Multiple Layered Guitars Stand Out on Steve Dawson’s ‘Eyes Closed, Dreaming’
As with all of Dawson’s projects that I’ve heard, his layered guitars sit front and center, but he’s also supported by a fine cast of other players.
Artists
Powerful Doc Watson Tribute ‘I Am a Pilgrim’ Surprises with Star-Studded Cast of Players
Diverse roster of artists reinforces the wide musical influence of the legendary guitarist.
How Guitar Duo Rodrigo y Gabriela Is Informed by Eastern Spiritual Practices—and Thrash-Metal
On their latest release, In Between Thoughts... A New World, the spiritually inclined pair have invested their pan-genre musical values with some of their own more metaphysical ones.
Deniz Cuylan Returns with More Brightly Colored Cinematic Abstractions on ‘Rings of Juniper’
The soundscapes on ‘Rings of Juniper’ are increasingly complex, their palettes more varied, their themes more ambitious than Cuylan's previous works.
Christie Lenée Explains the Surprising Sounds and Textures at Play on ‘Coming Alive’
The albums is an extension of Lenée’s current fascinations, which include experimenting with fingerstyle on the 12-string and an ongoing exploration of alternate tunings.
Jamie Stillway and Eric Skye Craft Colorful Flatpicking Duets for a Batch of Old-Time Tunes on ‘Over the Waterfall’
The duo has crafted a colorful soundscape of quietly brilliant flatpicking interpretations of classic American fiddle tunes.
Elsie Franklin Offers a Mix of Bluesy, Vintage-Sounding Originals and Classic Covers on Sophomore Album ‘Miss Rhythm’
Half the songs on Miss Rhythm are originals, though if you didn’t see the writing credits, you could easily be fooled into thinking that they were pulled off scratchy 78s from the ’20s or ’30s.
‘Living in a Song’ Is Another Winner from Dynamic Roots Duo Rob Ickes and Trey Hensley
The duo showcases their classic country songwriting skills on their latest Compass Records release.
Improviser Grant Gordy Thrives in the String-Band Ensemble Setting of His Latest Work
Since Grant Gordy's 2010 self-titled debut album, he has used bluegrass as a foundation while stretching out far beyond the genre’s confines to find his voice as an improviser, composer, and arranger.
Irene Gómez’s ‘Songs of My Life/Canciones de mi Vida’ is an Intriguing Nylon-String Mix of Beatles, Brel, and Schubert
The nimble and expressive Colombian classical guitarist Irene Gómez has always played a diverse repertoire, as befits a musician whose varied guitar education included programs in her native country, in France, and at Juilliard in New York, where she studied with Sharon Isbin.