Guitar Talk: Railroad Earth’s Todd Sheaffer on His Influences, His Martins, and More
Sheaffer is a colorful and imaginative soloist who does wonders with a very simple setup
Cowboy Chords: An Introduction to Western Swing and Its Illustrious Guitarists
Western swing developed quickly in the 1930s and ’40s from a number of influences: Western life and cowboy culture, various and diverse forms of blues and gospel music, Dixieland jazz and swing, and an all-but-forgotten form of entertainment in traveling tent shows and vaudeville theatre.
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Guitar Talk: French Guitarist Antoine Boyer Is a Master of Many Styles
Guitarist Antoine Boyer Boyer grew up in a Paris suburb, where his musical education began with the Gypsy jazz his parents would play around the house.
Django Reinhardt Still Inspires Guitarists Six Decades After His Death
John Jorgenson thought he’d heard every possible description of Django Reinhardt’s guitar style—until he was asked to play the Gypsy-jazz guitarist’s music for the 2004 film Head in the Clouds. “The British director [John Duigan] said, ‘Django Reinhardt makes a particular sort of a racket on guitar. Can you make…
Classical Guitarist Jason Vieaux and His Broad Spectrum Approach
Among the world’s most prominent Gen-X classical guitarists, Jason Vieaux has embarked on a musical adventure that includes deep excursions into the classical literature juxtaposed with serious expeditions into pop, jazz, and other musical tributaries.
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DIY Folk: What It Takes to Survive and Thrive in the Streaming Era
At the 2019 Folk Alliance International conference, held in Montréal in February, evidence of the vitality and diversity of the contemporary folk scene was everywhere, as nearly 3,000 attendees representing 47 countries crammed the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth hotel with acoustic guitars, banjos, mandolins, fiddles, and upright basses. Alongside legends like…
The Lasting Legacy of the Kingston Trio
Dick Boak traces the Kingston Trio's massive success to their folk roots.
Guitar Talk: Keb’ Mo’ on His Evolution as an Acoustic Player
Multiple Grammy Award-winning American blues artist Keb’ Mo’ counts collaborations with Taj Mahal, Jackson Browne, and Bonnie Raitt among his many golden moments.
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Cataloging the acoustic guitars at Woodstock
On the 50th anniversary of the Woodstock Festival, our author compiled a catalog of the acoustic guitars played on stage by Richie Havens, John Sebastian, Country Joe McDonald, David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Neil Young and more.
Guitar Talk: Nashville Picker Extraordinaire David Grier is Happy to Play Anything
David Grier is the classic guitarist’s guitarist—not terribly well-known by the general public despite a long, stellar career working with just about everyone who’s anyone in the bluegrass and Nashville country music communities over the past four-plus decades, but uniformly admired by fellow guitarists for his amazing skill and versatility.
Steel-String Master Alex de Grassi and Classical Guitarist Andrew York Team Up For Annual Camp
For the fourth consecutive year, steel-string fingerstylist and composer Alex de Grassi Andrew York are teaming up to mentor intermediate and advanced players at the Mendocino Guitar Workshop.
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Guitar Talk: Yasmin Williams Finds Her Own Way
Watching Yasmin Williams perform, it is immediately apparent that the 22-year-old guitarist has an uncommon approach to her solo playing.
Guitar Talk: Eric Skye on Intentional Limitations and the Blues
Skye is among a handful of artists to have been honored with a Santa Cruz Guitar Company signature model. Since its introduction in 2011, he has used the guitar exclusively when straddling the worlds of fingerpicking and flatpicking—in traditional acoustic and more adventurous jazz contexts—which he does with apparent effortlessness.
How to Promote Your Music
It’s easier than ever to put your music out into the world... but building a career is still work, just as it has always been.
Southern Journeys: Alan Lomax’s Steel-String Discoveries
Folklorist Alan Lomax is primarily recognized, when at all, by the instrumental role he played in launching the careers of some America’s—and the world’s—most beloved guitarist-singers. Indeed, it’s difficult to overestimate the role that he and his father, John A. Lomax, played in shaping musical history as they traveled the back roads of the southern United States collecting traditional music under the auspices of the Library of Congress.
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10 Music Festivals You Must Attend At Least Once
Here are ten musical festivals to put on your bucket list (plus, an idea for creating the eleventh...)
A Tribute to Izzy Young
Izzy Young’s accomplishments are the stuff of legend, from producing hundreds of folk concerts (among them Bob Dylan’s first) to organizing protests and beyond.
While My Guitar Gently Smirks: Ben Fong-Torres Reflects on Learning Guitar as an Older Adult
Rock journalist Ben Fong-Torres has interviewed some of the greatest guitarists of all time, but recently he tried playing for himself.
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Eric Bibb Draws on Blues, Folk, Gospel, African, and More on ‘Global Griot’
In a career spanning five decades, singer, songwriter, and guitarist Eric Bibb has proven to be a musical alchemist—combining heaping helpings of blues, gospel, folk, and world music styles into a distinctive and magical amalgam that feels like its own genre. A relentless collaborator, through the years he’s shared albums…
Wendy Eisenberg, Arian Shafiee, and Tashi Dorji: Three Improvising Guitarists in Search of Uncommon Sounds
These three young improvisers play music of striking originality
Stores That Do More: Four Community-Minded Guitar Shops
The four brick-and-mortar shops featured here—those stores that do more—fit the description by offering educational programs, hosting jam sessions, taking part in schools and community events, and fostering a welcoming space for musicians to explore and connect. As a result, they’ve found that community efforts have made them viable in a rapidly changing economy, while giving customers an enduring vehicle for connection.
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Guitar Talk: Martin Simpson Continues to Draw Inspiration From Instruments of All Kinds
Having lived and performed in the United States for 15 years, British guitarist Martin Simpson’s playing is a well-steeped blend of American blues, old-time music, and traditional English folk material. Simpson is currently at the very height of his powers, having released a string of pretty-perfect albums, with last year’s…
Josh Rosenthal of Tompkins Square Records on the Primacy of the Acoustic Guitar
Rosenthal champions underdog and idiosyncratic musicians, a good number of them working in his preferred setting of solo guitar
Dobro Master Jerry Douglas on Building Musical Conversations
Jerry Douglas seems to be everywhere. Apart from fronting his eponymous Jerry Douglas Band, he boasts a 20-year tenure with Alison Krauss and Union Station, as well as a crucial role in a supergroup of sorts, the Earls of Leicester, whose recent release, Live at the CMA Theater in the…
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Guitar Talk: Todd Albright’s Raucous 12-String Fingerstyle Blues
Many musicians can cop the notes played by blues and ragtime greats, but few are as successful at conveying the energy and driving feel as Todd Albright.
