how to feel guilty anymore.

i would gladly pay $600 a year for spotify, because it's worth at least that much, and i am really loving the convenience of not having to DL and organize files

they really should've set the rate higher to begin with, because it was gonna catch on no matter what and now it'll never go up.

Yeah I would do it for a higher rate.

I still buy music, but when I do my wife is like "why did you just waste our (mortgage, kids) money on that when you already have that other thing?" and I can never really give her a good reason. SUPPORT SOME ARTIST YOU DONT KNOW!? FUKDAT SUPPORT THIS FAMILY

I don't think it's too complicated a question. Listen to twenty of these guys on Spotify or Youtube or a torrent or whatever's convenient, pick the five that stand out from the twenty, and buy their records (preferably, from the artist directly at one of their shows). This model makes everyone try harder and still allows for the sort of 'sample before you buy' discrimination among listeners that the interwebs allows. Everyone can afford five records a month.

― If Assholes Could Fly This Place Would Be An Airport, Friday, February 22, 2013 1:44 PM (48 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is generally what i do, but about 2 albums a month, vinyl ain't so cheap anymore but i do support people and go to shows etc

I think 5 records a month would add up a little too quickly for me! I don't even know if I have room in my apt for 5 records a month. I'm more likely to buy 8 records every 2-3 months or so, much more of a binge-buyer than a weekly-treater. It's kinda unlike my personality in every other way, as I tend to be measured and reliably predictable.

Anyway hooray for John Renbourn -- talk about reliably predictably good. I've never heard a John Renbourn album that I didn't like. I could listen to the ones I have over and over and not really get sick of them.

yeah renbourn brings it! does he ever tour the US? can't remember ever seeing his name around.

this one is good and kind of interesting, 2LP comp of his early material, pretty common, but he's definitely at this point much more in the thrall of american folk/blues stuff and way less UK/renfaire/etc, but yeah what a fucking player.

lechera you like pentangle i assume?

http://991.com/newGallery/John-Renbourn-John-Renbourn---S-490629.jpg

LOVE Pentangle, love renfaire :)

Renbourn is great but, like with Basho, I could do without the singing.

Weirdly, I like a lot of the Leo Kottke vocal stuff (Burnt Lips, especially).

And yes, that comp rules, indispensable, really. I think that may be the only solo Renbourn I still own!

it was the first renbourn i bought and i'm glad it was the first, though i've warmed to his more fanciful stuff, esp cuz those era records are EVERYWHERE in good condition and cheap in used record stores.

man...i'd take renbourn vox over kottke but it's close....i haven't heard burnt lips though

basho's singing is pretty intolerable to me, much more than either JR or LK

That's kinda how I feel about Beverly Martyn, sadly. I'm always glad when her songs are over.

That's not really relevant aside from the fact that I would rather not hear singing most of the time. Most people are just not that interesting as vocalists and it's annoying (for me) to have to listen to words all the time.

pentangle is so unreal. it's like if, i dunno, there had been a rock band in the 60s and the guitarists were Jimmy Hendrix and Jeff Beck + and unreal awesome jazz rhythm section

definitely one of the most talented across the board bands ever

i haven't heard the john & beverly records really

I prefer Road to Ruin over Stormbringer but mostly because Give Us a Ring is on it.

I saw Bert Jansch a few (kind of a lot of!?) years ago and it was a total pleasure. As a bonus Will Oldham was standing behind me and he said bless you when I sneezed.

what a "prince."
i don't mind renbourn as a vocalist, if anything he's a little bit bland, but not offensively so.

he put his hand on my shoulder when he blessed me
it was v charming and princely

i think the only equivalent story i have is that ira kaplan bumped into me at a soft boys show and said "sorry!" what a memory.

and yeah, speaking of that guy i can understand this
my wife is like "why did you just waste our (mortgage, kids) money on that when you already have that other thing?"
i bought the new yo la tengo record and my wife asked "do we really need another piece of plastic in our house" and i had a long inner monologue about how i did the right thing. and then i patted myself on the back.

only comparable story i have is seeing early strokes open for doves in a small club and i was walking up this small stairs to the bar area and julian was coming down and was really drunk and tripped and fell into me and came within an inch of burning me in the face with his cigarette

i've flipped so many records on ebay for 10x what i paid for them 2-3 yrs after purchase that i feel not completely terrible about spending the money i do.

i've never flipped any records, i'm scared to get in all that ebay discogs shit

hmm the bar on fahey worship may have been raised: http://delta-slider.blogspot.com/2013/02/john-fahey-fare-forward-voyagers-tab.html

this was a facebook post by Hiss Golden Messenger about six weeks ago:

"It's Crying Time courtesy of Spotify: 7,570 plays of "Drummer Down" = $3.11. 8,490 plays of "Call Him Daylight" = $3.49. 6,230 plays of "Jesus Shot Me in the Head"= $2.56. 4,750 plays of "Balthazar's Song"= $1.95.
27,040 plays= $11.11. Why am I doing this again? I can't remember."

later on, in a comment, he decided to pull his music from spotify. respect

http://www.chuckjohnson.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/LP_front-crop-1024x1024.jpg
this one's coming out in may, should be goooood.

cool cover

i have friends who own indie labels that have pulled from spotify and i think it's the right decision

Also, rumors abound of a Hiss Golden / Steve Gunn collab. Maybe more than rumors. Heh heh.

Tompkins Square Label Hits The Road with Daniel Bachman
Dates with Luther Dickinson, Don Bikoff, Max Ochs, Richard Crandell, Marisa Anderson, Harry Taussig, Powell St. John and more
"It's exceedingly rare to find a 23-year-old who can play with a quicksilver, imaginative brio reminiscent of American fingerpicking icons John Fahey and Jack Rose, but Daniel Bachman is that phenom." - The Stranger

Tompkins Square Label brass will be hitting the road with guitarist Daniel Bachman in March & April, visiting record stores, radio, press folks and fans. Bachman's latest album, 'Seven Pines', has received great critical praise, including a feature on NPR's Weekend Edition. Tompkins Square will be selling exclusive merchandise at the shows, including a new tour-only Bachman 7" (Ed. 500), test pressings (Ed. 5), out of print stuff, new releases, trading cards, and even rare used vinyl finds intended for sale at the rained-out WFMU Record Fair. All attendees will also receive a free 18-song label sampler CD. All Tompkins Square/Daniel Bachman US tour dates for March & April can be found here , and will be continuously updated.

* Stream/share a new song by Daniel, ONLY available on a 7" sold at his March and April shows and record store appearances.
https://soundcloud.com/tompkinssquare/brother-green-by-daniel
A highlight of the March leg is a stop at SXSW. Here are the details :

Tompkins Square Label Presents . . .
Thurs. March 14th, 2013
St. David's Episcopal Church 301 E. 8th St. (Bethell Hall, upstairs)
Austin TX

8PM Harry Taussig (first live performance - ever !)
8:50 Alice Gerrard (legendary folk singer)
9:50 Hiss Golden Messenger (NC singer-songwriter)
10:50 Daniel Bachman (VA guitarist)
11:50 Luther Dickinson (N. Miss. Allstars)
and between sets : Terry Waldo (ragtime piano kingpin)

Alice Gerrard, known for her work with Hazel Dickens and Mike Seeger, is recording an album for Tompkins Square, slated for Fall release. This is her first SXSW performance. American Primitive Guitar pioneer Harry Taussig will perform live for the first time anywhere, ever. His first album was released in 1965 ! Hiss Golden Messenger have a new album out first week of March. We released their last one, 'Poor Moon' to much acclaim. Luther Dickinson recorded a 78 rpm record for us last year. Terry Waldo wrote the definitive history of ragtime, studied with Eubie Blake, and is probably the greatest living ragtime pianist. His Tompkins Square debut will appear later this year.

Hope to see you on the road !

Tompkins Square Label

Check Out Our Latest Releases :
Lena Hughes 'Queen of the Flat-Top Guitar'
Lena Hughes on NPR All Things Considered (w/John Renbourn)
'Work Hard, Play Hard, Pray Hard' on NPR Fresh Air
http://www.npr.org/2012/12/19/166003018/tunes-to-work-hard-play-hard-pray-hard-to
Don Bikoff 'Celestial Explosion' Reissue of RARE 1968 LP on CD/LP/DL

wow @ that austin show

lol at taussig's first performance ever! that seems crazy. what if he comes out and does an intense laptop set.

Rumors not so rumored any more, seems that Golden Gunn is getting the full-on media treatment now. Piece with a track to listen to was just posted by Three-Lobed on their twitter feed. Apparently it's a Record Store Day release:

http://www.shufflemag.com/exclusive-steve-gunn-and-hiss-golden-messenger-announce-record-store-day-lp-as-golden-gunn-debut-single

Don't want to give too much away but sounding very nice on a sunny day here in Virginia. Feels like Spring coming on.

listening to the song "Cadillac Desert" off of the new William Tyler on Aquarium Drunkard right now.

tbh, initially it's a bit disappointing. not that it's bad...but feels a bit overdone IMO, like it's lost a bit of the folk feel in favor of more production stuff and is kinda reminding me of like Yo La Tengo or something (and I like Yo La Tengo, but it's not a distinct from indie rock, at least this song off the new Tyler)

lol am i becoming one of those folk maniacs that yelled at electric dylan????

ha! actually, i'd still give the rest of the album a try -- that track is kind of the most accessible (possibly generic) one on the record, but it's what the label wanted me to post. i think they're trying to grab a broader, more indie rock audience with it, maybe not the ilx brigade. but there's plenty that will please everyone on this thread, i think.

yeah like honestly it's not even a bad track

i just really really really like behold the spirit a lot, mostly because of the subtle ways he toed the fahey/indie line in an interesting way....that particular song just falls a bit too much on the other side for me

I like to think of it as W. Tyler indulging his inner Jimmy Page a bit in re "Cadillac Desert"

As a fan of both Fahey and Tyler, I don't really see that they have much in common besides the fact that they both play guitar and neither of them sing (much).

The Jimmy page comparison is otm, though. And I get a heavy Sandy Bull vibe from a lot of WT's stuff. Love this album!

Golden Gunn talk here:

http://www.aquariumdrunkard.com/2013/02/25/wooden-wand-interviews-hiss-golden-messenger/#more-34253

omg i want this SO BADLY

http://www.musicdirect.com/p-54339-john-fahey-the-transcendental-waterfall-180g-6lp-box-set.aspx

Saw that at Treehouse one day, sure looks sexy. The idea of a John Fahey T-shirt, or perhaps the wearing of said T-shirt, strikes me as quite bizarre for some reason, however.

http://importantrecords.com/sites/default/files/apparel/fahey_tee.jpg?1307987347
this one is flying off the shelves at forver 21, i believe

haha i know the whole t-shirt thing really cracks me up, so funny too for 4 Men With Beards

Kinda wish it was slightly cheaper and didn't include stupid large green t-shirt no one is going to wear.

Anybody listen to the new Black Twig Pickers album? Good stuff. Now that I've obsessively spun his solo album it's hard to not hear Bowles all over this one, but the fiddle work is fantastic as well. They really are excellent, aren't they?

Also, the third track has a fiddlestick thing on it that was super cool to watch live, maybe that'll heighten your appreciation of that one. I'd personally never seen fiddlesticks used in any setting, so it was a treat. Other highlights for me are "Jack of Diamonds" and "Charleston Girls"

Have only heard a few songs, but just based on those I can say I agree already. I have "Whompyjawed", which I think was recorded at the same sessions, and love it. I also have been praising Mike Gangloff (one of the fiddle players you mention) all over the place, as he is really on all kinds of rolls between this, the new Pelt record, and seeing him live a couple of times last year.

I.e., those live sets were really great, strongly recommend seeing anything Mike is involved in. He convinced Nathan to learn banjo by the way, and plays it as well when he does solo shows depending on what he feels like doing for that particular show.

xxxpost, honestly, i don't think the fahey box is really overpriced considering how nice 4 Men With Beards pressings are and in comparisons to a great many other box sets recently.

^^ agreed

Just got back home from the Daniel Bachman instore, thanks for posting that tyler! he was great, bought his record, rah rah. I like how he isn't afraid to just dance around a hypnotic repeated figure for a while to establish mood and pacing.

the guy who runs Tompkins Square is also touring/driving with him, they asked how I heard about the gig and I tried to explain ILX to them but it can be hard to get across, so if other ilxors see him be sure to mention this thread!

oh and hey grandavis I grew up in C-ville and Bachman was totally psyched to meet someone from there (I have family so I visit regularly). I said "I bet you play at that tea house on the downtown mall" and his eyes lit up. He said there was a really cool small gallery scene there these days.

Hey I wuz the one who posted that Tompkins Square Hits The Road With Daniel Bachman press release. Took a whole 10 seconds of cutnpaste, so hey.

uh not the one I saw upthread, but no worries

Think Tyler's right about the new R Thompson too; keep hearing tracks.

And I'm trying to stay on a post diet, but wow that Shelagh McDonald thread's link to feature (and other) in froots.

Wow sleeve, cool! I have lived in Charlottesville since 1999, with a break living in NYC for a few years, so who knows, you and I may have crossed paths a few times at shows or whatnot (or even know each other for real ....) I love Charlottesville most of the time, though it can be a frustrating place as most smallish cities can be. Thankfully word spreads that it is a decent to great place to play, especially for folks OK with playing to small but really enthusiastic/thoughtful/attentive crowds. Definitely glad that Bachman enjoys coming here. I'll get to see him (and maybe even play on the bill) on this tour I think. Gotta budget for some records for sure.

Also, new William Tyler record now streaming on Spin:

http://www.spin.com/articles/william-tyler-lambchop-impossible-truth-album-stream

seeing bachman this sunday! psyched. really haven't seen many of these guys live.

this is pretty cool btw -- a mix william tyler made of stuff that inspired his latest LP: http://www.williamtyler.net/post/37986903833/just-put-a-new-mix-up-for-you-guys-a-lot-of-these

Let's try to ID these, it'll be fun.

1. Is this Durutti Column?
2. Chris Darrow for sure. I don't think this one is on Artist Proof. Dude has quite a few albums.
3. Chet Atkins maybe?
4. uh...Hopkins Bradley? Bill Fay? Some weird Roy Wood jam? No idea.
5. Robert Wyatt - "Yolanda"
6. Paul Kantner - song from that weird Baron Von Tollbooth LP, title is China something...
7. damn, Willie T throwing some props to the Eagles! LOL
8. no idea - great song! Almost sounds like Doug Sahm song but I know it isn't him.
9. no idea
10. My favorite band ever, The Roches - "Losing True." For reasons I won't go into here, it's possible I am indirectly responsible for this entry. ;)
11. Dammit, I feel like I know this, can't place it though.
12. Randy Newman, though I've never heard this song. My tolerance for this dude is very low.
13. FJ McMahon - Early Blue (best song on this LP btw)
14. no idea, but this is great. Sounds like very "second wave" (ie Henry Flynt or Sandy Bull, not an old timer. Would be cool if I was wrong about that).
15. ??? - "The Grand Tour" I know a million versions of this song but have never heard this one. The awesome vibrato-y vocals make me think Gary Stewart? That's a shot in the dark, though.
16. No idea. This rules though.
17. No idea.
18. Nope. Would love to find out though.

That's a start. Anybody else?

Hey Jimmywine, thanks for taking a stab at laying out the tracks for this. I am afraid I have nothing to add, but I listened to the mix yesterday and really enjoyed it.

wasn't really keeping track, but the last tune is fairport convention "battle of the somme"...
and yeah that chris darrow track is "take good care of yourself"
listening to the mix made me go listen to a bunch of Roches tbh.

oh boy a mix to listen to when I get home form work. Tompkins Square guy was giving out a free label sampler CD, it's good!

grandavis, the only super obvious C-ville show I can think of that we might have been at was the Happy Flowers reunion at Tokyo Rose back in 2003 or so? Can't think of anything else right this sec. I went to high school with Dawn Thompson & John D'Earth's daughter so I have seen them a lot in their various incarnations - was Cosmology still around back in the early 00's?

Sleeve, I was definitely at that Happy Flowers reunion, which was a total blast. I spent many many nights at Tokyo Rose, such a great place while it lasted. I bartended downstairs at shows there for a while, and also ran a space in Charlottesville called the Pudhouse (started by the USAisaMonster guys), so if you ever went there we would've been in cahoots as well.

While I appreciate what John D'Earth (and Dawn) do for jazz in Charlottesville, I have never really been into their sound, so I never really go to the shows.

Don't want to spoil your fun, but there is a tracklist for the William Tyler mix on the soundcloud page:

https://soundcloud.com/williamtylermusic/nashville-ear-control-volume-3

never listened to the roches, seen a grip of their albums in used record bins...where to start?

they're all good! at least the ones from teh 70's, I think there are three from that period.

debut is my fave, but the first three are all super great. be forewarned, they're a band you might hate at first? at least that was how i felt -- just like, i can't listen to this! but i kept coming back to "hammond song" and gradually fell in love. they're kind of magical.

are they in the same vein as kate & anne mcgarrigle? i like the album i have by them a lot.

yeah, definitely, kinda wise-ass folk, beautiful harmonies. roches might be slightly goofier than mcgarrigles.
loudon wainwright III married one of the roches too.

Wow, those harmonies in "Hammond Song" really are beautiful, and I see where you say they are magical. The way the three voices meld on some of the long/held notes enters some weird, super active territory. Going to have to check out some more.

i found FOUR roches records at a thrift store this week. completed my collection.

"hammond song" is beautiful and i'm glad the promise of that song got me through the first song, "we" which had me reaching for my mouse

do i wanna be a doooooooogggggggg

weird thing is when you spot the little frippy guitar parts on hammond song

there was a great john jeremiah sullivan essay on "hammond song" a few years back in the oxford american mag. doesn't seem to be online?

[we can bring this all full circle now since sullivan had a great fahey-related essay in his pulphead collection last year]

missed the bachmann show at my work last night. should have headed down there

listening to this recent fmu don bikoff performance this morning -- great! http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Don_Bikoff/Live_at_WFMU_on_Shrunken_Planet_May_12th_2012/

Aww, gonna hafta buy this Bikoff thing. It's really good.

i gotta get this bikoff, listening now on spotify it's really fucking amazing, right up there with fate is only once for lost albums

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gvl38Ofebec

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gvl38Ofebec

Here is some Friday action for you: Chasny and Corsano dueting at Hopscotch last year. One reason I love Chasny is because of how raw he can get. Does beautiful and tasteful well, but when he goes for it, he can do it in a range of ways. Plus Corsano:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cij4dggZaYw&feature=player_embedded

yeah that's killer -- i think you can get that whole show at nyctaper.com...
just watched this this morning:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgPeqKQ0TXE
so good! can't wait for an album from these dudes.

Thanks Tyler, listening right now and sounding good! Nice way to close out a Friday. Haven't listened to much (or any?) Cian Nugent before, but liking his electic playing for sure. Gotta hit up the nyctaper site I guess, haven't gone through it in a while and seems like there are some real gems there.

yeah there's a ton of good stuff on nyc taper -- they recorded seemingly all of that hopscotch fest. yeah, the nugent stuff i've heard before has been good, but this band is positively great, i think. another one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8w0Axou6pjI

Yeah, the violin is a nice touch.

yeah gives it a bit of a full house-era fairport feel to my ears.

Yeah, can see that. Liking that second song even better.

saw bachman last night -- both he and his guitar were suffering from altitude sickness it seemed, and he was pretty flustered. still sounded great to me, though. talked a bit with the tompkins square dude afterwards, a lot of cool stuff coming up soon.

Interesting question: do a lot of bands suffer from altitude sickness when travelling through? Could see it being common, especially if someone is touring hard.

I think Bachman has gotten himself to a place where an off night still means getting through the songs alright, but must be tough if your guitar and body are feeling off to play that style. Most of his stuff was pretty high-energy when I saw him, not many slow numbers etc. Defintely looking forward to seeing him again.

i haven't heard too many complaints, but he and josh were definitely feeling it. Though i know that at least one venue in boulder has an oxygen tank backstage for performers.

I went to Quito in Ecuador, which is around 10,000 feet elevation I believe, and I was zonked for a couple of days for sure. I know Denver/Boulder isn't quite that high, but still, I can imagine that it would be difficult generally. Bachman doesn't sing, he coulda played the whole set hooked up to an oxygen tank! Next time ...

hey guys, wish me luck! been working on some original stuff in this vein for the past year and have finally screwed up the courage to go play at an open mic night! really fucking nervous!

here's something i wrote/recorded on my phone (it's a bit sloppy)...basic aesthetic is "stuff on this thread but not as good"

https://soundcloud.com/matthew-lee-helgeson/nondisclosure

nice! imaginational anthem-bound! i'd love to get better at this sorta thing. did you ever take those lessons or are you winging it?

still winging it, have a message out to peter lang but he's not too good about returning calls :/

bummerz. well, sounds like you're doing pretty well on your own.

thx man, i think getting up in front of ppl will be good for me

I'm so going this open mic performance and I'm totally going to hold it over people's heads all "Losing My Edge" style in the future.

"Do you have upper mississippi sh@kedown's lathe cut 7"?"
"7" pfft, I saw him do his first open mic"

u.m.s., you should look into gr@undsw3ll on h4ml1ne. besides their open mic night they will often have a performer in on the dead nights, after 6 - good no-pressure chance to play in public if you don't mind playing in front of almost nobody.

ha "almost nobody" is ideal really, i just chose this place tonight cuz i wanted to do it tonight and it's relatively close to my house

Awww, good luck U.M.S! Look forward to listening to your stuff tomorrow (shutting down for the night here).

Nice work holmes.

Felt like it went well. Could barely hear my guitar, but I played ok. Chr1s showed up so I had someone to drink with before.

A hippie kid came up to me and said I did good afterward.

"Hon, what time did you go to bed last night?"

"Uh ... 3 a.m."

"What!?"

"Yeah, well, I was past deadline on one assignment and had another due first thing this morning but instead of working on either I ended up reading an entire thread on ILM about modern acoustic guitar wizards, Fahey disciples, drone-folk dudes and the like. And listening to lots of Soundclouds and Youtubes and stuff."

*blank stare*

Short version: Killer thread, folks. Bookmarked, for sure.

We've all been there! Welcome

Song is great, the main melody is great. Listened to it a couple times, love the twang of the pedal tone/drone. Do you use your bare fingers? I used to but switched to fingerpicks. I like the precision they afford but I think some of the tonality is missing with picks. I sometimes have trouble coming up with any melodies that stick beyond/within a 'bunch of chords that sound cool in a weird tuning' (so I'm jealous of your song!) but maybe sometime I'll work up the gumption to post something in here. Be good to get constructive criticism from people who know what's up.

re: open mics, I likewise enjoy playing in front of almost nobody! Just playing 'in public' feels good. And I find this style works better in a low-key setting with people paying attention rather than a bunch of drunks trying to push through their two allotted songs in 6 minutes. One time I was wedged between two separate people doing the same Maroon 5 song at like 11:30pm, that could have gone a little better, haha

Also, Lang can be hard to get ahold of, my impression was that he traveled/had odd hours for his job, and also had two or three cellphones, so don't worry too much on that end.

oh wow, i used the word 'great' twice in a short sentence. feel free to substitute 'nice' or 'pretty' or something for one of the instances

What do folks in here think of Glenn Jones solo guitar? I feel like there hasn't been too much chatter on him in here. I really like some of the stuff I've heard but other stuff sounds kinda weightless and doesn't really stick with me (but admittedly I haven't branched out too much). "Of It's Own Kind" and the "Teething Necklace" are effing GREAT songs though, Any recommendations, y'all? S/D Glenn Jones?

hey global, thanks for the kind words. last night went pretty well (the chatterbox pub in south mpls), sort awkward young girl who runs it was really adorable, she looked about 17. went OK, i think she was really surprised i didn't want vocals, didn't seem to occur to her that people did instrumentals haha

i do use bare fingers....i have played bass pretty extensively since i was a preteen, so jeez like 25 years-ish of bass playing....which i think has been an advantage in helping me progress pretty quick on fingerpicking, but it's also made using fingerpicks really fucking intolerable to me, feels like i'm wearing mittens. i really worried about it just because i know a lot of guys i love use them, but i've decided to quit worrying about it and just play the way i want to.

Hey U.M.S., want to weigh and say I really liked the tune as well (and have listened to a few others on your page). Seems like you are well on your way, look forward to hearing more in the future.

Have you started growing your fingernails yet? Seems like the true jumping-off point (if not going the fingerpicks route).

For real though, I too tried fingerpicks and couldn't hang. Really did not like the feel. I guess plenty of folks do it for the added volume/attack as well as the precisions (i.e., if you want to be heard over banjos and other instruments whilst fingerpicking), but I had the "felt like wearing mittens" experience as well.

thanks! this shit is just all recorded on the fly into my phone, mostly just so i don't forget it, hope to maybe record in a better situation sometime this year.

oof that fingernail thing kinda grosses me out tbh, i've seen dudes that do it; this one guy that i was using some youtube lessons from early on did it but yeah no way could i do that & my wife would not be into that haha

it definitely seems to have it's advantages for volume & attack, esp if you were in some kinda bluegrass or twig pickers type ensemble you'd probably have to....

might just have to suck it up, but for solo stuff i figure fuck it i can just sound how i sound...i bet some of those really old dudes didn't have fingerpicks, or like elizabeth cotton or ppl like that

Yeah, I try not to get too weirded out by the fingernail thing, as I try to be open-minded about most things, but I couldn't hang with it personally at all and, to be honest, get distracted by it when I watch folks play (my wife definitely would not be a fan at all, understandably).

I always keep Chasny in mind when playing, as he neither does the fingernail or -picks thing, but he always seems to get plenty of volume and clarity. Also, I think doing what you want is the way to go with this stuff generally (well, of course with any kind of music), as it is using those limitations that might ultimately lead you down some new roads playing-wise.

"Playing the way you want" is def. the core of this style. Anything that encourages you to keep playing, to develop and deepen your own idiosyncrasies. I'd always had piano lessons/been in school band but the formalized nature of that stuff was sort of discouraging to me. Something very freeing about playing the guitar "wrong" and knowing that's exactly the way you want to do it. so yeah, who gives a shit? Pick how you wanna pick!

As a compromise between picks/fingers, Lang said there was a salon a lot of the folkies in town go to and get nylon nails put on. It was at 60th and Nicollet I believe? I have been mulling over the idea for some time, although again, nylon nails seem like they'd take some getting used to on their own. And yeah, still slightly gross and weird imo. Part of my hesitance has been like, if I shake someone's hand and they see that I have two abnormally large fake nails on, just seems awkward

"Oh, these? Well, let me tell you about a little something called American Primitive..."

hahahaha

yeah i'm sure i could learn to use fingerpicks, but it would really require me devoting myself to it and essentially moving back to "square one" and methodically relearning everything i can play now with fingerpicks...

also: spottie added glen jones to the spotify list and it's great stuff

i've been zoning out hard to steffen basho-junghans' is lately (and managed to get a major house n techno guy friend into the post-fahey milieu through it and robbie b's visions of the country), really thick and warm and lovely stuff. i have it on 200g vinyl, i didn't even know vinyl got that fat and i'm wondering how much going beyond 180g is just taking the piss, but it certainly sounds good in that format.

Tompkins Square Label Presents . . .
Thurs. March 14th, 2013
St. David's Episcopal Church 301 E. 8th St. (Bethell Hall, upstairs)
Austin TX

8PM Harry Taussig (first live performance - ever !)
8:50 Alice Gerrard (legendary folk singer)
9:50 Hiss Golden Messenger (NC singer-songwriter)
10:50 Daniel Bachman (VA guitarist)
11:50 Luther Dickinson (N. Miss. Allstars)
and between sets : Terry Waldo (ragtime piano kingpin)

Alice Gerrard, known for her work with Hazel Dickens and Mike Seeger, is recording an album for Tompkins Square, slated for Fall release. This is her first SXSW performance. American Primitive Guitar pioneer Harry Taussig will perform live for the first time anywhere, ever. His first album was released in 1965 ! Hiss Golden Messenger have a new album out first week of March. We released their last one, 'Poor Moon' to much acclaim. Luther Dickinson recorded a 78 rpm record for us last year. Terry Waldo wrote the definitive history of ragtime, studied with Eubie Blake, and is probably the greatest living ragtime pianist. His Tompkins Square debut will appear later this year.

yeah glenn jones is great -- his last one the wanting was beeeyootiful and had a pretty rad chris corsano jam at the end. i think he has a new one coming out soon?

listening to steffan basho-junghans - man he's really great....the pieces on this album tend to start pretty meditative but man when he builds up a head of steam it's really something

is he related to robbie basho?

i mentioned him before i think! i love last days of the dragon (is that the title, can't remember)
he is not related by blood - he adopted that name in homage if his bio is to be believed!?

if i ever make a movie i'm getting one of you guitar dorks to give me a scene like this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfxXcBJ0LP0

mmk so i think the gumption has come to me to post a song. here's a little something i've been working on for awhile, parts come and go at will and i know the arrangement/flow needs some (a lot of) work, but i think a lot of the licks in here are pretty nice. recorded this a couple minutes ago not on a national reso-phonic triolian in the bathroom:

http://stevepalmer.bandcamp.com/track/jasmines-rough-cut

i think i accidentally stumbled onto daniel bachmann's tuning inadvertently (DGDGCD- open G w/a C instead of a B), I think some parts of it kind of have that feel to it and if the songwriting isn't all there yet i think i'm tapping into the vibe/spirit of the style more or less. also don't wanna turn this into a 'plug yer shit' thread, so if need be i'd take this down (can you delete posts on ILM?)

Thanks for sharing global, will definitely take a listen!

I was thinking about this earlier: I don't want anyone to take their stuff down, I think it's great to share music etc., and I dig talking about using fingers over picks etc., but I also wonder if it dilutes the thread a bit? Let me restate: I want to listen to everyone's stuff (it's definitely nice to get feedback from folks that care and have an interest in the stuff), and I love talking shop, but can understand if those coming to the thread to discuss more established artists and not get bogged down in shop talk would be bummed out about it. My vote is split, would be happy to start another thread for talking shop/posting songs, and keep this pure, but am happy with this thread being one big accumulator as well.

i wouldn't mind keeping all that in this thread.
i'm not a guitar player, so a thread of shop talk probably wouldn't get read very much by me, but otoh i don't want to miss anything that you guys are doing.

i really like that global. very good playing.

i'm cool with whatever ppl want, i basically trust ppl on here to use their judgement i guess i don't see it getting super bogged down in ppl's soundcloud pages or bandcamps or w/e

hey i wanted to add that i like that track, UMS

yeah I'm a casual tenor electric player who doesn't really work in this style, but I like reading about it and hearing stuff, it doesn't impede the thread too much imo.

(thx al)

steffan basho is really great btw, liking all his stuff on spotify so far

I'm not planning on posting much more (if any) shop talky stuff/my own tunes in here, actually, it just seemed like a good time to share is all. I like the vibe in this thread overall and I'd say the 8-9 (?) regulars, to echo UMS, have good enough judgment to keep it quality. It is fun to talk shop with people, though, as I don't see much of a web presence for this style (outside of the Yahoo Fahey players group, which I find impossible to use/comprehend)... so I reserve the right to maybe geek out and facilitate some tuningchat in the future or whatever!

To share some more established stuff, found this guy on Spotify awhile back, really dig the little flourishes he adds with his 'feat' and harmonica. It is a very warm feeling record, feels like you're in his living room (which is probably where he recorded it?)

http://philcookandhisfeat.bandcamp.com/

btw thanks for posting that bachman tuning i'm gonna mess around w/that

oh, also, pssst, Lang's secret weapon on some of his best songs is Open C w/ E tuned down to a D... didn't hear it from me

okay i'm done

haha, are a lot of these dudes secretive about their tunings? will lang break your fingers if you steal his thing?

Aw, naw, just adding some color commentary to my post? He said Fahey did it to his guitar, like, Fahey walked up and said "try playing it like THIS" and tuned the high E string down.

i'm pretty sure i remember reading electric eden and there was something about Davy Graham being sort of semi-secretive about DADGAD at first, but i think he was basically the first dude in the UK to even use it & everyone was tripping out like how the fuck is he playing like that?

my wife plays in DADFAD. that is all.

Harry Taussig interview/excerpts this morning:
http://www.npr.org/2013/03/14/174140005/at-south-by-southwest-a-71-year-old-guitarist-makes-a-belated-debut

lol "Guitar players are like hookers. When they last long enough, they became respectable."

That Taussig interview is great, seems like a really interesting guy. Interesting statement about chops from the Tompkins Square guy, i.e., that what makes Taussig good is not his technique/chops at all, just the personality and feel of the playing.

Whoa just read it originally, listening to it now, and there is WAY more Taussig in the audio (including music examples and playing etc.), don't skip it.

cool...it is interesting, obviously most of these dudes are generally super-technically proficient, but there does seem to be a line that you have to be careful not to cross, where you just drift into new age healing music. or late period kottke or something.

as a tax refund indulgence i went out and bought the fahey transcendental waterfall 6lp boxset. this thing is goregous, hope the records sound good!

also i have a john fahey t-shirt now which feels really weird

it's like...i dunno...having a charles ives t-shirt or something, just doesn't seem right but it's nice looking

Taussig vs Bickoff? These reissues are both fantastic. Taussig has the edge right now for me because Fate Is Only Twice is just as good as Fate Is Only Once. Then again, latter day Bickoff on that NPR thing is pretty terrific. These are my dudes right now.

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc1/859119_540235536009257_1070246751_o.jpg

"Should get fantastic exposure on progressive rock stations, thus good sales."

Got a lot of catch-up listening to do, but was working through some Cian Nugent over the last few days, which I have been thoroughly enjoying (just youtubes mostly), and this really hit the sweet spot for me today. Live performance from Tusk 2012:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdjOf2UJkHA&list=UUIsjcp52s0s4q6tC1Lc-_nQ&index=4

Not much time to comment today, but for those interested Three Lobed just posted a song from the upcoming Chuck Johnson record:

http://threelobed.bandcamp.com/album/crows-in-the-basilica

Big write-up by Marc Masters on the page as well, which I assume may be the liner notes?

cool, that sounds good. i haven't heard a ton of chuck johnson, but what i've heard i've liked.
my contribution for the day -- i picked this up at the library over the weekend
http://www.di-arezzo.co.uk/multimedia/images/oak/couv/ok61051.jpg

Great picture. Hope I look like that and am still playing when I get that old. Also, hope I get that old.

Sorry, in light of some events today that is kind of a bummer of a post. Just hope to be lucky enough to give that look a shot.

once again thx to spottie for the spotify list

chuck johnson is really amazing so far

not a lot of info here but: http://www.robbiebashofilm.com/

was already excited for the new chuck johnson record but c'mon chuck you are spoiling us!

"Crows in the Basilica" is from a physical edition of approximately 750 hand-numbered copies and is pressed on 140 gram Dutch vinyl

dutch vinyl is the good stuff, they hoard all that sweet vinyl over there

listening to a bunch of chris forsyth, rangda, gunn-truscinski, that cian nugent + cosmos stuff ... even though there's obviously crossover with this thread, almost feel like it needs its own thread. we're in a golden age for instrumental psych-guitar rock! maybe!

new thing i wrote in open c tuning

https://soundcloud.com/matthew-lee-helgeson/untitled-in-open-c

FINALLY

lesson with peter lang tomorrow :)

Break a leg! Or a finger, if that's more appropriate, superstitious counter-meaning-wise. Tyler, speaking of possibly inappropriate "golden age of instrumental psych rock", this just in from Drag City, with travel tips at the end:
http://www.dragcity.com/system/stories/primary_images/703/large.jpg?1363889179

DAVID GRUBBS HUGS PARIS BEFORE REACHING HIS LOVE OVER THE WHOLE OF EUROPE!
While we Chicago heads try and fail to tame March's wild lion, David Grubbs is one full step ahead of the calendar with The Plain Where The Palace Stood set to drop on the 16th of April. Cultured man that he be, Professor Grubbs love a jaunt through Europe every opportunity he gets - and what better opportunity than those presented by the release of such a rockingly erudite LP of songs and meditations, a track of which is available for free listenin' here on the DC site! Things don't kick off in earnest til the blossoming month of June, but Parisian residents get a special treat within the next week - David performs "The Wired Solution" with Angela Bulloch, Andrea Belfi, and Stefano Pilia (Onrushing Cloud!) at the Centre Pompidou, Paris' premiere digs for modern arts of all shapes, sizes and sounds, Saturday, March 23rd.

Ten days later, the Ecole Nationale Superiore host a Grubbs performance alongside the performance of like-minded no-wave and post-punkins including Lydia Lunch and Ut, plus some related film screenings, before a guitar jam with Noël Akchoté's ensemble featuring David hits Espace 1789 in the burbs of Saint-Ouen. Our fearless former Louisville-ite returns to Brooklyn for his record release show in May, after-which he'll wing on over the Atlantic once more to tackle the meat of the tour for The Plain Where The Palace Stood (including a true TPWTPS show in Paris at Point Ephémère!). It's all fun, but none of it's a game - that's our hero; if there's one hunky, meat chomping guitar-wielder up for such a challenge, it's David Grubbs, cleaver hidden in Plain sight. All dates below, ready thyself to grab ticket!

3/23/13 Centre Pompidou Paris France Grande Salle - Angela Bulloch & David Grubbs "The Wired Salutation" (w/Andrea Belfi & Stefano Pilia)
4/2/13 Ecole Nationale Superiore- Val de Seine Paris France Free Concert and Documentary Screening 7PM w/ Lydia Lunch and Weasel Walter, Rhys Chatham, and Ut- Screening Blank City and Parallax Sounds
4/5/13 Espace 1789 Saint-Ouen France w/ Noël Akchoté's ensemble of five guitarists performing Carlo Gesualdo's Fifth Book of Madrigals
5/24/13 Issue Project Room Brooklyn NY Record release show! (Solo performance)
6/4/13 Blaa Oslo Norway w/ Andrea Belfi and Stefano Pilia
6/5/13 Landmark Bergen Norway w/ Andrea Belfi and Stefano Pilia
6/6/13 Haus Ungarn (Collegium Hungaricum Berlin) Berlin Germany w/ Andrea Belfi and Stefano Pilia
6/7/13 Club Schocken Stuttgart Germany w/ Andrea Belfi and Stefano Pilia
6/8/13 Sonic Lyon France w/ Andrea Belfi and Stefano Pilia
6/9/13 Point Ephémère Paris France w/ Andrea Belfi and Stefano Pilia
6/10/13 Cafe OTO London United Kingdom w/ Andrea Belfi and Stefano Pilia
9/6/13 Hopscotch Festival Raleigh NC (solo performance)

_

Clips from all tracks on the album---brief excerpts, but appealing so far (still making my way through them)---little bit of singing, but meshes with picking. http://www.dragcity.com/products/the-plain-where-the-palace-stood

Title track excerpt sounds great. This sounds like it may be stripped down and less fussy than previous albums. Cool.

i dig that grubbs thing instrumental-wise, but i am not nuts about the singing/lyrics...

think it *might* be more like voice accompanying guitar, rather than vice-versa--? Will have to hear the whole thing o course.

Just got back from lesson with peter, my 45 min lesson went an hour and a half, he kind of just exclaimed his philosophy of teaching and playing plus a ton of amazing digressive anecdotes

Found Lang's 1978 LP Back To The Wall pretty cheap recently but haven't listened yet. I guess there are, like, vocals and saxophones and shit?

Jealous of yr lesson! Would pay just for a one on one hang, really. Bet dude has some stories.

for the west coasters
Danny Paul Grody & Chuck Johnson
3/23 – @ Human Resources, Los Angeles CA w/ Amps For Christ + Daniel Bachmann
3/25 – Eureka, CA (TBA)
3/26 – @ Valentines, Portland OR w/ Planton Wat & Golden Retriever
3/28 – @ New City Theater (MAGMA Fest!), Seattle WA w/ Lori Goldston & Marisa Anderson + Eyvind Kang & Jessiika Kenney
3/31 – @ Hemlock Tavern, SF CA w/ Date Palms

Jimmywine - yeah man I kinda just wanted to hear him tell stories

You'll get the chance for that, he's super chatty! All his tales all pretty entertaining, though. I think he really gets a kick out of sharing his past with someone who is interested and informed.

Re: Basho documentary, what is that gonna consist of? In the Basho thread I recall someone saying that the two clips in circulation are really the only known footage of him playing? It'll have to have lotsa interviews or something, I guess.

More curious about the new Fahey doc making the rounds - anyone seen it? Word on the street is that some people close to Fahey are sorta disowning it.

4/5/13 Espace 1789 Saint-Ouen France w/ Noël Akchoté's ensemble of five guitarists performing Carlo Gesualdo's Fifth Book of Madrigals

^looks great. this album - http://open.spotify.com/album/20yJZYt6wBXTYZkbIv19n6 - akchote playing madrigals composed by 16th century "Italian nobleman, lutenist, composer, and murderer" gesualdo, sounds like it was recorded next to a main road in the rain. well worth a listen, obviously.

xp have heard the same from a handful of folks that were close in. was still worth the look fr the footage obv

Yeah, I definitely need to see it. A feature-length biopic seems long overdue.

love this thread, it's made me pick up my guitar for the first time in literally years (and for maybe the 100th ever, i'm terrible at guitar)

how do i shot lap steel lessons in mpls

i just broke three strings in the process of trying to replace one, i have no idea what i'm doing

Speaking of the Fahey doc, here's fearing/hoping they've checked some of the sources linked here, on the Takoma One-Offs thread---old tyme Ilxor Andy Beta's Fahey memoir is still the most enjoyable I've read:

there's a bootleg from the mid 70s where Fahey suggests that everyone (including himself) commit mass suicide.
"We could all go to sleep. Why don't we all go home and - why don't we go out back and have a joint suicide? Let's all go out back and commit suicide. Every one of us. The neat thing would be when the newspapers come they won't know what happened. Nobody will be able to figure it out."

― tylerw, Friday, June 29, 2012 3:30 PM (49 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

whoa, which one was this? i've been just getting into some of the bootlegs on delta slider. some heavy stuff in there, musically, that is. most of his banter thus far has been lightly amusing. nothing like this.

― global tetrahedron, Friday, June 29, 2012 4:21 PM (8 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

delta-slider.blogspot.com/2011/04/john-fahey-as-jim-jones.html

― tylerw, Friday, June 29, 2012 4:22 PM (8 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Wow, that's pretty disturbing stuff, dude must've been more wrecked than I ever thought.

― global tetrahedron, Friday, June 29, 2012 4:46 PM (8 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

hey we all have our nights, don't we? ok, maybe not.

― tylerw, Friday, June 29, 2012 4:47 PM (8 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This older lady, a folksinger, was telling me about being backstage at a festival in the late 60s or early 70s, when a limo came cruising through the mud, and people were saying, "Yeah, Fahey's here!" A guy who looked like a Texas Ranger got out, so impressive--followed by "a little ol' snakehead in a t-shirt." The Texas Ranger type was Fahey's bodyguard, the folksinger was told. As she recalled it, dude seemed "like a cult leader: bad vibes and lame. He played well, of course." But also, he was known early on for a warped sense of humor, and wouldn't be surprised if this scene fit that description. Later, in his more typical econo-mode, a Creem writer saw him onstage with a 12-pack and a rented guitar (both required in the contract), watching a little portable TV while he played (again, no complaints about the playing). But he also spent a lot of time talking about his favorite shows (re-runs of Green Acres, Adam-12, etc) and the Creem writer liked some of those shows too, but wanted a little more music. Still, it was okay. Glenn Jones had some good recollections in liner notes for Red Cross, which I think was the last album Fahey finished before he died, it was pretty good. But the up close and personal memoir that really gets me is Andy Beta's (Andy used to post around here)
http://www.villagevoice.com/2006-01-24/music/looking-for-blind-joe-death/

― dow, Friday, June 29, 2012 11:21 PM (8 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

thanks for the link, good article

― wack nerd zinging in the dead of night (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, July 3, 2012 10:31 AM (8 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah that's great
Other times, he would play his mixes: collages of Nazi rallies, Balinese gamelan, and recent Chicago blues licks with their verses and choruses mischievously lopped off, rearranging their 12- bar logic.
wonder if any of these still exist?

― tylerw, Tuesday, July 3, 2012 10:38 AM (8 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

another good one is the john jeremiah sullivan essay, which features fahey a bit:http://essayist.tumblr.com/post/8424884997/unknown-bards-the-blues-becomes-transparent-about"> http://essayist.tumblr.com/post/8424884997/unknown-bards-the-blues-becomes-transparent-about

― tylerw, Tuesday, July 3, 2012 3:32 PM (8 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Oops, sorry: Other times... is Tyler's quote from Andy's piece.

heyyyy, anyone have this? http://oh-be-joyful.blogspot.com/2010/11/nice-and-nasty-selections-from-dr.html
"This is basically a mixtape put together by Jack Rose.Lots of things that are quite obviously his influences in glorious lo-fidelity.Lots of rare blues,jazz,gospel,country.Artists include Sam McGee,Peg Leg Howell & His Guys,Freddie Keppard's Jazz Cardinals,Dixieland Jug Blowers,Blind Blake,Tommy Johnson & Frenchy's String band.There are 15 cuts with titles like Texas & the Pacific Blues,Blind Arthur's Breakdown,Buckdancer's Choice,Stockyard Strut & Soft Steel Piston.Good stuff & this is hard to find"

hey new william tyler up on spotify!!!

ok first two songs are fucking great and love the more expansive band arrangments, officially retract my upthread pre-release lukewarmness!!!!

this tomkins sq. thing looks very cool:
IMAGINATIONAL ANTHEM VOL. 6 : ORIGINS OF AMERICAN PRIMITIVE GUITAR
Gatefold Vinyl : TSQ 2868 out April 20th (Record Store Day) Ltd 1500
CD : TSQ 2851 out April 30th

If American Primitive Guitar begins with John Fahey and the Takoma School, then the actual origins of this sound is found within this collection of fourteen classic solo guitar performances. Recorded between 1923 to 1930, this set is the "Rosetta Stone" of style and repertoire tapped into deeply by Fahey, Basho & Rose, among many others. Sam McGee, Riley Puckett, Bayless Rose, Sylvester Weaver, Lemuel Turner, Frank Hutchison and Davey Miller are the rural artists included in this anthology. Each one of these showcases a particular technique and sensitivity sourced from the earlier 19th century parlor guitar tradition. Several of these sides are reissued for their first time including Sylvester Weaver's "Guitar Blues" which is the first solo finger picked guitar solo ever recorded. Stunningly remastered and annotated by Christopher King.

Yup, just got the email. Wish I was going to be anywhere near a damn record store on RSD. Grrrr...

Bussard 45 looks pretty great too

yeah josh from t square said that bussard is a pretty solid musician...

oh heck, now i need record store day junk

i don't imagine these will be two hard to score the day after though.

frank hutchison is pretty much my fave "white country blues" artist.

yeah, those don't necessarily seem like the hottest tickets on record store day, except for maybe people reading this thread.

highly reccommend this stuff to everyone, in the world of pre-war guitar pickers --
http://www.countysales.com/products.php?product=VARIOUS-%27Old%252dTime-Mountain-Guitar-1927%252d1931%27
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0xqbgAHpOE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtBNMUESU1w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9DpR7gPBYo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCr-G9wowjU

ah shit i wasn't gonna go to record store day :(

I need it too...

Wow, yeah, this William Tyler is great. Only into the first track actually but I really dig it. Excited to see him- interested to see how he does this live- acoustic or electric, will he have accompaniment at all, etc

I'm very excited to pick up that record, too.

Actually, I'm kinda zoning out a bit to this, and maybe not in a good way? Some of the extra flourishes strike me as a bit cheesy, maybe that's just me. Finding it hard to latch on to anything. Maybe it's getting a little too new agey feeling for me. I dunno, I'll still give it a chance.

Oooh but track 4 is tasty. Really scratching an itch for me.

Some of the extra flourishes strike me as a bit cheesy
that's my main complaint, there are times when it seems just a little ... overripe? but it's still great for the most part, I'd say stick with it, there's some less ornate stuff on there too.

and thx for the tip on that comp, ian, ordered it.

i actually made a playlist on spotify without "cadillac desert" i think it's a vastly better album that way, for some reason that song irks me in some way and reflects poorly on the others

That's the song I just didn't care for, good to know it's an outlier?

Lol @ "overripe"

haha, well, we're dealing w/ a genre that's generally solo acoustic guitar... add some overdubs and everything starts sounding kinda decadent.

how do you guys like six organs, esp for octavio paz? that had a lot of overdubs iirc

octavio paz is awesome! i was mainly kidding about the decadent thing, i don't mind overdubs. as long as it sounds cool.

i'm not against overdubs necessarily or production, but i do think the tyler thing is walking a pretty fine line IMO, and mostly staying on the good side of just being pretty indie rock instrumentals vs. being this type of shit

even fahey def approached stuff as records and production compared to his contemporaries, all his tape cut up stuff and found sound collages....or the backwards stuff on the great san bernadino excursion....or just his use of echo and reverb in general

i was never entirely won over by six organs but that is probably my favourite. i say that as a curmudgeon who remains unmoved by a lot of the things ppl charmingly enthuse about in this thread.

fair enough!
let me charmingly enthuse about this: http://delta-slider.blogspot.com/2013/03/john-fahey-live-at-stoneybrook-1972.html

I think Fahey was really onto something with the delicate additions of reverb, esp. on Days Have Gone By, (i.e. Impressions of Susan), when your instrumentation is so sparse the addition of production effects carries a lot more weight imo, it's easy to go too far (see: Cadillac Desert or w/e)

yeah, the crossfade from a crisp studio mic to a mic in an echoey corridor outside trick deployed on John Henry on Blind Joe Death is so simple & so great

Also, that Stoneybrook boot slays, he does some real cool variation stuff on Fare Forward Voyagers I haven't heard anywhere else. Far superior to the Louisville 77 release that also came out as part of this latest Fahey week- he sounds pretty sauced on that one and some of the tracks are downright sloppy...

Speaking of Record Store Day
http://www.tompkinssquare.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/TSQ-Brick-Feb-8-131.jpg

Tompkins Square Label releases 4 titles for Record Store Day, April 20th, 2013. These limited items will be available exclusively at independent record stores in the US and overseas.

IMAGINATIONAL ANTHEM VOL. 6 : ORIGINS OF AMERICAN PRIMITIVE GUITAR
Gatefold Vinyl : TSQ 2868 out April 20th (Record Store Day) Ltd 1500
CD : TSQ 2851 out April 30th

If American Primitive Guitar begins with John Fahey and the Takoma School, then the actual origins of this sound is found within this collection of fourteen classic solo guitar performances. Recorded between 1923 to 1930, this set is the “Rosetta Stone” of style and repertoire tapped into deeply by Fahey, Basho & Rose, among many others. Sam McGee, Riley Puckett, Bayless Rose, Sylvester Weaver, Lemuel Turner, Frank Hutchison and Davey Miller are the rural artists included in this anthology. Each one of these showcases a particular technique and sensitivity sourced from the earlier 19th century parlor guitar tradition. Several of these sides are reissued for their first time including Sylvester Weaver’s “Guitar Blues” which is the first solo finger picked guitar solo ever recorded. Stunningly remastered and annotated by Christopher King.

CHARLIE POOLE & THE HIGHLANDERS : THE COMPLETE PARAMOUNT & BRUNSWICK RECORDINGS, 1929
Vinyl w/ Poster inside : TSQ 2882 out April 20th (Record Store Day) Ltd 1500
CD : TSQ 2875 Out April 30th

From 1926 to 1930 one of the most popular rural string bands on record was Charlie Poole & The North Carolina Ramblers. Through their 78 RPM discs and their various performances, Charlie Poole was second only to Gid Tanner and His Skillet Lickers. Poole’s uniquely syncopated three finger banjo picking style coupled with his Piedmont vocal inflections eventually colored and defined much of what we consider “old-time” music. The classic configuration of banjo, fiddle and guitar with vocals was encouraged by the main label that promoted Poole but he also wanted to record instrumentals featuring twin-fiddle and piano. As renaming his group The Highlanders, Poole was able to actualize this musical vision. This collection contains all of the sides that Poole made with Roy Harvey, Lucy Terry, and twin-fiddlers Lonnie Austin & Odell Smith. Remastered in beautiful sound by Christopher King and with notes written by old-time musician and scholar Kinney Rorrer.

JOE BUSSARD: “Guitar Rag / Screwdriver Slide” 78 RPM VINYL TSQ 71136 LTD. 700 Units. Out April 20th (Record Store Day)

Famed Fonotone label pioneer and 78 collector Joe Bussard plays two tunes with a screwdriver.

FOR THE FAITHFUL: An 18-track Tompkins Square Label CD sampler featuring recent and forthcoming tracks. Available FREE from participating indie stores on April 20th (Record Store Day).

Ask you friendly indie retailer if they will be stocking these items for Record Store Day. If there is any surplus stock on the IA6 & Poole LP’s, we will make them available on our site on April 30th along with the CDs. Thanks !

Will definitely get the Imaginational Anthem comp!

new glenn jones track - https://soundcloud.com/thrilljockey/glenn-jones-bergen-county-farewell/s-kIM9z

Oh yeah, just got the press release:
Glenn Jones - My Garden State:
01. Chimes
02. Across the Tappan Zee
03. Going Back to East Montgomery
04. Blues for Tom Carter
05. The Vernal Pool
06. Alcouer Gardens
07. My Garden State
08. Like a Sick Eagle Looking at the Sky
09. Bergen County Farewell
10. Chimes II

Glenn Jones is a unique voice working in the decades-long tradition of American Primitivism. What sets him apart from the many devotees to this style is the combination of expressive playing and technical skill, most significantly his inventive use of alternate tunings and partial capos. As anyone knows who has seen him perform, Glenn is a remarkable storyteller, and his songs reflect that talent. The songs on Glenn’s latest, My Garden State, are evocative and redolent, and serve as a testament to Glenn’s talent for conveying a wide array of emotions, many times in one song, without saying a word.

My Garden State was written in the New Jersey home where Glenn's family moved in 1966, while he was caring for his mother who suffers from Alzheimer’s. The songs and sounds on the album are reflective, but never dour or sad. My Garden State was recorded by Laura Baird in Allentown, NJ. Laura joins Glenn on the first proper song, “Across the Tappan Zee” on banjo, interweaving her plaintive melodies with Glenn’s gentle picking. Laura’s sister Meg, who was a founding member of Espers and plays with Laura as The Baird Sisters, also joins in on the final minutes of “Going Back to East Montgomery,” an eight minute long composition that showcases Glenn’s ability to craft a long form piece that is at once expansive and immediate.

The two tracks that form the centerpiece of the album, “The Vernal Pool” and “Alcoeur Gardens” were composed spontaneously in the studio, a technique Glenn developed on tour with Damo Suzuki with his former band Cul de Sac. Where “The Vernal Pool” is exuberant, “Alcouer Gardens” is sparse and quiet, with field recordings of rain and thunder providing a bed for Glenn’s guitar, emphasizing the space between the notes as much as the notes themselves. The songs on My Garden State could have been written by no one except Glenn Jones, brimming with joy, sorrow, and the complex in-between that makes life worth living.

Glenn will be touring throughout the Spring, as well as finishing an album with drummer Chris Corsano and monologist David Greenberger of The Duplex Planet.

I added the bold, hope it's not too much.

corsano...damn!...monologist...um....

haha, yeah. Greenberger's Duplex Planet stuff is pretty cool though.
I approve of Jones' Tappan Zee Bridge reference.

Not all those other monologists--I'd like to check this album of his, based on xgau's recent description:
David Greenberger/Paul Cebar Tomorrow Sound: They Like Me Around Here (Pel Pel)
I do wonder how reliably I can judge these records, in which Greenberger transforms serious seniors' generally touching, often loopy, and sometimes inspirational musings and recollections into dramatic readings with musical accompaniment. They're pretty numerous by now‑-I sure haven't heard them all‑-and risk getting repetitive too. Nevertheless, they do vary, in part because Greenberger shuffles arrangers. Yet though this is billed as a "follow-up" to the 2009 Cebar collaboration Cherry Picking Apple Blossom Time, it's very different structurally. There 34 of 38 tracks run under 2:13, where here only three of 19 do, and in part because these have more heft, fewer of them skew toward pathos or damage. The steady good humor of the voice the 58-year-old Greenberger has developed to enact his interviewees always imparts dignity, smoothing over hesitations and infirmities. But here the words have extra force, with Cebar's instrumentation fuller too. The proud "She Voted," the prouder "Thank You, Reuben," the skydiving "The Thrill," and the title track "Nemo and Harmony" all inspire mightily.

next album features garrison keillor & the ghost of spaulding gray

new glenn jones sounds great and the album cover of cuet 4-leaf clover playing banjo is great

btw, i'm probably just late pass on this but peter lang told me that "american primitive" wasn't named that because of "primitive" folk music but after "french primitive" art/film

haha, i didn't know that either.
the album might fall a little outside of the purview of this thread (it's a full band kinda deal), but the forthcoming steve gunn record is sounding awesome.

just came across this Jones interview w music from '11; hopefully they'll do a sequel:
http://www.npr.org/2011/10/01/140935915/a-singular-guitarist-emerges-from-john-faheys-shadow

xpost

lang also said something like "john hated the term folk music, he thought that was little german children singing songs in leiderhosen" or something like that lol

glenn jones is a gentleman & I love his playing. I was pretty sure fahey said he used primitive in the sense of primitive painters i.e. untaught.

just listening on spotify but the william tyler record is wearing very well, i like it more each time

can't wait to snag the vinyl

My Garden State was written in the New Jersey home where Glenn's family moved in 1966, while he was caring for his mother who suffers from Alzheimer’s.

something in wrong in this sentence, dude can't be THAT much older than me.

Yeah, it's the syntax - sentence seems to be saying that, in 1966, Glenn's family moved to Jersey so he could take care of his mother, who was suffering from Alzheimers. I think it should read:

My Garden State was written while Glenn was caring for his mother (who suffers from Alzheimer's) in the New Jersey home his family moved into in 1966.

Or something like that. It's early. But yeah, that sentence is problematic. I've met Glenn, he seems to be in his mid-to-late forties? I could be wrong.

i might put his age up into his mid-fifties, but i'm really not sure.but yeah, he definitely wasn't writing material for his new album in 1966.

rounded up a couple recent, rare-ish daniel bachman things over here: http://doomandgloomfromthetomb.tumblr.com/post/46939156294/daniel-bachman-12-22-12-12-28-12-grab-a

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3L-acWwioE

Just stumbled on this. Looks like it was shot in the same kind of area as my childhood home, given his new album is about NJ. Reminds me that hanging out by quiet railroads in the summer is a favorite for me.

Could anyone throw a little top ten list at me on the laid back front-porch side of the genre rather than the dramatic, more James Blackshaw kind of sound? Want to gather some for summer relaxation countryside purposes, and I'm a little overwhelmed by the amount of artists. I already have all my Fahey and 30s era blues, Cast King records ready. Thanks in advance!

you dug into jack rose at all? some of his stuff leans a bit more in the direction I think you're looking for.

i'd recommend nathan salsburg's recent record "affirmed" as well.
you want instrumental stuff, right? there is a whole world of great songwriters in the ssw/folk/country tradition, though often with less emphasis on chops.

one side of the harry taussig lp 'fate is only once' is very much in this style.

the new harry taussig (fate is only twice) is good too esp considering the 50 year gap between albums

Jack rose yes! But I keep forgetting to pick up a record or look for one at the shop. Instrumental or otherwise, anything is great. Chops don't matter as much to me, more about aesthetic overall. Never listened to Taussig, thank you!

The Jack Rose & The Black Twig Pickers LP on Klang Industries/VHF is the best of that "porch" style (I catch your meaning...) I also highly recommend WIllie Lane - he used to play around with Matt Valentine/Erika Elder and has self-released a couple LPs that are very overlooked IMO. Here's a little clip of him:

http://youtu.be/mKztbs3zWlU

Marc Orleans is one of my favorite guys in this style but he has no solo recordings. He had a duo group with Tom Carter called Eleven Twenty-Nine for a bit released one album. A bit outside the purview, maybe, but could slot in. Samples here:

http://northernspy.11spot.com/eleven-twenty-nine-s-t.html

D. Charles Speer is Dave Shuford. The last Jack Rose recordings were with Shuford/Speer and his group The Helix (released as Ragged & Right on Thrill Jockey). The D. Charles Speer stuff is a bit more eastern-tinged (which I quite dig) but could also find a home on this thread. In this clip he plays bouzouki:

http://vimeo.com/19039190

Very cool, thank you so much. I saw D. Charles Speer open for Come a year or so ago and it was fun country rock stuff but I couldn't get interested enough in the records. Earlier ones by him are more intimate I guess? That Willie Lane clip is great so far, moving on to the others next.

Been out of the loop as I have been on vacation for 2 weeks, got some stuff to catch up on. A friend of mine is putting out a Daniel Bachman tape, dated/titled something similar to what tyler posted on his blog above, so not sure if it is some of the same recordings put on tape instead of CDR or if it is different recordings made around the same time, but here is a link to a nice duet with the banjo player mentioned in the Doom & Gloom write-up:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tb5nlh22z9g&feature=youtu.be

Evan, this is probably similar to what you are looking for, pretty "porchy" to me.

yeahh, i believe that's the same thing i linked to...hope it's cool, got the impression the blog that posted the download link had done it w/ bachman's permission.

Sounds fantastic!

Glad you like it Evan.

Daniel is pretty laid back, I doubt he would mind (and I bet he did give permission). My friend's label is pretty much brand-new, just one tape prior to the planned D. Bachman one, with a Mike Gangloff tape to follow. Think they are all just interested in getting stuff out there. Here is the label if anyone is interested, I didn't even realize he had gotten anything in the works until today:

http://holysmokesrecords.com

had my second lesson with peter lang, this one was great, got a lot more into actual playing this time...we're going to learn a series of 6 songs that he feels are a good progression for learning...first one was by a guy I was not familiar with, Joseph Spence:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Spence_(musician)

A native Bahaman apparently, discovered by smithsonian field recorders in the 50s, Lang spoke extremely highly of him, called him the "jimi hendrix of acoustic guitar", talked about Fahey and himself hanging out with him, but yeah really cool stuff, very individual style that doesn't quite fit with anything else, maybe most similar to Lena Hughes or Taussig as far as stuff posted on this thread but that doesn't totally fit either...a real original i guess.... Here's me playing what Peter taught me at the lesson, a part of "There Will Be A Happy Meeting in Heaven" by Spence, i guess he did mostly religious stuff (peter plays this a lot he said but he does a bunch of variations)...I looked online and there are a lot of variations on it that ppl play, peter said that he feels this bit that he taught me is the closest to how spence played it:

http://soundcloud.com/matthew-lee-helgeson/there-will-be-a-happy

cool!
i think i only know joseph spence from a song of his ry cooder does...

he mentioned that cooder and also taj mahal had made pilgrimages to go hang out w/spence...apparently, taj mahal brought a bunch of his US released records as a present and spence got pretty salty about it because he didn't know he had records and was basically "where's my fuckin money?"

he also said that spence played pretty out of tune and fahey actually tuned his guitar correctly for once and spence picked it up and kinda glared at fahey like "why did you fuck up my guitar" haha, sounds like he wasn't super impressed by these western heavyweights....apparently worked as a janitor most of his life....lang said he was a super interesting cool dude to hang with

Spence is an incredible guitarist and definitely sui generis, as they say. his playing is so jagged sometimes that it reminds me of no one at all -- he's got a patton-esque intensity tho. time to break out my spence records..

yeah really cool discovery for me, there's a couple on spotify, gotten get some vinyl....Lang really spoke about him in the highest possible terms.

his weird vocal tics over his playing are really odd

i've been listening to Jack Hardy a ton the last two weeks. Not quite a fit for this thread, though he is a good guitarist he's more of a songwriter, and a damn good one. His records through the seventies & eighties are great. And they avoid sounding like garbage because they were always recorded live with a small, well-rehearsed band. No ugly production.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qn86mfB1UpY&list=PLE5C26C10B85305F5

joseph spence is incredible

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alfqX3WRJP0

so much fun

the spence pieces on cooder's jazz album are definitely the highlights on there for me (post-revisiting it after a long time and actually enjoying it now)

Man, so much to listen to on this thread. I dig that Joseph Spence song and the Jack Hardy, both of whom I had never heard before. More exploring down the line. Just heard a track from the upcoming Orcutt and Corsano record, which is cool, and got me to listen to this Orcutt solo thing again that fits in with this thread in a cool way. More trad than most of his recent acoustic stuff but still retaining his signature a bit, and representing the jagged, "sui generis" side of this stuff pretty well:

https://soundcloud.com/#bill-orcutt/bill-orcutt-die-then-come-back

I don't rate bill orcutt's solo stuff much, but that song is not so bad. sounds like a really shitty hans reichel, which is still a pretty good thing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XG4A6Wbmm7I

that's great

i finally got a copy of the nathan bowles record. had to have the guys at other music order it for me. lovely stuff.

yeah it's one of my favorites of the last year or so

Gonna see The Black Twig Pickers tonight, with David Daniel opening. Pretty exciting, and free to boot. If anyone lives within driving distance of Charlottesville Virginia head on down. Love that Rose and Bowles clip.

sounds fun, i need to hear that new black twig pickers album.
listened to those tompkins square "berkeley guitar" compilations, which I hadn't heard before -- more sweet stuff, more dudes to check out, especially this dude: http://sean-smith.org/

"SEAN SMITH is a guitarist from San Francisco, California. He currently plays in the exploratory progressive instrumental band, TWIN TRILOGY. He has released several eponymous albums since 2003. Additionally, Smith performs solo acoustic fingerstyle guitar and is in the legendary Black Sabbath cover band, BOBB SAGGETH."

kind of a gross photo at his website fyi

xp david daniell has done some cool stuff, it'll be interesting to see what he'll play

Ah, cut off an l from "Daniell", didn't I, but yeah, I am interested too. Guy has an interesting history. I am imagining he will be doing the solo electic looping stuff, but maybe not?

Yikes, can't spell today. That is supposed to be "solo electric looping".

really liked what I heard of his acoustic stuff, w/ field recordings etc. he did the closing track on a fahey tribute - "the great koonaklaster speaks" or something - & that was really nice, sumptuous, & he played straight acoustic on this comp last year which is v much in the vein of this thread - http://threelobed.bandcamp.com/album/eight-trails-one-path. I liked the records w/ doug mccombs where he plays electric though, they had a really distinct, kind of smokey feel.

great spelling from me today too.

Thanks for posting that Three Lobed comp, pretty sure I started listening to it at some point but never finished. Gonna dig back in today. Interesting line-up.

Sure wish this sounded more like it looks

http://cdn4.pitchfork.com/advance/art/190/18ea7628.jpg

Some good detail in the background of the larger original post, and good variety in other album art---gave me something to do while listening the David Grubbs' The Plain Where The Palace Stood, which tends to harp, with no kinda harp, just insistent, mostly electric picking and spare accompaniment, on the ominous vibe of the album's title. Short phrases, with dramatic pauses, giving us time to get on our knees. May not be totally fair, since I tended to snooze a little, but that's usually a bad sign (about the music, I hope). Do dig "The Hesitation Waltz," where the ominnous is more subtle, as he considers where a relationship (or something) may be leading---this is one the few with vocals, and kind of reminds me of Arto Lindsay, solo or with the Ambitious Lovers. Need to listen to some of those albums again, so thanks for the reminder, Grubbs. Also like the next track, "View From The Mesa": black and white frames of big curls of smoke--if the mesa looks like this, start runnin', podner. Still streaming here, dunno how much longer:
http://pitchfork.com/advance/68-the-plain-where-the-palace-stood/

a lady makes an appearance on this thread! pretty happening out of print takoma record.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rukCG-qCh6o/UHCdxslprnI/AAAAAAAAAUo/dXz5tFOloXQ/s1600/cover.JPG
http://thewaythetreesgrow.blogspot.com/2012/10/janet-smith-vol-i-unicorn-and-other.html

there's also this 1978 comp, which i haven't heard, but has been reissued somewhat recently.
http://c3.cduniverse.ws/resized/250x500/music/634/7714634.jpg

digging this janet smith...who's bob wilson the second guitarist?

i don't know! some of the janet smith is a little frilly folky vocal stuff, but i dig it.

yeah it's pretty fancy, but i dunno break out the candles and red wine and sit down by the fire

i feel like she probably lived in a big victorian house where lots of ppl hung out and they always drank wine and she was perpetually making a big spaghetti dinner for everyone

and they listend to blue by joni mitchell a lot

totally
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51DMS6NMCXL.jpg

pretty cheap on amazon if you need it: http://www.amazon.com/Fingerstyle-Guitar-Solos-Janet-Smith/dp/0931759315

haha some price differential there lol

oh lol, only saw the $11 pricetag there. better snap it up and re-sell for $500!

i dunno the one for $429 is probably in better shape

Nice Glenn Jones video on NPR website, which just shows a straight shot of his playing the whole way through. Nice little write-up too:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/allsongs/2013/04/17/177474999/glenn-jones-bittersweet-farewell-to-a-family-home#

He seems to have come from the same kind of NJ as I have.

new jones record is great, totally masterful. loved his last one, but this one is stronger overall...

It's isn't out yet though, right?

no, in a couple weeks -- may 14?

Excited!

Yeah, saw Glenn live last year and loved it, imagine that this album is gonna be lovely.

i recently sold that janet smith record.. never listened to it much. it's nice, but i didn't find it sticking with me. a bit mannered as well, i like my songwriting more on the ragged sad dude in torn jeans vein...

yeah i can see why it hasn't been reissued -- definitely pretty far from "cool," kinda more living room folk, but i was liking it for that reason.

oh, it's not bad, don't get me wrong! i am at a place in my life where i'm sort of aggressively pruning my record collection.

have you heard that women's guitar workshop thing?

oh actually just found it streaming here: https://mog.com/m#album/35697431

the name "margo random" sounds like a pynchon character.

i haven't heard that! i'll have to listen.
ya'll know the "puget sound guitar workshop' record right? that's a classic.

i don't know that one! looks totally groovy tho
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AZIdQlGzcwE/TW0xvhndoFI/AAAAAAAAD-s/HdMojWcVIlQ/s1600/DSC_0019.JPG

http://notoncd.blogspot.com/2011/03/puget-sound-guitar-workshop-album-1977.html

ur a national treasure

Dude in the top right looks kinda like Tom Carter of Charalambides (though also like a ton of other long-haired and bearded men). Album sure does look groovy though.

damn thanks tyler & thanks for your next-level internetting skillz

Hmm, I drunkenly bought that Janet Smith book, not sure what I was thinking, haven't really listened to any of her music, and I'm assuming that tape isn't coming in the mail alongside it. At least I only dropped 11 bucks!

haha dammit now i gotta shell out $400 :p

that one probably comes with the cassette

damn the janet smith revival begins HERE

Hah, always knew that this thread had a higher calling.

guys... i know i do not keep up with newer guitar stuff as much as some of you, and spend a lot of time listening to older records. yesterday i went to the house of {famous 78 collector] and this is one of the records that got played -- amazing guitar instro by Bayless Rose:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bmqvRzBteQ

oh awesome. bayless rose is on the upcoming imaginational anthem thing (and on that grrrreat mountain guitar thing, too).

yeah, i was psyched! i don't think he's on the LP version of mountain guitar, cuz i don't think i'd heard anything by him before yesterday. but maybe i just missed it.

cool thx ian, super excited for that imaginational anthem thing, super pissed i actually have to drag my ass out to record store day :/

xp yeah he's the last track on the CD version -- "jamestown exhibition"... thanks for that recommendation, loving the whole thing.

bonus inzane old-timey tune:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=xzbMALS0Edo&NR=1

Digging both of these songs. Thanks!

yeah, so good.
listening to this danny paul grody dude this morning, who we may have talked about upthread? - http://dannypaulgrody.bandcamp.com/
he's on the last imaginational anthem comp, maybe more in a soundtrack-y/ambient/almost new age vein, but very very good. apparently has a new thing coming out on three lobed this summer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnYWvsME-1U

gonna just post occasional old-timey videos in this thread, try to keep it more guitar and songster oriented than fiddlin

i may have posted this on ilx somewhere before but it;s a huge fave--
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4sIv_qQ314

Also great, but with a name like "Jimbo Jambo Land" it pretty much has to be. Enjoyed the Rabbit Brown as well, keep em coming!

That Danny Paul Grody is really nice. I am a fan of minimal guitar stylings, and it is just a really well-textured set of songs. Nothing too showy at all, but I also didn't find it too new-agey, pretty good balance of stuff to hang onto (i.e., movement and melody) and drones/layers to my ears. Think he is on tour with Chuck Johnson, also mentioned upthread.

danny paul grody is really hitting the spot right now, need soothing stuff w/how crazy this week has been in the world

also perhaps it's a testament to fahey himself that this thread can contain stuff ranging from jimbo jambo land to danny paul grody and it still makes *sense*

lol at this from the lumineers thread
really tempted to start trolling Revolt of the ILX Brigade: New Post-Fahey Folk For PPL that post in the Takoma & Tompkin's Square Threads in the LOL FOLK MUSIC style of this thread

― some dude, Friday, April 19, 2013 10:11 PM (17 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

haha classic some dude

Yeah, this thread is a real winner in that sense in re the range of the stuff that "makes sense". I would think the Fahey would have liked, or at least not actively hated, most of the stuff here.

Oops, bad timing there.

idk, fahey hated a lot of stuff

from what i've read & what peter told me fahey was really anti-Folk Music (TM) anyway right?

he told glenn jones that "fingerpicking is a disease."

Yeah, I guess I shouldn't underestimate Fahey's level of disdain for most music ....

he told glenn jones that "fingerpicking is a disease."

― tylerw, Friday, April 19, 2013 5:38 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol

&vtorch of the mystics deemed kitsch

haha for a second i was like "fahey dissed the flaming lips??"

hey I have a bit of a historical question that I assume you lot will know - as far as I can tell Fahey and Davy Graham were the Newton and Leibniz of solo guitar, coming up with it independently at around the same time, right? But I've found it kind of odd that there doesn't seem to be a great deal of overlap in the post-Fahey and post-Graham traditions, maybe only emerging more recently where the audience for them both has changed a lot. Am I missing the early connections somewhere? (And in a more musicological sense - Fahey-style and Graham-style mostly sound v different to me but I don't have the ear to really discern what it is that's different between them, is there a neat way of summarising it?)

I guess I put it down to the source material each worked from, difference between scots/anglo folk and country/folk/blues? (obv lots of crossover there)

Picked up the Imaginational Anthem 6: Roots of American Primitive Guitar

Everyone who cares enough to post in this thread should def hear this

Graham was heavy into jazz too not sure if fahey was but don't get much of a jazz vibe from his stuff

yeah the jazz thing is heavy with graham and his followers -- don't think fahey cared for much jazz past dixieland (or at least didn't incorporate anything past that into his playing). graham/jansch/renbourn etc. were huge mingus fans.
but yeah i have been sort of interested in the UK strain of this stuff, too -- there's a dude c joynes who is kind of bridging the gap between the takoma thing and the more English/Scottish/Irish folk sound. http://www.boweavilrecordings.com/joynes.html

yeah the jazziness of Graham (especially rhythmically, I think) seems one of the clearer divisions, I suppose the bit I struggle to unravel precisely is where Graham's lean towards British folk and Fahey's lean towards American folk becomes clearest, especially since Graham doesn't shy away from blues either.

https://soundcloud.com/tompkinssquare/guitar-rag-by-sylester-weaver this track from Imaginational Anthem 6 is great, definitely have to check out the full thing.

the american fiddle repertoire is deep rooted in scottish, irish & english fiddle traditions; likewise, the melodies of these tunes incorporated themselves into the body of american folk song. in turn you get guy's like fahey who will straight up play an arrangement of an irish folk melody like "lord of all hopefulness" on 'yes jesus loves me.' similarly you get "st. patrick's hymn" at the end of 'transfiguration.'

i thought there was a website that listed the varying names for tunes based on geography, but i cannot find it now.

Is that Imaginational Anthem Vol 6 a record-store day only thing? Rats.

it'll be out for real next month -- i think the limited double LP gatefold thing is the "record store day" part of it. but i think you should be able to get it on vinyl/CD/whatever next month in some form.

and yeah it is totally great from start to finish.

sylvester weaver is awesome, love his duos w/ walter beasley too. had no idea there had been so many imaginational anthems, I only have the first one - what's best?

This imaginational anthems reminds me a bit of when college fugazi fan me heard gang of four for the first time

Think on the Andy Beta memoir I posted upthread, he mentions Fahey discoursing on electric Miles (he approved, apparently)? Seems like there's a similar vibe--intimate voice in space--at times: somewhat Milesian, if not precisely jazzy--but electric Miles emphasized in some interviews that he also was then using jazz as *one* component--maybe the basic one--but still, it was in there w blues, rock, Eastern, etc. I've also read that Fahey said he had no use for the blues very early on; maybe his initial explorations of UK-by-way-of-Appalachia might share some qualities with early 60s Brit folk guitarisms--?

of course it wouldn't really be Uk-by-way-of-Appalachia, but American mountain music w strong resemblance to UK antecedents--did he record anything before he got into the blues?

a lot of fahey's earliest recordings, as issued on the fonotone box, are straight blues pastiches.

fahey was in his mid-teens when he had his damascene experience sobbing down the phone to dick spottswood after he made him replay blind willie johnson's praise god i'm satisfied. the story is mb a bit cute, w/ this "& that's when the scales fell from my eyes & i realized racism was wrong" subtext, but it was definitely a pivotal moment.

also fahey & graham were popularizers, taking solo guitar seriously, but they both drew on traditions that had loads of primarily instrumental guitar already, & saying they invented it is ridiculous

Um wow this spoken word intro on one of the new imaginational anthem

of course, ogmor, i didn't mean to suggest otherwise, my curiosity was mostly around the fact that there's the simultaneous birth of these kind of multicultural hybrid genres of solo guitar, playing but despite that musical pluralism there didn't really seem to be, as far as i'm aware, a great deal of crossover between the scenes.

I'm not to up on 78s & stuff I guess casual racism is probably pretty common

well, that's true, but they were both pretty small scenes really & it took them a while to make it across the atlantic. i am not a fan of the british stuff really, & there are plenty of other acoustic traditions going on in parallel - can ali farka toure be leibniz?

Fahey was big on bola sete

bola sete, gliere, barbecue bob, paul tillich... all the greats

I don't know bbq bob but with a name like that I'm sold already

bbq bob ain't bad, but he's far from my favorite georgia bluesman. that would have to be willie mctell, i think. blind blake was a georgian too, and sylvester weaver.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgmM9CxwgNo

I was going to link to the famous vrootz compilation of fahey's influences as some of you guys don't seem familiar w/ some of that stuff, but all links are dead. so, w/ nothing better to do w/ my sunday, I put together a spotify playlist. there are a few omissions but spotify has nearly everything. it's a really beguiling mix of bluegrass, big band jazz, country blues, high romantic russian symphonies, ragtime, fahey's beloved christmas music, mountain banjo, hawaiian guitar, gamelan, hillbilly music, samba &c. have a listen! http://open.spotify.com/user/ogmor/playlist/0RiAX0TJbinxXYOtai81wk

wow thanks ogmor! weirdly as obsessed as i've been w/fahey for the last year i don't know that much abt him. i should read his book.

interesting that prokofiev is on there, i'm reading a history of Folkways records (moses asch) and apparently woody guthrie was a huge fan as well.

definitely read "bluegrass music destroyed my life" it's a great read, both for the weird semi-autobiographical/therapeutic writings as well as his recollections of musicians. good stuff.

yeah that fahey roots mix is great, i've had it for a while, but i'm still absorbing it. i've only read bits and pieces of fahey's books, but i should just buy 'em...

The Fahey books are great, "How Bluegrass Music Destroyed My Life" especially. Some real gold in there, whether you even like his music or not.

i leant fahey books out and i doubt i'll ever get them back :\

Bummer man, I hate when that happens. Shitty.

agree w/ everyone else re: "how bluegrass music destroyed my life", also enjoy this: http://johnfahey.com/reality.htm

These look like Fahey tweets or something.

have you guys heard of Peter Walker? I found an album on Spotify called Long Lost Tapes 1970, pretty cool, def has a big raga/indian thing going on alongside american primitive stuff, anyway worth checking out and if anyone knows about him do tell

i saw william tyler get compared to him in some writeup online, first time i'd heard the name.

also local mpls label putting out a new Paul Metzger album:

Paul Metzger – Tombaux

Tombeaux attains a new high-water mark in the career of Paul Metzger, one of North America’s greatest instrumentalists. Recorded in the dead of Minnesota winter, at home and alone, it’s the eighth Metzger release to feature his self-modified, 23-string banjo. The album marks our alchemist’s third appearance on NN, following critically acclaimed contributions to labels like Locust, Roaratorio and Honest Jon’s.

Tombeaux consists of three compositions. “Sepulchre” is a radical reworking of an original piece dating from 1984. “Of the Passing” is another Metzger original (showcasing some beautiful bowing), while “Beau Soir” features a wonderfully curious arrangement of Claude Debussy’s 1883 art song.

Metzger summons the spirits of his musical Appalachian forefathers, guitarist Django Reinhardt and classical sitarist Nikhil Banerjee, among others, weaving a peerless, highly individualistic style that sounds unlike anyone but himself. Metzger’s playing doesn’t imitate raga structures so much as use those modal figures as his starting point. He employs dazzling, breviloquent string plucks on the main banjo strings, whilst producing rhythmic, droning textures on the cross strings of an added bridge. Some have suggested similarities to the works of John Fahey or Sandy Bull, but Metzger’s modus operandi doesn’t constitute a mirroring of those styles; rather, he composes and operates apart from their music, in an insular and altogether separate universe. In the process, Metzger transcends and expands the lexicon in a wholly organic manner.

Release date: April, 2013
Label: Nero’s Neptune
Catalog #: NN026
Artist: Paul Metzger
Title: Tombeaux
Formats: 180g LP & CD
ⓒ & ⓟ 2013 metzger

don't really know metzger, but digging this sesh on the free music archive: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Paul_Metzger/Live_at_WFMU_on_Bethanys_Show_on_1022005/

the whole 23-string banjo thing is nuts. it's basically so he can play the banjo like a sitar? kind of?

Aw man, I want to see a picture of that.

http://images.publicradio.org/content/2008/04/25/20080425_sitar0_25.jpg

speaking of mpls outsider dudes w/weird homemade instrument's here's dave krejci and the Cleophone (one of a kind instrument he made)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPMW7VOKOWQ

wild. that would be an interesting thing to hear wafting out of your neighbor's garage.

i just noticed in the youtube description he's running it through TWO leslies!

Metzger is kick ass. Playing a release show at the Turf! I think May 22? I've heard his latest is superb.

peter walker released two albums on vanguard back in the day -- 'rainy day raga' and 'second poem to karmella' (or something like that.) they are 'okay' in my book, rainy day particularly has some nice moments, but they are not the amazing listening experiences that the best of this stuff is, imo.