North Country Primitive

NORTH COUNTRY PRIMITIVE: American Primitive, Raga Guitar, Fingerstyle & Outsider Folk www.northcountryprimitive.co.uk

[northcountryprimitive]

Some lovely guitar soli from Tomas Niesner

[northcountryprimitive]

Some lovely primitive guitar from Czechia courtesy of Šimanský - Niesner. Great psychedelic shirt too.

https://youtu.be/xDfPFaokR6U

[northcountryprimitive]

Alex Archibald: Early Suburban Terrorism (self-released)

This review originally appeared at North Country Primitive in April 2016

Early Suburban Terrorism, available digitally via Bandcamp, is the third self-released album by Vancouver-based guitarist Alex Archibald and an early contender for best album title of the year. This review is a bit of a belated effort, insofar as the album came out at the back end of 2015. However, as I've only just got round to listening to it, you'll have to bear with my somewhat fluid concept of time.

Alex sets his stall out with a strong opening title track: it's a melodic, upbeat piece with a rolling, propulsive gait, very much in debt to the American Primitive tradition, but with its own character to the fore. It's followed by the first of several more reflective pieces, View West from the Rocky Mountains Foothills, Quentin's Ranch, Southern Alberta, Mid March, which as the title suggests, is strongly steeped in a sense of place. This tune billows - conjuring moving clouds in wide-open skies - and is bookended by some lovely use of harmonics.

The Trouble with Tree Time starts off like it intends to homage Charles Mingus, a theme briefly returned to in the outro. One minute in, the style abruptly changes and it inexplicably starts to remind me of acoustic Led Zeppelin. I have no clear evidence as to why the 70s rock gods spring to mind, but I do know that this is a far from bad thing. I picked up a similarly Zeppelin-esque vibe on Night Pyres, a tune that is simultaneously reflective and irrepressible, bubbling over with a quiet ecstasy. Clocking in at five and a half minutes, this is the longest track on the album and gives Alex time to stretch out. These are two of my favourite tracks on the album, hinting as they do at rural psychedelia.

Another change of mood comes on Queequeg in his Coffin, which invents a new variation on the genre - Canadian Primitive, anyone? There are more endless vistas; and whilst the tune has a sense of forward motion, there is no urgency, no hurry. There's something very confident and emphatic about Alex's playing here, like he knows exactly what he wants to say and is at pains to communicate it clearly. It precedes the most delicate, charming piece on the album, the beautiful Chickens to Kendra. Whilst the folk influences on this tune are almost entirely absent, it is still bucolic, hinting at an old world, European ambience - all slow moving rivers and weeping willows

The real treat for me comes with the three banjo tunes. Dry Leaf into the Sea throws away the banjo picker's rule book. Its a raga-like, keening piece - if a banjo can be said to keen - that's crying out for tabla accompaniment. At a mere two minutes, it's all over far too quickly. From a Faerie's Funeral continues to demonstrate Alex's strengths on the instrument: it's more traditional sounding, but expectations are neatly derailed by a persistently clanging drone. Album closer, Ragman on the Front Porch, sounds like it's grown out of an old folk melody: it's very Harry Smith, but is lifted from pastiche by some superb use of banjo harmonics. It's a fittingly exuberant ending to the album.

On a couple of tracks Alex might be said to drift a little close to generic American Primitivism, but this is a minor quibble, as even then he acquits himself just fine. Early Suburban Terrorism is at its best when Alex slows it down a little and allows himself more space. There's some great playing, backed up by a good ear for a melody and a restless, exploratory inventiveness. It leaves me wanting to hear more - and particularly to hear more of his extraordinary way with a banjo.

https://alexarchibald.bandcamp.com/music

[doomandgloomfromthetomb]

Lake Mary & The Ranch Family Band - Sun Dogs

Chaz Prymek has painted a masterpiece with his latest Lake Mary effort, blending Takoma School wizardry with pedal steel bliss. Sun Dogs is an album filled with hope and promise — Prymek’s masterfully laid-back fingerpicking is the aural equivalent of a new day rising over the Rockies. Or at least that’s what I thought this morning, listening while a new day rose over the Rockies. Let me know what you think. The full-band title track is a standout, a beautiful jam that moves from William Tyler-y zones into Rother-ian kosmische majesty. It stretches out to almost 10 minutes, but I wouldn’t mind if it was twice as long. 

[northcountryprimitive]

Dibson T. Hoffweiler - Oakland to Sebastopol (Editions Littlefield)

Originally published at North Country Primitive in May 2016

Oakland to Sebastopol, so titled to commemorate Dibson T. Hoffweiler’s recent move from the urban to the rural and partly recorded in each location, is the latest release on Andrew Weathers’ fine tape label, Editions Littlefield. It’s primarily a solo guitar album, but one that is sparingly augmented by synth textures from Mr Weathers himself and flute from Sarah Stanley. For me, it’s the flute/guitar combination that lifts this already lovely album to another level: in lesser hands, such a pairing could have degenerated into generic new age waftiness, but Dibson and Sarah inject enough bite and eccentricity into the proceedings to avoid this. Walking from MacArthur is charmingly bucolic, without slipping over the border into the anything twee or cloying, radiating an optimism for new beginnings; Eastern Coastal Crumbs is incidental music for the best spooky children’s TV programme never made, birdsong and Incredible String Band-soaked psychedelic pastoralism.

Other tracks that particularly stand out include the synth-enhanced Laguna Rising, which is all sparkles and early morning sun. Another Sunday Dinner is probably the most classically American Primitive sounding track on the album, an uproarious mountain hoedown or the sort that should be appreciated in dungarees and hobnailed boots. Five Years a Home, which would have made a great closer, if that honour hadn’t already gone to Walking from MacArthur, is slow-paced and stately, a reflective and dignified piece, just tinged with a shade of regret.

In the olden days, before we succumbed to the curse of instant gratification, collective attention deficit disorder and pathological multitasking, this album would have been called a grower. That’s not to say that it doesn’t impress on first listen – it does - but it also benefits from close, repeated listening in a quiet corner. Dibson’s playing is confident and assured, but he never attempts to overwhelm the listener with too much sound – this is a musician who appreciates the value of space. To these ears, he saves many of the best tracks for the second half of the album, which means the listener’s pleasure only increases over course of forty-odd minutes. I find myself leaving this album with the desire to hear a more overtly realised trio outing for guitar, flute and synth next time – it’s surely a logical leap. In the meanwhile, this will do just fine.

https://dibson.bandcamp.com/album/oakland-to-sebastopol

[northcountryprimitive]

[northcountryprimitive]

It’s About Being The Change:  The Kyle Fosburgh Interview

Originally published at North Country Primitive in March 2015

Minneapolis-based guitarist Kyle Fosburgh is a man with many fingers in many different pies – solo performer, record label owner, reviver of great lost guitar albums and tireless promoter of alternatives to music industry norms and conventions. Given the scope of his activities, we decided to step outside the North Country Primer format for our interview with him, in an attempt to do justice to all of this: we weren’t going to pass up the opportunity to find out more about the motivations behind his label, Grass-Top Recording, his Robbie Basho and Dennis Taylor reissues – as well as his own music and influences. Our thanks go out to Kyle for giving up his time to talk to us. 

Tell us a bit about yourself and the musical journey that took you to a place where you concluded that playing an acoustic guitar on your own was a good idea...

I believe that God intended for us to play acoustic music. Rock and roll is fine, but there is no substitute for real unamplified acoustic music, if you want to go really deep. Having said that, it’s important to understand that electrified music and acoustic music both have their respective place and purpose in the world. I need both in my life to balance my emotions… so perhaps the most important point in all of this is to play what you feel, and listen to the music that speaks to you personally – to be honest. The real reason why commercial music has gotten so absurdly bad these days is not because people don’t have good taste anymore or are less talented than previous generations, but because few people even get to a place of realising the full potential of music and its original purpose in our lives. It’s just not a concern in anyone’s mind. There’s so much coming at us these days that the only way for young people to discern anything is to sit back, take a breather and begin to think about what it is we’re being sold. And most people don’t have time for that, nor do they see reason enough to question these things. It’s a fast paced world and nobody’s eager to slow it down. Musical composition and performance is a sacred thing to me, not a career. This is why it’s hard to push and promote myself. And this is why I’ve had a bit of a hard time getting press. But it’s not a curse. I am thankful for the fans and support I do have, and will never take that for granted. And while acoustic music will always be front and centre in my life, I need to have fun and play electric music too. It’s important to lighten up now and then and not take yourself too seriously. It keeps you grounded. Will my electrified music end up being more popular than my acoustic music? Who knows! That's not why I do it. But my hope is that there's something in my music for everyone. I enjoy doing all of it. What has influenced your music and why? Robbie Basho has influenced my music. Here’s why. Aside from his own music being the highest form of musical expression - and quality - I’ve ever known, his fundamental approach to composition and his overall musical philosophy aligns with my own. I didn’t even realise what my own musical philosophy was until I heard his music. It was a wake up call from every angle - a complete transformation. When I heard Green River Suite for the first time, I thought “somebody did it… somebody really did it”. But I didn’t know what it was until that moment when I was actually hearing him play! It was an epiphany. I didn’t know the truth until I heard its power. Basho’s music represented, in the most honest and pure way, the possibilities of one person with one guitar and one voice. Music is limitless. You can re-work, blend or extend anything you want. Robbie played exactly what he felt: he extracted influence from music and cultures around the globe and throughout history. That’s what’s so important to take away. I also love the music of Hank Williams, The Blue Sky Boys, Blind Willie McTell and a lot of the old time country, bluegrass, and rural blues musicians. I love Americana. It’s personal and home grown. It’s completely different to Basho, but both can exist in the same world without conflict. To this day, I still play Hank Williams songs at my shows, along with my extended 6 and 12-string guitar ragas and explorations. It works, because both forms of expression are true to me. It just took some strategic set list placements to make the song-to-song transitions work!

How did Grass-Tops Recording come about? Can you tell us something about the label ethos? Grass-Tops was founded a few years ago when I needed a place to put out my music and the Robbie Basho reissues. My first couple of albums came out before the label structure was really solidified. Visions of the Country was the first official physical release on the label. Grass-Tops became a way for me to not only issue my own work, but share the music I was discovering in my own journeys and highlight the artists who’ve inspired me the most. It’s a natural thing in that way… I would say that Grass-Tops represents everything that is pure and great about music, with absolutely zero of the set-backs and BS of the music industry. See, the independent music industry wants to discreetly keep everything to a certain standard in order to keep peoples’ attention and wants to keep things easy to produce and consistently and predictably sell. But they don’t want to set the bar too high or wake people up to something they might be missing. The label guys want to keep things palatable. That’s the main point. They want to keep the culture in place. Nobody wants to shake things up and create a demand for quality. Nobody wants to tell the truth. The incentive is not there for them. Yet these same people want to shoot down the mainstream music industry. In a way, the mainstream music industry is actually better than the independent industry, because at least the material they’re pumping out is not usually trying to disguise itself as ‘art’. In my view, the independent scene is just a better version of a fundamentally corrupt system. And they’re trying to act as though they are the answer to the corruption. Grass-Tops is my small and personal answer to this problem. Instead of putting things down, it’s infinitely more gratifying to build something that’s better, thus creating an alternative for artists. For me it’s about being the change. There are a lot of talented performers and composers out there who never see the light of day. And there are a lot of artists who show strong potential, but get hung up by the industry and don’t evolve. You’ve got to play what you want and be true to yourself, always. Have you ever seen an artist on stage who absolutely dreads what they’re doing? Those who do are not artists - they’re just putting in the time and doing a job. Like I said before, music will never be my career. Running a label and doing all the little busy work is already enough to drive me mad. But that’s ok. Life is work. And playing music will remain my therapy... You have a fine roster of guitarists named on the website who are involved with the label – do they play an active role? How did they become involved? I founded Grass-Tops several years ago, but really didn't make it a full time thing until last year. My friend Hayden Pedigo is involved in the label on the periphery. He's not directly involved in anything, but he and I are really good friends and work together often. We bounce ideas off each other and give each other advice. His spirit is in this thing and that's what really counts to me. He's his own man, and has his own musical thing going on too. He pushes the label when he can. I'm grateful to have his belief in this pursuit of mine - he's been of great support to me. Christoph Bruhn lives in town here. We first me through Facebook before he'd moved to Minneapolis - he was originally from the Duluth area. He's one of the best young guitarists today, in my opinion, along with Hayden. These guys really get it - and they can compose. Being able to compose is a real rarity these days, as is being able to play with feeling and make things your own. Christoph handles artist relations for the label. He plans the tours and books local shows to help us push our music and showcase what we're doing. I think he feels the same way I do about Grass-Tops, that it's a natural thing for guys like us. We like to dive into all things musical and extract what we find to share with those around us. The label is a way for us to publish and market our own music, reissue music that has influenced us as artists, as well as try to build a local community around honest artist-listener relationships. Mariano Rodriguez is another guitarist I met through Facebook - like all of these guys! Aside from being a fantastic and original musician, he also came to me and asked to be our long term graphic designer. Of course, I said yes! The guy is an all around talent and an inspiration to me. Matt Sowell is another guy on the Grass-Tops crew. He's a guitarist originally from Philadelphia and moved to Minneapolis just last year. His wife is from this area and he's travelled here many times. One of his big reasons for re-locating was because the Philadelphia school system was failing his children and he wanted to start a better life for his family. Once again, I knew him through Facebook long before his move here, but we became really good friends once we were able to sit down and have real face-to-face conversations. I'm grateful to have a local friend like him. He's an honest and humble person, and his music reflects that - it comes from an honest place within him. It's actually pretty rare to find guys who play like him these days, who come up out of the 'American Primitive' pool and have a style that's completely their own. This kind of music can be totally freeing, or it can be a trap. With Matt, it's the former. He found a sound that's true to him. At some point, when I get my act together and finish up with my prior commitments for the label, we'll be putting out one of his records. As for right now, he's been booking local shows and just spreading the word about Grass-Tops. Most of the artists on our roster have outwardly expressed a belief in Grass-Tops' mission. To have a roster of players who not only contribute their musical offerings, but also believe in the greater purpose... well, that's what it's about. We're a team. Everything that is released on the label is a team effort. 

Can you tell us about the Robbie Basho reissues and how you came to release them?

Simply put - to this day it’s the greatest music I’ve ever heard. Reissuing Visions of the Country was a dream of mine ever since I first heard it … and lo and behold, a couple years after first hearing it, I reissued it! So from there it was just a matter of finding all of the other albums and tapes. I’m still working on it! There are probably tapes scattered all over the country. I love finding little treasures here and there, little stones unturned. It’s really fun! Each door opens another door and I’ve discovered other artists with whom Robbie’s played, other East Indian recordings and so on… it just keeps going and going. I feel like the Energizer Bunny. It’s like a never-ending treasure hunt.

And can you tell us about Dennis Taylor and the Dayspring album? Dennis Taylor is awesome. He’s an extremely nice guy. He’s one of these guys that just played what he wanted to play. The dream is for every guitarist to be a rock star, right? Well Dennis felt more drawn to the honesty of acoustic music. And for a period of several years up to 1983, he worked up what eventually became his debut solo record. He released it in a limited edition of 300 LPs and they sold out quickly. Now we’re reissuing it over 30 years later. It just goes to show that sometimes when you think something is just going to fade into the black hole of history, it can be revived just like that. Patience is a virtue. And now, people around the country and around the world are beginning to recognise his music.A lot of your own music seems to be available as download only. 

Are there any Kyle Fosburgh physical releases in the pipeline?

Yes. I plan on issuing a CD edition of my recent release entitled Collection. It’s available now as a download through iTunes. My next album is already finished and will be released on CD, vinyl, download and reel-to-reel. It’s a live recording I made in the spring of last year near Chicago. We recorded it in this ballroom at the top of an old building. It’s honestly my proudest achievement yet. It’s going to be titled One Night, as we recorded the entire thing in one night, within the span of less than three hours.

Anything else of note you’ve been busy with?

I’m trying to get a friend of mine to start work on his idea to do a Robbie Basho musical, but he’s been busy saving for college. Saving for school can be an uninspiring process, so I wouldn’t blame him if it took many years before he finally could summon the energy and enthusiasm to put the whole film together. But we’re going to be doing it together when the time comes. It’s going to be the story of Robbie’s life, from his orphan childhood until death, seen through his eyes. So you will never actually see Robbie in the film, you will only see what he sees.

What are you listening to right now, old or new? Any recommendations you’d like to share with us?

I’ve been listening to a lot of Fleetwood Mac. My favourite era of the band was between Peter Green’s departure and before Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham showed up - otherwise known as the Kirwan era. I’ve also been listening to some old country like Hank Williams Senior and Marty Robbins. Marty had a voice of silk. It’s so classic. As for other solo guitar music, George Cromarty has been on my turntable a lot lately. My favourite album of his is called Wind in the Heather. As far as beauty, it’s on par with Visions of the Country in my book. It’s all original classical guitar compositions and is hands down the most beautiful solo guitar record I’ve ever heard.

The guitar nerd bit: what guitars do you play and what do you like about them? Is there anything out there you’re coveting?

I play a Martin M-36. This is my main 6-string guitar. It’s my favourite guitar of all time. It’s a rare Martin model. The way it’s built is interesting and contributes to its unique tone. The top is Sitka spruce, with a beautiful dark finish, and the sides are rosewood. The body is really wide but relatively shallow for its width, so you can get deeper tones and really bright tones depending on where and how you strum or pick. It’s built to offer that wide range of tones. The back is also arched and gets shallower the closer it gets to the neck. I can do anything and everything on this guitar. It’s perfect for country and western stuff, flat picking, fingerstyle, you name it. And because the body is shallow, it rests close to your chest. The necks are also thin and easy to navigate. It’s just a great, great guitar. And here’s the little secret about Martins - they age like fine wine. The more they’re played and the older they are, the more the wood fibres begin to open up and the glue that holds the wood together begins to naturally loosen. When I tune it down a full step and play Hank Williams, it just kills. The tone of the guitar matches right up with my voice.

The way the guitars came about was, I believe, when Steve Earle or someone broke the top on an archtop guitar and brought it in to get fixed. They - I assume Martin - replaced it with a flat top. So, if you look at the M-36, the body is structured like an archtop, but the top itself is flat.

For a 12-string I use some cheaper Martin. I honestly can’t even remember the name of the model. All I know is it sounds good and it’s a work horse. It’s nice to find guitars that are inexpensive and sound good, because you don’t need to worry as much about taking them on the road. The thing about the 12-string I use is that it’s huge! It really projects.

I use K&K mini pickups in both acoustics. I’m very happy with the way they sound plugged directly into the PA, if it’s a good sound system. This is especially the case with the 12-string. Man, it sounds utterly glorious plugged in! The thing with the K&K pickups is that they pick up the sound off the top of the guitar, and with the 12-string, the sound really drives the top of the guitar.

Banjos: yes or no?

To listen to, yes; to play, no.

What are you planning to do next – both in terms of your own music and the label?

We’ve got a lot of Basho reissues in the pipeline. Next up is a reissue of his last actual LP, Rainbow Thunder from 1981. It’s one of my favourites of his, as I’ve always loved, loved, loved his singing. The songs are beautiful!

As for my own music, besides my upcoming album, I’d like to get a DVD concert filmed. I’m talking with my producer about going to Chicago in the spring to shoot it. We’re still looking for a location. An acquaintance of his owns an incredible camera and we may be able to hire his services to film the concert. There’s not a lot of footage of me out there right now, so this would be nice to have.

What should we have asked you and didn’t?

The only thing I would add to all this is the following quote: “It’s a mean old world. You got to fight to stay in it though. You got to scuffle. You gotta be strong. You gotta do your thing.” - John Lee Hooker

[northcountryprimitive]

Long Pike Hollow: The Other Side of Piers Haslam

Originally published at North Country Primitive in June 2016

Here at North Country Primitive, we were already aware of Piers Haslam as an up and coming interpreter of traditional English folk song. Although not yet out of his teens, he has already been developing a burgeoning reputation as a performer who understands that folk music is not a genteel parlour game, but a raw and unfettered force of nature - in the right hands. Rightly, he has been compared less with his contemporaries than with the great guitar-slinging British folkies  of the 1960s and 70s.  What we didn't know, or at least until he sent us the self-released album by his alter ego, Long Pike  Hollow, is that he is also a talented fingerstyle guitarist with a deep love of all things American Primitive. We decided it was time we investigated further...

You're starting to develop quite a reputation as a purveyor of English traditional folk song. So what gives with this veering off into the murky world of American Primitive guitar? Is it a long held interest you wanted to explore further? A scratching of an itch that traditional song can't satisfy?

Oh indeed yes, it is a long held interest. I mean, the first music I ever created was solo instrumentals, when I was about 13. I was very aware of American primitive/instrumental guitar music from an early age, mainly just from a handful of John Fahey and Bert Jansch tracks, and I immediately saw the joy one can find working in that form when I picked up playing the guitar.  And certainly yes, there is a strong and very distinct satisfaction to playing your own music and having people listen and enjoy.  Trad folk is a wonderful world, where arranging and reinterpreting are highly respected arts, rightly so, but in the end you are doing covers,  and personally I rather fancied letting out a more wildly creative force. Is Long Pike Hollow a side project? A one-off? The way forward? When someone goes to see Piers Haslam  folk singer  in concert, does Long Pike Hollow sneak a few tunes into his repertoire? Or is there a strict division of labour? No, my LPH direction is certainly not ephemeral. It really is a thing I've wanted to do for an awful long time, and I thing I think I'll always do, whether anyone is listening or not! But no, there isn't really a strict division... I would be highly unlikely to sing a folk song at an LPH gig, but I always slip a few of my own into a folky set. Part of the joy of an LPH gig is the novelty of not singing at all... well, a novelty to someone who's been singing most of their performing life. Long Pike Hollow is a great name for the project. Is there a meaning behind it or do you just like how the words sit together? It's named after a landscape feature in the beautiful Shropshire hills, which I'm blessed to have spent a lot of time in. It's a wonderful place, and I just saw the name on a map and thought it was extremely catchy and satisfyingly meaningless. Who are your key influences as a guitarist? And can you tell me what got you started and how long you've been playing? Key influences are John Fahey, William Tyler and Richard Thompson, all of whom I started seriously studying videos and recordings of a few years back. I began playing when I was about 10, so eight years ago. I strummed 60s pop songs until I was 13, when I began writing a few tunes. Nick Harper was a very huge influence at this point, and his album Instrumental was my first full length exposure to solo guitar music. But folk music also came to the fore at this time from my love of Liege & Lief, so I began singing folk songs and playing guitar along with them. The folk music was a fantastic area to go to and it has brought me much joy, but it did stop me almost entirely from instrumental experimentation for quite a while. What is the balance between composition and improvisation in the Long Pike Hollow material? Well most of my songs spring off from a long session of improvising, but when it comes to performing it depends. All of them do have a very set structure, but most have a few places I deliberately leave more blank, so I can come up with something fresh on the night.

Can you see a time where you bring together your interest in traditional folk and your interest in fingerstyle guitar (other than accompanying yourself on guitar when you sing folk songs)? I'm thinking of stuff like extemporisations and improvisations based on traditional songs and tunes, much as some of the US guitarists have done with, for example, Appalachian fiddle tunes...

Yes, I can see that. I suppose I've done that quite a lot with Norwegian folk tunes, which are a great love of mine for their peculiar beauty and simplicity. But in all, yes, I think it's a wonderful thing to do, and I have no qualms with bringing in folk elements to my instrumental music. I mean, so much of my playing is informed by American and English folk music, and by Middle Eastern, Chinese, and Central Asian traditional forms. Moving to the trad folk side of things, where do you see yourself sitting in terms of the folk scene? It's my contention that too much of the younger end of the UK trad scene is a little too polished, prissy and polite for its own good and  musically, at least - could do with a night or two out on the tiles with the Cosmic Dead. I don't see much of the grit or soul of the best of the folk performers of the 70s. And there's not enough guitar. Do you see yourself as part of the lineage of British folk guitarists - the Carthys, the Nic Joneses, the Jansch and Renbourns, the Michael Chapmans? Can you see a rawer, rougher-edged take on traditional folk re-emerging, and if so, would you align yourself with that? After all, when you listen to field recordings of traditional singers, its pretty wild, rough and ready stuff... Oh yes, I agree. A thing that really attracted me to traditional music was how rough and very subversive it can be. I always gravitate towards the stranger songs, the side of stuff people rarely sing. So I love old war songs, political broadsides... it's just a side of the whole rich musical past one practically never sees. But when it comes to folk music, and singing folk songs, I feel more in line with John Kirkpatrick, despite a huge influence from Martin Carthy and others mentioned. I think there's a real edgy aspect to what John Kirkpatrick does, and I feel like I want to bring that out into the fore with my folky stuff. And in terms of guitar accompanying my singing, I like to keep it to a minimum, because for me in English song one needs to let the voice shine through any kind of accompaniment, and I do often sing unaccompanied. So I think I do align myself with that, really. But that singing emphasis is obviously only a part of my folky ethos - when it comes to LPH I will happily mess around instrumentally. What are you listening to at the moment? Any recommendations, old or new? Well! It may not be entirely on topic, but I'm listening to an awful lot of dub reggae and early dancehall at the moment. But something I'd love to recommend to any lovers of American primitive or whatever is Chinese guqin music, a tradition I find to be highly kindred. Beautiful meditative simplicity, most of the tunes being many hundreds of years old. There's an album called The Pure Sound of Mountain and Water by Shuishan Yu that I'd recommend in particular. Have you got a particular guitar you would save first in the face of a natural disaster? I think, rather amusingly, I'm not really attached to any of my guitars! Apart from the one I learnt to play on, an Argos purchase. The one I perform with was £200, and it's really the only guitar I have that is okay to play. What's in store for you next? Music composed for the electric guitar... Anything I should have asked but I didn't? Yes - what inspires you to compose your songs, artistically and musically? My answer: most do start from some kind of inspiration, a place, a person, an idea... and if not then they very soon take on meaning. But musically I try my very best to do something really unusual, that's what I'm so often striving for. American primitive guitar as it comes down to us from Fahey and Basho etc is such a wonderful gift, and I'm determined to keep it fresh and evolve the form further. In the future I want to create music that sounds radically different to anything ever heard before... that's an ultimate goal.

https://longpikehollow.bandcamp.com/

[northcountryprimitive]

The North Country Primer No 11: Borealis, Xixón, Asturias, Spain

Originally published at North Country Primitive in March 2016

I'd been aware of  Borealis thanks to various CDrs of his music that have come out over the past few years on Roger Linney's extremely prolific micro-label, Reverb Worship, but I knew nothing about who was behind this steady stream of releases. I was drawn to the way his skilful and sensitive playing was often set against a context of almost industrial ambient drone, the track Camero, above, being as case in point. Anyway, it turns out Borealis is the alter-ego of one Eduardo Suárez from Xixón (aka Gijón) in Asturias, Northern Spain, an area better known for the wonderful combination of bagpipes and cider than for guitarists influenced by the American Primitive tradition and the cinematic soundscapes of James Blackshaw. Naturally, I decided we needed to find out more...

Tell us a bit about yourself and the musical journey that took you to a place where you concluded that playing an acoustic guitar on your own was a good idea...

I started practicing with a classical Spanish guitar when I was a kid. My father played classic pieces in a non-professional way, so really I was always comfortable in that style,  althoughmany years later, I played electric guitar in different bands. Around 2004 I started to record solo songs, using many instruments - guitars, bass, rhythm, and lots of other things - in the vein of Six Organs of Admitance, something that the Reverb Worship label released as 2004-2006, two years ago. Those songs led me to think that I had to use a format that could touch me only. I knew the music of Missisipi John Hurt and John Fahey, but it was not until I met Glenn Jones in person at a concert in Asturias, where I live, and I saw him live, that I realised the possibilities of this style. What have you been up to recently? At the moment, I'm in the middle of recording what will be my fifth album as Borealis. I intended to record it at the end of 2015, but sometimes things are not easy and delays happen. Fortunately it's already almost completely recorded, so I hope it will come out in spring of this year. It probably will be on the Truco Esparrago label again, with whom I have a very good relationship and who area in my local region, but if any label is interested in releasing it outside Spain or putting it out as a joint release, we'd be happy to do this. The disc follows the line of the previous three - solos for 6 & 12-string guitar. What have been your key influences, musical or otherwise? Are there other current guitarists you feel a particular affinity towards? My influences are obviously classic players such as Mississippi John Hurt, John Fahey, Robbie Basho and other European guitarists, such as John Renbourn. But of more current players, undoubtedly Jack Rose and Glenn Jones were a great inspiration to me, mostly by their way of doing something today on the basis of something that was at the same time so classic  Really impressive and something that claimed me forcefully. I really like also the music of Daniel Bachman and the English guitarist, Nick Jonah Davis. What is the balance of composition and to improvisation in your music? I've been asked this question many times. Maybe my music may seem more improvised, but I normally start with a composition and, though it does not appear to be so, a mathematical interpretation. I try to always repeat the same pattern, and although sometimes I like to get carried away with improvisation, I do not usually do this in recordings or at concerts.What are you listening to right now, old or new? Any recommendations you’d like to share with us? In recent months, I've been listening to lots of music by pianists. Recently I discovered a young pianist, Francesco Taskayali, who I can't stop listening to and who I would recommend. On the other hand, I often have music playing that sounds pretty remote from the acoustic guitar such as electronics or noise/ambient - or things such as Six Organs of Admittance, Songs Ohia, Silver Mount Zion... The guitar nerd bit: what instruments do you play and what do you like about them? Is there one particular instrument you’d save first in the face of a natural disaster (once you’d saved your nearest and dearest, of course!) It may seem otherwise, but I'm not very careful with my guitars. I currently use an acoustic of average price, even if I am usually more careful with the brand of strings and the recording process, which I am very obsessive about. The only guitar that would save is my old Alhambra 11c, a wonderful classical Spanish concert guitar made by hand in 1986 and with which I have recorded some songs. Banjos: yes or no? Favourite plucked-thing that isn’t a guitar?​ Coincidentally, these past months I've been playing a 4-string banjo. In Asturias, on the north coast of Spain, where I live, the most typical traditional instruments are bagpipes and other wind instruments, along with percussion of Celtic origin, but perhaps a song with banjo would be included Anyway, if I could, I would practice more with the piano, an instrument that I love. What are you working on at the moment and what’s store for you next?​ Months ago I record a video with a song off my new album. I'm about to finish recording and hope to have it ready for spring. There isn't much variation regarding the latest album, that is, more 6 & 12 string guitars. I think that there is a more harmonious aspect to these new songs, but I try to keep the same essence, halfway between the folk and the drone/ambient.

You can download music and buy CDs by Borealis from Bandcamp.

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The North Country Primer No 10: Jan Mörgenson, Metz, France 

Originally published at North Country Primitive in March 2016

So far we've mainly featured guitarists from the USA, with a smattering of British players for variety. This has long been something we needed to remedy, so this time round, in the run up to the release of his forthcoming album on Specific Records, Jass, Raag & Blooz, we have an interview with French guitarist Jan Mörgenson.

Tell us a bit about yourself and the musical journey that took you to a place where you concluded that playing an acoustic guitar on your own was a good idea… I'm from Metz, France (pronounced mess), 35 and my beard is kinda ginger. I started playing the guitar at 23, and from the beginning I was attracted by the acoustic. It has a more natural  - as opposed to synthetic- flavor to me. I was listening to a lot of folk music by this time. I got this great compilation from Arthur Magazine, curated by Devendra Banhart and featuring Josephine Foster, Ben Chasny, Matt Valentine, Meg Baird and so on. And there was this Jack Rose piece, White Mule. I didn't notice how much it hit me at first, but I'd come back to it more and more. Then I heard of Fahey, Basho, Kottke and others. And then I was into it! I think this music just suits me. I don't know if it's relevant or if I have any credit or legitimacy - there are so many great pickers out there - but this is what I have to do. It makes me feel good. I guess I like the simplicity of the formula. You know: one man, one guitar. And yet the possibilities are quite infinite. And it forces you to use dynamics and subtlety - to put some shades in your playing. I think that's why this music is relevant: it offers a rich and wide palette of emotions and it leaves some space for the listener, compared to what is mostly offered in mainstream music and the supposed laziness of the audience. Well, that sounds pretentious but I like to explore feelings and thoughts. We have brains and guts, let's use them. What have you been up to recently? I'm going to release my first full LP with Specific Recordings. That's been quite a long process. I recorded the tracks last July and now it'll finally come out. Seems to be like pregnancy, physiological issues asides. I'm also playing in a band, Thee Verduns. Garage Folk/Country/Blues. I play the lapsteel and we also have a new record coming out. They were a duo for ten years or so and now we've been a four-piece for a year and a half. I love them. What have been your key influences, musical or otherwise? Are there other current guitarists you feel a particular affinity towards? I started quite late with playing music. No one in my family was into it. Just a grandfather who died before my birth. He played mandolin and fiddle, and sang in German big folk bands and choirs. My tastes must come from there I suppose. I was a Nirvana fan when I was 15. Then as I said, Americana stuff, from Woody Guthrie to Johnny Cash. Bluegrass is also great. Country, folk, blues. Also Latin and Eastern folk music. Jack Rose was the best. The new record is somehow dedicated to his memory. He had the touch and drive, the sound and composition genius. He made me listen to New Orleans music from the 20s and 30s. More recently I had the opportunity to share some gigs with Seabuckthorn. Very talented and a lovely person. Another French guitarist based in Brussels that you should check out is L'Oeilliere. Amazing weird stuff. What is the balance of composition and improvisation in your music? I don't improvise that much - I'm not really good at it. I'm afraid to sound bad. But the more I play with other people, the more I learn to let go. For instance, one of the songs on my new record, which is the longest piece, ten minutes or so, is partially improvised. I needed a piece to complete the LP and had nothing when I came to record. So I worked on something for a day or two and did several takes. I had parts, chords, clusters and patterns, but the structure was improvised. My music is pretty much written. But sometimes when playing live, I do change some of the structure of the songs, intentionally or not.What are you listening to right now, old or new? Any recommendations you’d like to share with us? I do pretty much enjoy drone music. It has an ecstatic and ritual quality. Music should always be a ritual. Check out Father Murphy. They're from Italy. Oh, and I'm a big fan of Ennio Morricone. Have you seen the latest Tarantino movie? The soundtrack is huge! I also like to discover new things on the radio. Mainstream or independent stuff. Otherwise I listen to a lot of live music, bands on tour playing in town. Last week for instance, there was a show almost every night! We also have a very active scene in Metz. Here are some friends and local bands I recommend to you: Gouffre, Avale, Doc Geo, Le Seul Element, Raw Death, Le Singe Blanc, Scorpion Violente. The guitar nerd bit: what instruments do you play and what do you like about them? Is there one particular instrument you’d save first in the face of a natural disaster (once you’d saved your nearest and dearest, of course!) I own 7 guitars... There are cheap ones I use for spare or to plug in my amp. But solo I mostly play unplugged guitars: a Lakewood dreadnought, with lots of basses and a Goldtone Weissenborn copy, with nice mediums and a hint of natural crunch and saturation. I also have an old Gibson B-25 from the late 60s. I don't play it often anymore, but I used it on the LP. Amazing dynamics and harmonics. That's what you'd expect from a 50 years old instrument, I guess. That's the one I would probably save: I have a kind of affection for it. With the band I play another Goldtone, an Oahu Tonemaster copy. Electric. A friend lent me a worn original one from the 50s to record. The copy doesn't have as much personality, but it's brand new and I'm still discovering it. Banjos: yes or no? Favorite plucked-thing that isn’t a guitar? I owned a cheap banjo. I recorded once with it. I collected folk instruments for a time. Dulcimer, ukes, charango, whatever stringed. I even refurbished a cheap balalaika I found on eBay. Never really played those. Nicolas, the lead singer in Thee Verduns does play the banjo very well, I like it. It's not really plucked, but I do love the cello. Can't play it, but the spectrum and voicing sound just perfect to my ears. What are you working on at the moment and what’s store for you next? Well, I'm working on the LP release. I'm gonna share the stage with Daniel Bachman in Metz on May 4th and then have a little tour of France. It also seems we have quite a lot of gigs to come with the band - that should be nice. After that, I don't really know. Maybe some new collaboration. I also have a bunch of unfinished guitar pieces to work on.

Keep an eye out for Jan's forthcoming album on Specific Records, Jass, Raag & Blooz. Meanwhile, you can pick up his three earlier release on download from Bandcamp.

[northcountryprimitive]

The North Country Primer No. 9: Jim Ghedi, Sheffield, England

Originally published at North Country Primitive in January 2016

Tell us a bit about yourself and the musical journey that took you to a place where you concluded that playing an acoustic guitar on your own was a good idea… I have played acoustic guitar since  I was very young, in many different variations and explorations, but never too seriously. My mother bought me a guitar when she noticed I couldn't resist playing pretty much anything musical around me. When I was younger, I was also heavily into music production: my aunty had a habit of sending me obscure charity shop CDs and I'd absorb these otherworldly things and make use of them with strange sampling. When I turned about 16, I started taking music and the guitar more seriously and got introduced to bands, as well as to the folk world - I spent some time in hospital around this time, with problems on my lungs. It was during this time in hospital that I had such a urge for guitar playing and made it a focus to really learn the instrument. From then onwards, I have been active in the experimental and folk fields as much as possible, really. I lived in Belgium last year for around six months and it was this time really where the idea of instrumental guitar music became a solid foundation to work within. What have you been up to recently? I released my debut album, Home is Where I Exist, Now to Live & Die, with Cambrian Records late last year and we toured the release for two months around the UK with fellow label guitarist, Toby Hay. We had a lot of fun on the road and played in some pretty amazing places around some pretty amazing people, who put us up and fed us well. What have been your key influences, musical or otherwise? Are there other current guitarists you feel a particular affinity towards? For me, I'm learning quickly that with influences, it's a fine balance between music and life: getting those things hand-in-hand takes time and experience, along with the willingness to let yourself go. Influence isn't something that should easily pass, it should take time to capture and hopefully resonate. I'm still young and I'm learning to be more patient and spending the time to really focus on the basics. Keeping a passion for life and hoping they will find a place where it both feeds each other. There is a vast bundle of artists, both current and past, which I highly admire and am grateful that they exist and perform - it inspires you and humbles you. What is the balance of composition and to improvisation in your music? It's a similar concept actually - I try to leave a balance of both. Normally I cover the groundwork with a structure and progression I'm familiar with, but try my best to encourage room for more improvised bits to appear if the feeling is there. I love both improvised and composed music and I'd like to fit somewhere in the middle, ideally. What are you listening to right now, old or new? Any recommendations you’d like to share with us? After the tour, I have immersed myself in a lot of traditional folk including the ancient harp, fiddle and pipe music of Scotland, Ireland and Wales, so that's been pretty much playing everyday for the past month. I came across an album on tour by an Irish band called The Gloaming which I cannot recommend enough - incredible musicianship. Also a Harpist, Catrin Finch, and a kora player, Seckou Keita, released an album together last year which was incredible. I'm listening to fiddler Martin Hayes a lot and also the magical fingers of Paul Dooley, an ancient Welsh harp player. On the guitar front, I've been revisiting my obsession with Robbie Basho - and Chuck Johnson's Blood Moon Boulder album released last year really moved me. The guitar nerd bit: what instrument(s) do you play and what do you like about it/them? Is there one particular instrument you’d save first in the face of a natural disaster (once you’d saved your nearest and dearest, of course!) So... I play a Taylor 210-E acoustic guitar, previously owned and had extra work done on it by a luthier. It plays like a dream and it was love at first sight. Couldn't imagine music without this thing, man. I recently bought a 12 string Canadian-built Larrivee guitar, which is taking some time to adjust to, but it's a beautiful guitar. Banjos: yes or no? Favourite plucked-thing that isn’t a guitar? Yes, my man love a banjo! I own one, but don't give it the attention it deserves. Other favoured stringed instruments are a Japanese Zither (Koto) and an Indian Sarod. I love the tones from both these instruments. Also check out Amjad Ali Khan for a Sarod masterclass. What are you working on at the moment and what’s store for you next? ​Well, after our tour, me and Toby Hay have started playing on some duo material together and are heading out to do a short tour in February around the UK, which I'm really excited about. As well as that, I'm finding inspiration and real connections to the history and traditions of the UK and its land, researching and taking trips to Aberdeenshire in Scotland and around Yorkshire and Derbyshire where I'm from, as well as learning about my family's roots in Ireland - I'm planning to take a trip there this year and also spending time in Wales. I've been writing a lot of material based on these places and stories within them. I'll be working solidly on the material with other musicians collaborating and really crafting the songs, taking my time on these and not rushing anything. Anything we should have asked you but didn't? You can purchase the album on my Bandcamp - and make sure to follow Cambrian Records. They have some really incredible music planned for release this year. I'm really excited to be involved with such a talented bunch of people residing on it. Thanks for all the support - you guys are the torch bearers for this music! Keep it burning!

[northcountryprimitive]

North Country Primer No. 8: Brad Wood, St Louis, MO

Originally published at North Country Primitive in January 2016

Another year, another edition of the North Country Primer. This time it's the turn of St Louis, Missouri-based guitarist Brad Wood, who self-released the lovely Ten Years Ago via Bandcamp last year. Ten years in the making,  it's another of those melodic fingerstyle albums we love so much here: fully formed pieces interspersed with brief, haunting interludes. On the strength of his debut, we sincerely hope we won't have to wait another ten years for the follow up...

Tell us a bit about yourself and the musical journey that took you to a place where you concluded that playing an acoustic guitar on your own was a good idea... I started playing guitar when I was about 10 years old.  My parents rented me a Telecaster copy one summer and I got hooked.  It was also around this time that I was getting into classic rock, bands like The Beatles, Led Zeppelin and, of course, Jimi Hendrix.  My first couple of years playing guitar was focused on rock, but later I started playing in my school's jazz band.  This was huge for me, in terms of understanding more complex chord voicings and melodic phrasing.  My first year of college, I needed an extra credit hour so I took private lessons.  This teacher was a finger style guitarist, and introduced me to a style of playing that was relatively unknown to me.  Eleven years later, finger style is what I play the most.   What have been your key influences, musical or otherwise? Are there other current guitarists you feel a particular affinity towards? From the rock world, anything Beatles, anything Hendrix, The Band, Led Zeppelin, Van Morisson...in jazz, Wes Montgomery, Grant Green, Pat Metheny...and of course John Fahey, Michael Hedges, Leo Kottke, etc.   What is the balance of composition and improvisation in your music? Pretty much 100% of my music is composed.  I have only written one finger style piece, so far, that has included elements of improvisation. It hasn't been on purpose; I would love to include improvisation in my music, but I just haven't gone that route yet.  What are you listening to right now, old or new? Any recommendations youd like to share with us?  I've really been enjoying the current group of finger style artists...Nathan Salsburg, Kyle Fosburgh, Daniel Bachman, William Tyler, Steve Gunn and others.  I like Ryley Walker's new album, and I'm also enjoying the Dennis Taylor reissue.

The guitar nerd bit: what instruments do you play and what do you like about them? Is there one particular instrument you'd save first in the face of a natural disaster (once you'd saved your nearest and dearest, of course!) My primary guitars are a Martin 6 string, a Tacoma baritone, and an Epiphone Dot. I used to work at a music store and had the privilege of testing out many different instruments.  I've had these guitars since then and haven't looked for anything different. They all feel very natural to me. The one I'd save is the Martin; it's by far the one I play the most.   Banjos: yes or no? Favourite plucked-thing that isn't a guitar? I do own a banjo, but I've never had much luck playing it.  Something just doesn't click with me on it, but I do admire musicians who can play it well.  Besides guitar, my favorite plucked-thing would be either a ukulele (although I rarely play one), or bass (if that counts).   What are you working on at the moment and what's store for you next? I've worked up a handful of new songs and hope to have a full album's worth of them in a year or so.  I'd like to upgrade my recording equipment, and perhaps add another Martin guitar to the arsenal, so I don't have to retune so much!   

Ten Years Ago is available to download for a very reasonable $3 from Brad's Bandcamp page, here.

[northcountryprimitive]

North Country Primer #7: Raymond Morin, Pittsburgh. PA

Originally published at North Country Primitive in May 2015

The seventh installment in our North Country Primer series features Pittsburgh-based guitarist, Raymond Morin, who many of you may also know as the head honcho of the excellent fingerstyle blog, Work & Worry, a key inspiration for our own humble efforts. While Work & Worry has gone on the back burner for the time being, Raymond has been finding plenty more guitar-related activity to keep him busy - as well as repairing and building them as part of his day job, he is also organising regular gigs for like-minded musicians passing through Pittsburgh and, alongside David Leicht, playing as one half of acoustic duo Pairdown - more of which below.

Tell us a bit about yourself and the musical journey that took you to a place where you concluded that playing an acoustic guitar on your own was a good idea...

I grew up in an old mill town in northeast Connecticut, pretty removed from anything interesting.  I initially started playing music just because it was something to do when the weather wasn’t conducive to skateboarding.  My girlfriend at the time - now my wife - had a guitar sitting under her bed, and I asked her to show me some chords.  Her dad jokes that because he originally taught her the chords that she passed on to me, he’s the one who basically taught me everything I know!   I originally put down the pick back in my band days, when I played in a sort of chamber-pop group called The Higher Burning Fire.  I guess my initial thought was that it would distinguish the sound of my playing if I picked with my fingers and came up with the most physically demanding chord shapes I could think of, stuff that I couldn’t imagine other guitarists going to the trouble to execute.  As I developed as a “fingerstyle” player, I came to the logical conclusion that not only could I play somewhat orchestrally on my own, but there was a tradition of doing this thing on acoustic guitars, which had their own exotic appeal, and travelled a lot more easily than electrics plus amps. What has influenced your music and why? I loved alternative and college rock in high school, R.E.M., Morrissey and The Smiths, Jane’s Addiction etc, but I always had Simon & Garfunkel and Bob Dylan rattling around in my head, from when my parents used to listen to the oldies radio station on family trips.  I got really into indie and post-rock for a few years after high school, stuff like Unwound, Fugazi, Tortoise, June of 44, Boys Life, etc.  When I started playing acoustic guitar and fingerpicking more, I started digging deeper into the older  stuff, in addition to writing my own songs, and naturally found my way to my longtime favorites: Bert, Davy, John Renbourn, Martin Carthy, that whole generation of players just never ceases to enthrall me. So in addition to the records that I was listening to, I was lucky enough to befriend a few players over the years that have continued to have a massive influence on the way I play and perceive music.  The first is a great friend of mine named Matthew Goulet, who I met when I lived in Boston.  I was a year or two into exploring British folk and blues music, and Matt had all of that stuff down cold, but was also an exceptional ragtime picker.  As a guitarist, that was a big door to have someone open for you!  Within a couple days of meeting Matt, I knew that I would never be happy until I learned to play like him, and I’ll be damned if I’m not still trying.   The second biggest influence on the way that I think about guitar playing is probably Milo Jones, a criminally under-known guitarist from Boston and another good friend.  I can’t begin to describe how deep Milo’s music goes, he’s a very accomplished player and singer who has a pretty unique vision, a harmonic sophistication that’s unrivaled in the “solo guitar dude” world.  More rooted in jazz, I guess.  His YouTube videos are great, and you can listen to a ton of his recorded music on his Bandcamp page. The biggest influence is my ongoing partnership with David Leicht. We play as a fingerstyle duo called Pairdown.  When I first moved to Pittsburgh and met Dave, we were both plying our wares as solo singer/songwriter types, he was fingerpicking just a little bit… I think initially we both just liked each other's lyrics, and we just got on really well together.  In the time I’ve known him, Dave has become a real master at composing for the acoustic guitar, and it’s a huge challenge for me coming up with parts that are worthy of being attached to his songs.  He has also become a fantastic fingerpicker in his own right.  He can play Ton Van Bergeyk’s Grizzly Bear for crying out loud.  That ain’t easy. What have you been up to recently? Well, I have a young daughter who is at the top of the priority list these days.  I manage and do repairs at a musical instrument shop called Acoustic Music Works here in Pittsburgh, so that’s the full-time gig.  It’ll be three years ago this summer that I started learning to build acoustic guitars, so that takes up a lot of my time, just exploring that and honing that craft.  I’m very fortunate to have access to a lot of insanely nice acoustics at my job, stuff like Collings and Bourgeois, some fancy luthier-built stuff and my share of old Martin and Gibsons, so I take a lot of notes. Since I started at AMW, I’ve also been presenting a lot of guitar-oriented concerts at the shop.  When I was writing about guitar music for workandworry.com (still online, but kind of dormant these days, with everything else going on) I got to speak to a lot of these guys whenever they had a new record in the works, and now I’m able to give them a cool place to play when they’re on tour.  Pittsburgh is not exactly known as a raging guitar soli town, you know?  But we have a good time, and I’ve been able to get cash into everyone’s pockets, which I know wasn’t the case at a lot of the places that these guys and gals used to play when they passed through.  If you’re reading this blog and are planning a tour that passes through Pittsburgh, feel free to hit me up about a gig at [email protected]. Other than that, we’re currently gearing up to record a new Pairdown LP, which is very exciting.  Some of our best guitar-work so far, for sure, but also some of our coolest songs.  We have a couple real epics on our hands, some real dynamic tunes that have lots of twists and turns… so we’ll probably record that starting this summer sometime, maybe early in the fall.  

What are you listening to right now, old or new? Any recommendations you’d like to share with us? This would be a good time to score some cool points, but I’m afraid my music listening has no agenda, rhyme or reason behind it.  Lately it’s lots of Mastodon, First Aid Kit, Sturgill Simpson, John Renbourn, Steve Gunn, Phil Ochs.  I got to hear what I believe are the final mixes for the new James Elkington / Nathan Salsburg duet record, those guys are incredible.  Their first one, Avos, is easily one of my favorites from the current generation of guitar players, and Nathan’s solo stuff is nothing short of breathtaking.  I’d recommend that anyone who wants to hear great guitar playing listen to Milo Jones.  I also love LOVE the ragtime playing of John James, and Stefan Grossman has been reissuing James’ Kicking Mule LPs on CD over the last couple years.   The guitar nerd bit: what guitars do you play and what do you like about them? Is there anything out there you’re coveting? My main guitar is a custom by Trevor Healy, who builds acoustics and electrics in Easthampton, MA as Healy Guitars.  It’s called his RM model, it’s a small jumbo (16” lower bout) and this particular one is 25” scale, with an Adirondack spruce top and Cuban mahogany back and sides.  I’ve had this guitar for over three years now, it sounds wonderful and it just gets better and better, all the time.  Your readers might now Trevor from the Beyond Berkeley Guitar CD that came out on Tompkins Square a few years ago, he’s a great fingerpicker in addition to being a great luthier.   I also recently built myself a ladder-braced L-00 sized guitar, a copy of the new Waterloo WL-14 that Collings came up with.  Those are based on the old Kalamazoo KG-14s that Gibson built for the catalog/department store market during the depression, something like a $15 guitar at the time.  Mine is a really dry sounding guitar, with a very quick and immediate response.  It’s great for the really snappy ragtime and country blues stuff, but honestly pretty much everything sounds awesome on it.  It has a really chunky “V” neck, which scares off a lot of people, but I love it. I’m around hundreds of brilliant guitars all day at work, so a certain amount of self control is required.  One day I’d like to build myself an OM-45 out of one of the sets of Brazilian rosewood that I have, or better yet, have Trevor build it! Banjos: yes or no? For sure!  Corn Potato String Band from Detroit just played at my shop a few weeks ago, and they had a two-banjo version of “Nola” played in harmony… totally blew my socks off! What are you planning to do next? I’ve got a bunch of guitar building commissions and other projects lined up, pretty much through the end of the year, so between that and the new Pairdown record getting recorded, I’ve got my work cut out for me.   What should we have asked you and didn’t? Nah, I’ve gone on plenty.  Thanks, keep up the good work!

Pairdown have a Bandcamp page here. You can read Work & Worry here. Meanwhile, you can find out more about Acoustic Music Works here.

[northcountryprimitive]

The North Country Primer #6: Christoph Bruhn, Saint Paul, MN

Originally published at North Country Primitive in May 2015

The sixth North Country Primer features another player associated with Grass-Tops Recording - in this case Christoph Bruhn. Christoph's 2013 album, Weekends on the Frontier, shows him to be a supremely melodic player with a real ear for a decent tune. He tells us here of his journey from teenage skate punk to American Primitive guitarist and promises he will get that new album made...

Tell us a bit about yourself and the musical journey that took you to a place where you concluded that playing an acoustic guitar on your own was a good idea...

Well, for my first guitar, I remember getting a Suzuki Stratocaster knock-off at age twelve from Fuller's Gun and Pawn in Park Rapids, MN. Park Rapids is a lake town about 50 miles south of Bemidji, MN, which is probably the only town that would be marked on a macro-scale map of Minnesota in that area of the state.  It's a very small town, only about 4000 people now.  The local flavour is hunting, fishing and big trucks with loud exhaust systems.  Fortunately for me, my dad was a music aficionado and I was exposed to some great stuff in my early childhood. At that time I picked up the instrument seriously, I was also really interested in skateboarding, particularly Bam Margera and everything he brought to that subculture.  Most things in that whole scene were just cheap entertainment, nothing what parents would call 'constructive' for their child, but nonetheless I did take some important things away from it.  CKY was a band that was the de facto soundtrack of a lot of the skate videos I liked to watch.  Their music was very riff-oriented, so it was a really great band to be obsessed with as a player starting out.  I remember learning every song they had out at the time. As I got older, I had the opportunity to play in local bands, doing mostly blues and country lead work.  It was much of the same pentatonic stuff you'd hear at any cover music bar, so I'll spare the details.  Still though, it was good experience for developing player. I went to college in Duluth, MN and studied engineering, but was also able to get three years of guitar in too.  My teacher and mentor Jim Cooper really brought me through the ranks and was a very positive influence on me.  We went through basically everything he could give me. It wasn't until the very end of our time together that he showed me John Fahey.  And that was that! What has influenced your music and why? Peter Lang is probably my biggest influence for Weekends on the Frontier, as I drew on his songwriting ideas to help me with points on that album.  Of course, Kottke and Fahey gave me a lot of tools to work with as well. What have you been up to recently? As I write this, I am fresh off of a five day, sixty hours-plus full band session doing eleven tracks.  It was my first work as a session guitarist, you would call it, I suppose.  The band is Glen's Neighbor, a group I played with when I still lived in Duluth - I live in Saint Paul, MN now. I have also been working on a new fingerstyle album since October 2014, but it’s still not ready yet.  I'm still hoping for a late 2015 release, though! A lot of my playing nowadays is crosspick and flatpicking. I knew I needed to branch out after Weekends on the Frontier , so I devoted a lot of energy to becoming a better bluegrass picker.  Norman Blake is my biggest influence there, for sure. I have some solo crosspick guitar stuff that we're trying to get together for a release this year, too. I work with Kyle Fosburgh on Grass-Tops Recording in my free time.  We toured in late April. Kyle and I get along great and I feel so immensely fortunate to have met him. What are you listening to right now, old or new? Any recommendations you’d like to share with us? The last record I was completed obsessed with was Warren Zevon's self titled album from 1976.  All the songs are just awesome, a real well-rounded rock record and just plain fun. I like that. The guitar nerd bit: what guitars do you play and what do you like about them? Is there anything out there you’re coveting? I play a Norman B20 with the essential modifications of a heavy bone saddle, graphite nut and Grover tuners.  I use .13 phosphor bronze strings. I also have a Seagull 12 string which will be featured on upcoming recordings. These are my guitars and will be for the indefinite future.  For some reason I'm very content with these two instruments and do not feel any need for others.  I think there's a lot of sentiment for the instrument when you create solo guitar music. Banjos: yes or no? Definitely. The Glen's Neighbor record I was just working on features a great banjo player, Nate Weiler. He plays without finger picks, but not clawhammer. The banjo is featured in a lot of cool ways on the record. What are you planning to do next? I really do want to get this next fingerstyle record done, honestly. Now by writing it here I have to get it done! What should we have asked you and didn’t? My favourite food is anything that has almonds in it, I love mountain biking and I'm a huge MotoGP fan!

https://christophbruhn.bandcamp.com/

[northcountryprimitive]

The North Country Primer #5: Nic Garcia, Saint Paul, MN

Originally published at North Country Primitive in May 2015

Our latest edition of North Country Primer features Nic Garcia, a St Paul-based player who arrived at guitar soli by way of several albums of Americana-tinged folk singer-songwriting. His latest two outings have consisted of a series of almost cinematic minimalist portraits, beautifully evoking a journey through the rural byways of his home state of North Dakota. 

Tell us a bit about yourself and the musical journey that took you to a place where you concluded that playing an acoustic guitar on your own was a good idea.. I'm from the upper Midwest. I was born in North Dakota and currently I’m living in Saint Paul, Minnesota.  My musical journey began in the late 70s at the age of four, when I got some 8 track tapes from my uncle and ever since then it's been pretty much non-stop.  I started plucking and banging on the guitar at around fourteen.  In the early 90s I began to write my own songs and recorded a couple of lo-fi tapes as an acoustic songwriter and also with an indie band called Boy Sale.  From the late 90s to late 2000s, I continued to perform both solo, doing the singer with an acoustic thing, and also with a louder project called Sin Horses.  Sin Horses either consisted as a two-piece (guitar, drums and a heavy load of amplifiers) or as a three-piece with two guitars and drums.  In that time I also released the music that is available on my website.    At the moment I have taken the Guitar Soli path. What has influenced your music and why? Musically, there have been a few artists that stand out for me as influences in how I approach songwriting and playing:  Nick Drake, Jason Molina, Simon Joyner, Paul Erickson (Vaz/Hammerhead), Matthew Shipp and John Fahey.  When I began doing the singer-songwriter thing, I was floored when I first heard Nick Drake. For me, his guitar and voice was the perfect sound in acoustic music. I consider his music and playing to be the biggest musical influence on me.   In 2008, I became spiritually and musically disillusioned.  I got into this phase where I started to reject structured music and began to listen to avant-garde, free jazz, noise and sounds from the John Cage school of thought.  During that phase, I still managed to play singer songwriter gigs and released two vocal and guitar based recordings – Kindling and under the moniker of Wooded Hearts, Metanoia.  I had a spiritual conversion in 2010 and coming out of all that disillusionment I had been going through, I took notice of solo guitar music.   There was a freedom I found in approaching music with just a guitar and nothing else that was incredibly liberating for me.  The first solo guitar artists who turned the page for me were John Fahey, Michael Gulezian and Ralph Towner.  I released a free form solo guitar two song recording called Trail County Phantasma, which was my first venture into solo guitar.  My latest solo guitar release is called Rural Sketches,which consists of five solo guitar meditations on the rural landscape of eastern North Dakota where I grew up.  Growing up in eastern North Dakota has influenced that desolate sound that has been in most of my music. What have you been up to recently? Right now my wife and I are raising our two children and are expecting our third at the end of July.  I am playing some solo guitar gigs with a great community of solo guitar musicians here in the Minneapolis - St. Paul area.   What are you listening to right now, old or new? Any recommendations you’d like to share with us? Right now I've been mostly listening to jazz and solo guitar music.   Recently on my jazz listening list has been late period Coltrane, Jim Hall Trio, Bill Evans, William Parker, Andrew Hill and Anthony Braxton.   For the recent solo guitar listening: Nick Jonah Davis, Nick Castell, Marcus Eads, Ralph Towner, Matt Sowell and Daniel Bachman. I just picked up and have been floored by John Fahey’s Fare Forward Voyager's (Soldiers Choice) release from ’73. The guitar nerd bit: what guitars do you play and what do you like about them? Is there anything out there you’re coveting? Man, I've lost so much money and gone through so many guitars through the years.  I'm the type of guy who would trade a $1400 guitar for a $300 guitar, based on how it sounds - which I have done. I’m now down to three guitars which are considered beginner’s guitars: a Recording King ROS-06 with a K&K pure mini pickup installed, a Danelectro U1 (1st reissue) and a U2 (1st reissue). The Recording King ROS-06 is a great guitar for fingerstyle with the wide string spacing, and to me it sounds incredible for what it is.  I have not recorded with that one yet.  The two Danelectros have stuck with me the longest.  They are chambered bodied electric guitars, which I love.  I am a sucker for low budget oddball gear.  Traill County Phantasma was recorded on a Loar LO-16 and Rural Sketches on a La Patrie Collection nylon string.  Both The Loar and La Patrie came and went fast. I am dreaming of someday getting an American Guild M20. Banjos: yes or no? Only if Paul Metzger is playing one. What are you planning to do next? I aim to keep on playing local shows, make another solo recording and hopefully release it by fall, plant a garden and buy a new pair of cowboy boots. What should we have asked you and didn’t? Best action hero - Chuck Norris!

You can check out Nic's music on Bandcamp.

[northcountryprimitive]

The North Country Primer #4: Nick Jonah Davis, Nottingham, England

Originally published at North Country Primitive in April 2015

The fourth edition of the North Country Primer takes us closer to home to interview a man who lives a mere 70 miles away, in Nottingham, England. Nick Jonah Davis is the first, but hopefully not the last, British guitarist to feature at North Country Primitive.  Tompkins Square included him on the fourth volume of their excellent Imaginational Anthem series, and liked his music so much they released his album, Of Time and Tides . His new album, House of Dragons, has just been released in a limited vinyl edition by Shropshire's top shed-based record label, the wonderful and ever-eclectic Lancashire and Somerset - and to these humble ears, is his best offering yet.

Tell us a bit about yourself and the musical journey that took you to a place where you concluded that playing an acoustic guitar on your own was a good idea... Well...  I was a guitarist from the age of fifteen and the first solo acoustic stuff I heard was on Led Zeppelin records. That led me to Bert Jansch and Davy Graham, and from there I found that playing acoustic guitar in DADGAD was a very compelling thing to do. I did this in the background of other musical endeavours for a long time, maybe fifteen years. What I was really focused on was trying to do electronic music, with mixed-to-poor results. Then I stopped completely. Following a failed attempt to carry out CPR on a woman in a car park in 2006, I impulsively bought an acoustic I'd spotted in a junk shop to cheer myself up. Around this time, my brother gave me a Fahey album and I saw Jack Rose play: I realised that there might be a context for my acoustic playing that wasn’t just doing it for myself at home. I decided to record a few pieces in 2007, and put them on the internet to try and get some local gigs. Josh at Tompkins Square was into it and got in touch, which was absolutely improbable to me. If you’d told me when I was checking out the first Imaginational Anthem compilations that I’d have a tune on the fourth volume and be putting out an LP with Tompkins Square and playing the New York Guitar Festival, I really would not have believed you. The positive reception for the Of Time and Tides album was really pleasing. What has influenced your music and why? The most direct ‘famous guitarist’ type influences are John Fahey and Bert Jansch: to me, they represent two really important streams of excellent guitar music which will always be bubbling away. Really, though, the best influences come from the people that playing has brought me into personal contact with. C Joynes and Steve Malley aka the Horse Loom have had a huge influence on both the music I’ve made and the course I’ve taken with it. I’ve been lucky to play gigs with players that I really admire and that’s a direct influence that’s hard to quantify - just watching them up close and then also being able to say ‘How did you do x or y back there?’ Ultimately, when you set off on a particular route with the guitar, such as in this case ‘I’ll use weird tunings, play solo and try to get inside people’s heads,’ the possibilities and limitations of that approach become your core influence. I know a really disparate range of musicians who are all deeply into their thing and it’s a constant inspiration to have these people around me. What are your thoughts about being a UK based musician steeped in what could be argued is a largely American form? I suppose what draws me to the American Primitive approach to guitar is that it lets you explore ideas from a variety of musical cultures at the same time, using techniques drawn from a folk style as the basic platform. Despite the intensity of focus on American players who have done this, I don't really perceive this as wildly different to what people like Davy Graham and Bert Jansch were doing. A lot of what I dig on guitar has an American accent, a lot has a British accent, but there are a whole host of cultural reference points that weave in and out of my playing. I don't find it straightforward to play entirely within the constraints of any one tradition. What have you been up to recently? As ever, I'm always trying to get deeper into my playing - that's ongoing. We've just put out my new LP, House of Dragons, on Lancashire and Somerset Records, a lovely little label operating out of a shed in Shropshire. I’m extremely pleased with the gorgeous package they’ve put together - they are great people to deal with. I’m now halfway through the sessions for the next record. I’ve also been collaborating with my friend, the violinist Jo Cormack, on some semi-improvised electric guitar and violin music as Fains. I like her playing a lot, she can really kick an idea around without needing to be too precious about things, dropping things or picking them up according to the moment, which really works for me. What are you listening to right now, old or new? Any recommendations you’d like to share with us? Here's some random people I really like  that other people may be unaware of and are all worth investigating: Ellen Mary McGee, Raul Garcia Zarate, Kogumaza, Dead Rat Orchestra, Suzuki Junzo, Antigoni Goni, Lungfish, Cath and Phil Tyler, Alasdair Roberts, Zia Mohiuddin Dagar andForever Sound. In the fingerstyle world, two young British players who are worth checking out are Toby Hay and Jim Ghedi. The guitar nerd bit: what guitars do you play and what do you like about them? Is there anything out there you’re coveting? My main acoustic is a custom Fylde Falstaff, which I picked up recently. It's a dream instrument and has all but replaced my Martin. I play an Ermanno Pasqualato Style 3 Weissenborn guitar for lap steel, it's a sweet sounding and responsive beast. On the electric side, I have a much customised mid-90s telecaster. It sounds great - it's got a lot of attitude. For electric lap steel I have a 1948 Selmer, which is a historic and utterly beautiful instrument. C Joynes presented me with it as a surprise gift last year, and I'm still surprised. I have a bunch of other guitars and a little collection of other instruments. Coveting: I'd really like a Brook Hurdy Gurdy. There's basically an endless list though - ask my wife about it... Banjos: yes or no? Absolutely yes. I have one that I like to fiddle around with from time to time. Anyone who says they don't like banjos needs to listen to records by Shirley Collins, Nathan Bowles, Paul Metzger and Phil Tyler to ensure that they have an informed perspective on the situation. What are you planning to do next? I'm planning to finish my next solo guitar album. Jo and I are talking about doing a Fains record. C Joynes and I have a split electric LP that's at the mastering stage. Other collaborations are possibly bubbling up. I'll just keep playing, see what happens. I keep a fairly open mind - it seems to help... What should we have asked you and didn't? If you find out, let me know.

You can download Nick's music from his Bandcamp page, here. 

[northcountryprimitive]

The North Country Primer # 3: William Csorba, Houston, TX

Originally published at North Country Primitive in March 2015

Here we are with another edition of the North Country Primer. This time it's the turn of Texan guitarist, William Csorba, whose recent album, The Bear Creek Child Cemetery, has been getting a lot of ear time here at North Country Primitive. Our thanks go out to William for his illuminating responses to our not always illuminating questions...

Tell us a bit about yourself and the musical journey that took you to a place where you concluded that playing an acoustic guitar on your own was a good idea... Well, for the most part, playing music by myself is the only way I’ve ever played music. I grew up largely on the country music I heard from my mom as a kid. My family has really deep Texas roots on my mom’s side, going back to the time when Texas was an independent nation. I’ve always been really aware of and fascinated by that sort of thing and I think my taste in music has been influenced similarly. I listened to a lot of Texas country music early on - guys like Jerry Jeff Walker, Waylon Jennings and Guy Clark, along with many of the greats of classic country music - Hank Williams above all, of course. So I guess a lot of the music I’ve been drawn to tends towards being a solo affair. The great Texan songwriter, Townes Van Zandt, was a pretty close relative of mine, even though I never had the opportunity to know him - I would have been very young at the time of his passing. It’s kind of funny, actually - I remember growing up and hearing that I had a cousin who “wrote songs for Willie Nelson,” which was simply based on the fact that Willie had done a rather popular cover of Pancho and Lefty and that Townes had never had the commercial success that some of those dudes enjoyed. First hearing some of Townes’ recordings years later was a rather momentous event for me. I was really blown away by them and I guess knowing that I had a connection with him by blood only heightened the profundity of his music for me. To me, he should be remembered not only as a master songwriter, but really as a substantial American poet. I first picked up a guitar pretty much because I wanted to play some of his songs - as well as some Hank Williams songs. I soon recognised that I wasn’t that interested in singing, especially since I didn’t seem to have much of a talent for it. Anyway, through Townes I encountered the hometown blues legend Lightnin’ Hopkins, who he cited as a big influence, which led me to the world of pre-war blues and hillbilly music. This became something of an obsession around the time I went to college six years back. While I was at school out in New Mexico, I fell in with a group of friends who were real into old blues and old-time music. My roommate and good friend that first year, a guy named Michael Laudenbach, played fingerstyle guitar quite well and I made him teach me some of the basics of that kind of playing, with tunes picked up from Elizabeth Cotton, the Carter Family and some other similar stuff. He also introduced me to John Fahey, who, as it must surely come as no surprise, was my inspiration for getting pretty serious about music and on whom I felt compelled to model an approach to begin trying to make some music of my own. To me, Fahey is in many ways the consummate American artist. Aside from the particulars of his work and aesthetic, the most important and compelling significance for me lies in borrowing a method from him as a starting point for a way of doing serious music. In other words, the really decisive thing I got from Fahey was a novel philosophy for composing and art-making in general. This philosophy resonated strongly with me in so many ways, although it was of course the music itself that first got my attention. I wouldn’t even say that the guitar - specifically the solo guitar format he championed - was an absolutely essential element of what I interpret to be his artistic philosophy, but I would definitely say that it undoubtedly fits into it and cultivates this approach better than anything else I can come up with. And since I was already somewhat under the spell of the instrument, it seemed to be a pretty obvious direction for me to go in. What has influenced your music and why? As far as strictly musical influences go, in addition to the spectrum of stuff I’ve already suggested, I’ve always been pretty hugely into classical music - or formal music, if you like - more or less of all kinds and from all periods. There was a fantastic class I took in college, which I can best describe as a sort of survey of Western music. It was far more than simply an overviewt really allowed me to work out a lot of my thoughts and feelings about music and to grow significantly in the art of listening, which I feel to be one of the most important things for becoming a good musician. So, I have definitely gotten a lot of inspiration from many of the classical composers and also from some of the older traditions that play into the Western musical tradition. Perhaps my most important and primal musical influence is the church and sacred music. For me, this originally comes from having been brought up in the southern Baptist Church. Probably the greatest virtue of the southern Baptist denomination is in its hymnal, which is largely composed of strongly American-feeling melodies, mostly from the latter half of the 19th century. This differs from some of the other denominations that preserve and emphasise a lot more an older generation of hymns originating from Europe. My very strong, unhappy reaction to the disaster of the crappy contemporary worship music that was beginning to replace the traditional hymns sung in church while I was growing up is probably worth mentioning as well. Different kinds of world music have also definitely been a big interest for some time, especially after encountering the sounds of India when a friend and I spent a good bit time over there after graduating from high school. I like and listen to a lot of other kinds of music, but it’s hard to say what has really had an actual influence on the music I’ve been making, but there are probably many little bits of things from all over the place that come into it, if you know what I mean. Speaking more generally, I actually came to understand music as something I wanted to do by way of my studies in philosophy and literature. At an even more basic level, I’d say that music has come to occupy a place for me previously chiefly held by more explicitly religious concerns. My relationship to music definitely has a strong religious dimension, which I would say is right at the centre of what I’m trying to do with it. To put it more concretely, a lot what inspires me often comes from a desire, or maybe a need, to express various reflections on personal history, particular places and landscapes that have stuck with me and the diverse emotional states that make up the inner life. In addition to sometimes just going off of a kernel of what I’m feeling at a particular time, simply, I often try to write music while holding in mind certain mental images or memories - sometimes including, for instance, a feeling for the earth itself in a place I’ve been before, if that makes any sense. You know, like nature and stuff, although I’m not confident that’s quite my meaning exactly. I think what I’m trying to get at comes through most perspicuously in the first recording efforts I made last summer with an album I called The Bear Creek Child Cemetery, which is probably why it’s still my favorite thing I’ve made so far. What have you been up to recently? Well, I’m still in school, so I’m doing that stuff. But mostly my real preoccupation these days is, as much as possible, with the music - trying to write music and get better at composing. I’m also just starting to play out in public some lately, which is a lot of fun and pretty challenging. What are you listening to right now, old or new? Any recommendations you’d like to share with us? The first thing that comes to mind right now is that guy Abner Jay, who I listen to quite a lot. If you’re not familiar with him you got to check it out. The dude was a genius, and I don’t say that easily. I feel like he deserves a lot more recognition than he has probably gotten. I’ve got a CD in my car right now of some of Bartok’s piano music, which is pretty great. I’ve also been on a bit of a Brahms kick recently: the violin concerto, which is pretty new to me, but also the piano concertos and symphonies, which I’ve always really dug - especially the 3rd. I always have a healthy dose of old-time music going on at any given time. I guess that’s just like an essential nutrient or something at this point. I’ve been listening a bunch to this clawhammer banjo album by a guy I knew from New Mexico named Ariel Winnick. He’s a fantastic player. The album’s called Glory Beams and can be found on the web. I’d definitely recommend it, especially to folks already into old-time music and such. I should also mention that I’ve been checking out a lot of other the guitarists who I’ve been finding out about since I started trying to get my music out there over the past several months. I had no idea how many great players there are out there nowadays doing this kind of thing. Specifically, just to name a couple things I’ve come upon recently, I really like Chuck Johnson’s album Crows in the Basilica, which I’ve been listening to a lot. I’ve also got to mention that dude Daniel Bachman. I was super impressed by him when I first heard him sometime this past year and it still hasn’t worn off a bit - his playing really resonates with me. But yeah, it’s been really fun and, I guess, encouraging in a way, to check out all these similarly-minded musicians that are now coming to my attention. Oh, and because I just thought of it, that Irish guy Cian Nugent. The other day I listened to a pair of his pieces called Grass Above My Head and My War Blues. I really enjoyed those a lot. The guitar nerd bit: what guitars do you play and what do you like about them? Is there anything out there you’re coveting? I am honestly pretty ignorant when it comes to guitars and whatnot. I play a Johnson guitar, OM size, I think, which I bought off a friend a few years back. It’s not a particularly nice instrument or anything, but it works good and I like it a lot. It’s got a nice, pretty wide fretboard and the neck has a sort of v-shaped cut, which I really like the feel of. Maybe it’s just that I’ve gotten real comfortable with the thing. I like the size of it too. I’m not sure I’m really coveting anything, maybe just because I am not particularly aware of what’s out there, but I would really like to have one of those big, loud Martin Dreadnoughts one day. I’ve played some of those before and they felt and sounded really great. Banjos: yes or no? Oh yes. Personally, I love the banjo. As I actually already mentioned, when I lived in New Mexico there was a really great clawhammer player named Ariel Winnick at my school and I was just totally mesmerized by his playing. It made such an impression on me that I felt that I had to learn how to do it, so I began to pick it up. I still fool around and play fiddle tunes and stuff on the thing all the time. I’ve also always been a huge sucker for that classic hard-driving bluegrass banjo sound. There’s something marvelous about that relentless, cascading sound you get in really good Scruggs-style picking. I really could go on and on about banjos. They’re weird and American and really very attractive to me all round. What’s that Mark Twain quote about banjos? Something about smashing pianos and taking up instead the “glory beaming banjo.” What are you planning to do next? Well, I want to try to make another solo guitar record in the near future, but I want to try to take more time with it than I have with most of my releases so far. I feel like I want to work more deliberately on some much more fine-tuned composition. I also want to get better production values with the recording and get it sounding real nice. I’ve also been trying to start playing publicly a lot more and give that a shot. This means that I’m trying to pull together a more fully worked out repertoire of my songs - most of the stuff I’ve written and recorded over the past while, I haven’t really committed to memory. Oh, and I’ve actually been trying to work out some music to play with another musician I know, which is a lot fun and different for me. What should we have asked you and didn’t? Hmm… I don’t know. These have been very good, wide-ranging questions that have allowed me to talk about a lot of things that I like to talk about. I really appreciate the opportunity to reflect on these topics and share some of my thoughts. And forgive me if I went on and on a bit much - it’s hard to keep it brief when responding to questions like these.

You can find more of William Csorba's music, including his compact disc, The Bear Creek Child Cemetery, at his Bandcamp page.