While My Guitar Gently Smirks: Ben Fong-Torres Reflects on Learning Guitar as an Older Adult
Rock journalist Ben Fong-Torres has interviewed some of the greatest guitarists of all time, but recently he tried playing for himself.
Eric Bibb Draws on Blues, Folk, Gospel, African, and More on ‘Global Griot’
In a career spanning five decades, singer, songwriter, and guitarist Eric Bibb has proven to be a musical alchemist—combining heaping helpings of blues, gospel, folk, and world music styles into a distinctive and magical amalgam that feels like its own genre. A relentless collaborator, through the years he’s shared albums…
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Wendy Eisenberg, Arian Shafiee, and Tashi Dorji: Three Improvising Guitarists in Search of Uncommon Sounds
These three young improvisers play music of striking originality
Stores That Do More: Four Community-Minded Guitar Shops
The four brick-and-mortar shops featured here—those stores that do more—fit the description by offering educational programs, hosting jam sessions, taking part in schools and community events, and fostering a welcoming space for musicians to explore and connect. As a result, they’ve found that community efforts have made them viable in a rapidly changing economy, while giving customers an enduring vehicle for connection.
Guitar Talk: Martin Simpson Continues to Draw Inspiration From Instruments of All Kinds
Having lived and performed in the United States for 15 years, British guitarist Martin Simpson’s playing is a well-steeped blend of American blues, old-time music, and traditional English folk material. Simpson is currently at the very height of his powers, having released a string of pretty-perfect albums, with last year’s…
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Josh Rosenthal of Tompkins Square Records on the Primacy of the Acoustic Guitar
Rosenthal champions underdog and idiosyncratic musicians, a good number of them working in his preferred setting of solo guitar
Dobro Master Jerry Douglas on Building Musical Conversations
Jerry Douglas seems to be everywhere. Apart from fronting his eponymous Jerry Douglas Band, he boasts a 20-year tenure with Alison Krauss and Union Station, as well as a crucial role in a supergroup of sorts, the Earls of Leicester, whose recent release, Live at the CMA Theater in the…
Guitar Talk: Todd Albright’s Raucous 12-String Fingerstyle Blues
Many musicians can cop the notes played by blues and ragtime greats, but few are as successful at conveying the energy and driving feel as Todd Albright.
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Is the Acoustic Guitar God’s Favorite Instrument?
How the acoustic guitar has shaped the modern music of the Judeo-Christian liturgy. For an instrument that’s been so vital to the evolution of popular music over the past century, the guitar has traveled a long road in finding its place in religious culture. In the United States, this mostly…
Guitar Talk with John Leventhal: Manhattan Address, Southern Sound
Like many Baby Boomers, guitarist, songwriter, and record producer John Leventhal reflects the musical influences he heard growing up. The Beatles, Doc Watson, Chet Atkins, Howlin’ Wolf, Curtis Mayfield, Clarence White, and many others color his playing and musical sensibilities. He’s a lifelong New Yorker, yet his guitar work has…
Rory Block Slides Into a New Tribute Series: Power Women of the Blues
Guitarist, singer, and songwriter Rory Block has been one of the country’s preeminent blues artists for more than four decades and close to 30 albums now, but if you haven’t checked in with her in the past dozen years, you’ve missed out on some of the best music she’s ever made.
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Next-Gen Fingerstyle: Five Young Stars Share Their Secrets
A new crop of players continues to push fingerstyle guitar toward the future while celebrating the sounds of the past.
Guitar Talk: Nels Cline Bonds with a Curious Old National
Wilco guitarist and master improviser Nels Cline is drawn to a guitar that’s lived a life and has a story. Each of his instruments seems to have a colorful background, and every time Cline cracks open another case, I get the full rundown on what’s inside.
Custom Guitar Shows: Meet Your Luthier, Find Your Dream Guitar
Lutherie shows draw guitar fanatics through a mix of exhibitions, master classes, panels, and demonstration performances.
Adam Levin’s Brave New World of Spanish Guitar Music
Levin has put out three volumes of a remarkable series on the Naxos label
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Sunny War: A Different Kind of Blues
And then there’s Sunny War's guitar playing—a startling take on fingerstyle technique, with melodic riffs dancing over bluesy bass lines.
Steve Dawson Finds New Textures for Guitar Instrumentals
Steve Dawson may not be a household name, but with the release of 2014’s Rattlesnake Cage, he put himself on the radar of many acoustic guitar fans.
Guitar Talk: Peter Ciluzzi’s Guitars Spin Stories Without Words
Peter Ciluzzi plays music in his dreams. He tells me this as we’re standing outside The Evening Muse in Charlotte, North Carolina, where he has just played a transcendent set. As an unseasonably chilly wind rushes down the street, the guitarist and luthier, who built guitars out of his Provincetown,…
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Guitar Mash Nashville: Songs Shared, Bridges Built
It goes without saying that bluegrass dobro titan Jerry Douglas is no stranger to the bandstand. Still, even Douglas had to admit that co-hosting a “Guitar Mash” at Nashville’s City Winery on April 7, 2018, alongside longtime Paul Simon musical director Mark Stewart, was a whole new way to approach…
Syracuse’s Guitar League has Created an Impressive Model for Both Teaching and Learning
On a Monday night in Syracuse, New York, guitar cases line the walls of a hotel meeting room. Around 70 players, many cradling their instruments, are listening to a presentation by singer-songwriter Tim Burns, leader of the local Americana band Two Hour Delay. Burns is sharing ideas on how to back up another guitarist, and to demonstrate, he’s invited to the stage John Cadley, a veteran of the bluegrass/country scene in upstate New York and beyond (Lou Reid & Carolina once topped the bluegrass charts with Cadley’s song “Time”).
Guitar Talk: The Exotic Instrumental Flights of Steve Tibbetts
Steve Tibbetts’ music is impossible to pigeonhole, leaning towards jazz, avant-garde, and modern classical, but he doesn’t fit neatly into any of those categories.
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Guitar on Record: The Early History of Recorded Sound and Acoustic Instruments
Advances in recording technology would open up multiple new dimensions for the music business.
Laurindo Almeida: Forgotten Genius of Guitar Arrangement
Laurindo Almeida (1917–1995) was a “crossover” musician before the term was coined. He won five Grammy Awards for classical and jazz recordings, including Best Contemporary Classical Composition in 1961 for Discantus, which tied that year with a piece by Igor Stravinsky.
I’m With Her Brings Out the Best from Aoife O’Donovan, Sara Watkins, and Sarah Jarosz
What happens when these three musicians band together is something greater than a typical all-star project, where the members take turns in the spotlight.
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Hail Caledonia: A Brief History of Scottish Song in America
Speed through the distant past and get right to the most action-packed chapter of Scots-American musical history: the past 50 years.