To remember guitarist Jack Rose on the anniversary of his death, filmmaker Jesse Sheppard has released a never-before-seen clip of Rose playing "Kensington Blues."
Jesse Sheppard took the newly-released footage for his 2010 documentary The Things We Used to Do, which featured performances by Jack Rose and Glenn Jones. The footage was never used in the final cut of the documentary, but has been released on the anniversary of Rose's death to commemorate the esteemed guitarist.
   -by Amber von Nagel

   

Toby Hay - Happy Songs

Buy Handmade, signed and numbered

Buy from BandCamp

       

Daniel Bachman: Sept 6, 2013 Hopscotch Music Festival

Daniel Bachman
2013-09-06
Hopscotch Music Festival
Long View Center
Raleigh, NC USA

The awesome NYCTaper is at it again, bringing us twangin' strings and Daniel Bachman.

Visit HERE to download the MP3 or FLAC of the show!!

Also: new stuff coming out soon

And old stuff HERE!!

Chuck Johnson: May 26, 2013 Mercury Lounge – FLAC/MP3/Streaming

Chuck Johnson
2013-05-25
Mercury Lounge
New York, NY USA

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
Recorded and produced by acidjack

Soundboard + Schoeps MK41>KCY>Z-PFA>Sound Devices USBPre2 >> Edirol R-44 [OCM]>2x24bit/48kHz WAV>Adobe Audition CS 5.5 (align, adjust levels, mix down)>Izotope Ozone 5 (effects, EQ)>Audacity 3.0 (fades, tracking, amplify, balance, downsample)>FLAC ( 8 )

Tracks
01 Swallow the Sun>
02 Albion Source
03 Caldera Wires
04 Vastapol
05 On A Slow Passing In Ghost Town *
06 Crows In the Basilica
07 Mine Creek
08 The Stars Rose Behind Us

If you enjoyed this recording, please support Chuck Johnson, visit his website and purchase Crows In the Basilica from Three Lobed Recordings [HERE]

Charlie Parr - Backslider Album Download

From "Backslider: The Music of Charlie Parr"

"Charlie says this is the end of the line for Backslider,... He's generously allowed for it to be posted as a free download..."


So hit the Backslider...
   
   

Chuck Johnson - Crows in the Basilica

Needle drop.

The soft crackle of dust in the groove.  Earthy tones emanate from a platter carelessly dodging 33 1/3 RPM.  Precision picking more solid than the thirty year old strobe that needs constant adjusting.

A guitar and a man visit the past: with a nod to a Seeger and Roscoe Holcomb, strings ringing on a parlor guitar.

Four second break.

Earthy tone and thumping bass: the platter gathers speed for the bridge, slows, steadies on the mark, holds.

Pounding thumb paired perfectly with ringing arpeggios.

Dust  crackle.


The new album by Chuck Johnson, Crows in the Basilica is one of those rare experiences where you ask yourself, haven't I been here before? It's a sense of --- not déjà vu.  More of a returning home, grown, wiser. That is the American Primitive that Johnson plays.

Johnson is the rare player that can play with precision and passion.  What did Robbie Basho say: soul before technique?  Well I don’t know which of the two came first for Johnson,  translation of authentic soul into his musical pieces or mastery of his technique.  Clearly both are on display in this latest release.  Melodies and progressions that sound at once fresh and well worn.


                                            Served up for your ears
                                                        as though they've been waiting
                                                                       for this aural delight for years.


The American Primitives aren’t really a lot that strive for a timeless melody.  When you look at the roots of many of today’s practitioners, they hail from the noise and avant-garde realms that Fahey was haunting at the end of his career.  This has had an influence on this recent resurgence of guitar soli.  And that’s fine, but I like just a bit of melody.


A morsel of melody.  A dash of dissonance.

Johnson navigates a fine line.  Songs of beauty, mystery, and discord circle back to beauty.

Always familiar.  Upon first listening to these works an old favorite is revealed.

Dust  crackle.

Auto-return.


Johnson has a way of compelling the abstract leanings of solo guitar to dip a toe in the pool of sweet melody.  Solo guitar has a latent tendency to stay on the fringe of melody.  It’s what makes it so uniquely great as well as sparsely liked or understood.  Johnson is one of those artists that is able to get non-believers to take notice and more than satisfy those of the new AP crowd.

Ha!

And if we are indeed becoming a crowd that is very interesting, isn’t it?

Chuck Johnson is in the vanguard.

Listen.

Enjoy.

Visit Chuck Johnson on the web

Buy Crows in the Basilica

      

Chuck Johnson - Live on WFMU, May 27, 2013

Click on the pic to visit Doom & Gloom from the Tomb for this goodie!  As usual, Tyler doing a great job!!
   

RIP Google Reader

Google Reader, one of the world's most popular RSS readers, is shutting down on July 1, 2013, Google announced...
A bit of late notice, but if you use Google Reader you should already be aware of this news.  My selfish concern in this is that those of you that follow Delta-Slider via Google Reader will drift away and leave me sad and alone.

So, here are a few alternatives to Reader that you can use.  The Mrs. and I are using Newsblur and she is quite happy with it so far.  I just loaded it up this morning.  Don't be fooled by the screen telling you 1,476 people in front of you are awaiting their free account.  We both got an email for a free account a couple days later.

Also in the running is Feedly.  The Mrs. is a huge blog junky and has been furiously testing alternatives, this one has been running side by side with Newsblur and it's a close race.  You can find info about it here:  Transitioning from Google Reader to feedly 

No doubt there are others be be cautious.  Even if you aren't using Google Reader, the one you are using may be running off Google's "backend".  I think that's some techno-geekology term that I only vaguely understand, but I think it means that once Google shuts down these other readers lose the connection to all your fav blogs.

So here's to hoping you will find a new reader and continue to follow Delta-Slider and all your other favorite blogs out there.  I know my posting has fallen off quite a bit as of late but you know how it is...life!  But the Slider ain't dead, no, just taking a break between sets.

Peace,
Scott

Voice of the Eagle: The Enigma of Robbie Basho

A feature-length documentary on the extraordinary life and visionary music of the American guitarist and singer Robbie Basho.

Before his bizarre death at the hands of a chiropractor, Robbie Basho was sure that his compositions would not outlast him. Orphaned during infancy, diagnosed with synaesthesia (a union of the senses that caused him to interpret sound as colour) and claiming to be the reincarnation of a 17th century poet - the Baltimore-born guitarist and singer's musical output was equally as outlandish as his persona.

In his brief and troubled life he laid the foundations for radical changes to the musical landscape of America during the 1960s and 70s but reaped little more than a sparse (if fervent) following during his lifetime.

Voice of the Eagle: The Enigma of Robbie Basho is a journey into the heart of an artist's lifelong struggle - designed to illuminate and satiate existing fans while serving as a perfect starting point for the uninitiated.

Featuring interviews with Basho's former students, contemporaries and few close friends; the documentary will integrate new information and anecdotes on Basho with previously uncovered visual material, abstract employment of archive footage and photography of the natural phenomena and landscapes that informed his work.

With the resurgence of interest in Basho growing and a more widespread revival a tangible possibility, it is surely an auspicious time for his unique music and life story to be evoked through documentary.

Visit the Kickstarter page
   

A Robbie Basho Tribute Concert and Documentary Film Benefit

Berkeley Arts presents

A Robbie Basho Tribute Concert and Documentary Film Benefit

When: May 8, 2013 8PM
Where: Berkeley Arts, 2133 University Ave. Berkeley, CA
Cost: $10-20 Suggested donation

Details
Berkeley Arts presents a concert in tribute to the late guitarist and Berkeley resident Robbie Basho. The event is also a benefit to raise funds to complete the first ever documentary film about Basho - titled Voice Of The Eagle: The Enigma Of Robbie Basho - currently in the works by London-based filmmaker Liam Barker.

The lineup includes several Bay Area performers whose work has been inspired in some way by Robbie Basho's music, including two guitarists who personally knew Basho: fingerstyle guitarist Rich Osborn and renown improvisor Henry Kaiser.

The concert will include short sets by:

Henry Kaiser
Rich Osborn
Bill Orcutt
Chuck Johnson
Danny Paul Grody
Aaron Sheppard
Andrew Weathers

We think this will be an historic event, and a fitting tribute to Basho's legacy - in the same spirit as the John Fahey memorial concerts that took place at the Freight And Salvage in 2002.

About Robbie Basho
Robbie Basho (1940 - 1986) was a Berkeley-based composer, guitarist, and vocalist and one of the foremost proponents of steel string acoustic guitar as a solo concert instrument. Along with John Fahey and Leo Kottke, Basho was part of the triumvirate of pioneering guitarists on the Berkeley-based Takoma label in the 1960s. Basho went on to record for Windham Hill, and was an important influence on the label’s founder, guitarist William Ackerman. His innovative guitar compositions incorporated American folk, European, and Eastern influences, and he is credited for developing the improvisational “American raga” style.

About the Film
Voice of the Eagle: The Enigma of Robbie Basho is a journey into the heart of an artist's lifelong struggle - designed to illuminate and satiate existing fans while serving as a perfect starting point for the uninitiated. Self-funded entirely to date by director Liam Barker, Voice of the Eagle: The Enigma of Robbie Basho features interviews with Basho's former students, contemporaries and few close friends; interspersed with abstract employment of archive footage and photography of the natural phenomena and localities that informed Basho's work. Basho claimed to paint America with music; the film will attempt to transfigure Robbie Basho with sound and images.

Principal photography began on Voice of the Eagle: The Enigma of Robbie Basho in October 2012, with the filmmakers shooting (and intermittently battling superstorms) in Vermont, Massachusetts, Maryland, Colorado and California. A Kickstarter campaign is set to launch in spring 2013 to enable the film's continuing production and subsequent post-production costs.

Liam Barker - Writer, Director, Producer, Editor
Justinas Vabuolas - Director of Photography
Robbie Basho Film.com

       

John Fahey - Live at the Record Plant 1973

Folks, there's friends of Fahey and of Delta-Slider coming out to help us all enjoy more Fahey in our lives!  Got a couple new shows showing up in the email box.  Damian is the guy sharing these, be sure to say thanks!

There's more to come and more guitar tab from MTW too!  Stay tuned for a bit of an extended Fahey week.  Quite unexpected and a pleasant surprise!

Record Plant 1973
1.  Fare Forward Voyagers
2.  02 The Dance Of The Inhabitants Of The Palace Of King Philip XIV Of Spain
3.  03 Medley_ Stomping Tonight Fantasy _ In Christ There Is No East Or West _ Beverly

This is now commercially available so the link is down, buy it at Amazon or where ever...

 

Scott Wolf - All Strings Considered Podcast

Guitarist Scott Wolf is being widely recognized for his versatility as a performer, teacher, and arranger for classical guitar. Scott most recently received his Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Southern California, where he studied classical guitar with renowned pedagogue and Los Angeles Guitar Quartet member Scott Tennant. He earned a Master of Music from New England Conservatory under the tutelage of Eliot Fisk and received his Bachelor of Arts at UC San Diego with Dr. Randy Pile.

So begins the bio of Scott Wolf.  Good stuff!  He's also got a nice little podcast going, they are focused on classical and I find the interviews with the flamenco guitarists especially exciting.  Go check it out, but there's one with Adam Del Monte and one with Grisha Goryachev.   The podcasts are really well produced, absolutely pro quality.

All Strings Considered
   

Listen Hear! - Fingerpicking

Listen Hear! is a periodic (probably irregular) feature covering what I'm listening to these days.  Feel free to comment and let me know what you are listening to these days.

Here's a few of the new CDs I've been spinning lately.  At least...fairly new.  I don't always get stuff right away, but that's ok!

Michael DeLalla is a local guitarist.  You can visit his site, Falling Mountain Music.  Looks like he is working on a new tour.  He does tour pretty regularly and I would suggest you go see him, very entertaining.  His new CD, this is how i disappear is available at his site or CDbaby.

I'm so glad to see Mike Fekete put out another album.  I love his playing and his compositions.  Great to see his piece, "The Sacred Monster Blues" committed to this new effort.  I've heard it live a time or two, good stuff.  Check out Dakota Territory Blues at  mikefekete.com.

Ah, and then I have a duo of Tompkins Square releases.  TS has been busy lately and I'm behind on releases.  But these are the two that are spinning furiously in the player at the moment   And furious might be an apt description of some of the playing here!  Imaginational Anthem hits a surprising volume #5!  Who'd a thunk it?  It's not quite the line-up of newbies and unknowns that we were treated to in the initial IA.  But then isn't that to be expected by Vol. five?  Bill Orcutt gets the best song title award for "John Fahey Commemorative Beer Can."

Rounding out the duo is Daniel Bachman's Seven Pines.  Bachman is touring like a madman, even making two stops here in Colorado to my surprise, very exciting!!  So dig up his schedule and watch for him.  You can get the TS releases at http://www.tompkinssquare.com and widely at your favorite shop.

That's it for now.  I plan on this being a regular feature and I hope you dig it!
 

Don Bikoff - Celestial Explosion

Celestial Explosion due out on Tompkins Square on Feb 26th, 2013

"Actually John Fahey and I met on a few occasions and also corresponded sporadically. He did , in fact, record a number of my tunes but would not give me writers credit. That was John!"