Tag Archives: Acoustic Guitar

Interview : Catching Up With Denis Turbide

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W&W : It’s been about a year since your first interview on Work & Worry.  What have you been up to since then? How’s life treating you?

Life’s been really busy, Ray.  I wish I could say I’ve been busy making more music, but a full time job and young children aren’t always conducive to a musician’s lifestyle!  I just need to find a better balance. That being said, I am trying to move the music thing along.

I reconnected with Alana Mark, an old friend from high school.  Facebook is amazing sometimes!  We’re writing songs together, which is new to me.  I’ve always been a singer, but lyrics have always escaped me.  We’ve started recording together, and have a couple of videos on Youtube. We still have a lot of work to do.  We’ve both been really busy this summer, so I’m looking forward to getting together with her in the near future.

There is a CD compilation, by the members of the Acoustic Guitar Forum, that came out last fall.  There’s another one coming out in August.  I wrote a new tune, which I recorded and released just a few weeks ago, called “Squish”.   I have a friend using my music in his Youtube videos to promote his T-shirt company.  Another music library has offered to add my music to their roster for use in TV and movies.   Youtube is still going strong, and a couple of guitarists out there have decided they like my music enough to cover it in their own videos, which is nice and still a bit surprising to me.  I guess I have been kind of busy. Continue reading →

Mike Fekete Summer 2010 Tour Dates

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Not my scoop in the least, this was lifted from the wonderful Delta-Slider blog. I’ve added links to the venues, or how to get there.

Updated on 7/10

7/11 – Yakima Folklife Festival – Yakima, WA
7/14 – Mercury Cafe – Denver, CO
7/15 – The Laughing Goat – Boulder, CO
7/16 – Five Leaves – Englewood, CO
7/17 – Coal Creek Coffee – Laramie, WY
7/18 – Off The Leaf – Billings, MT
7/19 – Wild Joe’s – Bozeman, MT
7/20 – The Hummingbird Cafe – Butte, MT
7/21 – One World Cafe – Moscow, ID
7/23 – Calypsos – Coeur d’Alene, ID w/ Jonathan Nicholson
7/24 – Indaba – Spokane, WA w/ Jonathan Nicholson
7/28 – The Camellia Lounge – Portland, OR w/ Aaron Sheppard
8/2 – Barking Spider Tavern – Cleveland, OH
8/12 – Rider’s Inn – Painesville, OH
8/13 – Central Vineyard – Columbus, OH w/ Brian Werstler and John Morgan
8/15 – Rider’s Inn – Painesville, OH
8/27 – Cafe Luna – Vashon Island, WA
8/28 – El Diablo – Seattle, WA

Check out Mike Fekete on Myspace

Review : John Renbourn & Stefan Grossman “In Concert” 2xCD/DVD (Stefan Grossman’s Guitar Workshop, 2010)

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by Raymond Morin

Many acoustic guitarists probably have some degree of acquaintance with the work of John Renbourn and Stefan Grossman, but for the unfamiliar, allow me to offer up a short history : After cutting his teeth in clubs during the British folk and blues revival of the early 60’s, Renbourn recorded a series of classic solo albums on the Transatlantic label, and also began a fortuitous allience with Bert Jansch, resulting in their classic Bert and John duet album, and the influential folk-jazz group Pentangle. When that group initially dissolved (it would reform in assorted incarnations over the years, centering around singer Jacqui McShee… Renbourn would be an occasional participant), the guitarist delved ever-deeper into folk and blues forms, as well as jazz and ancient Medieval music. On LPs like The Hermit and The Black Balloon, Renbourn developed a sophisticated compositional style that, while complex, also overflowed with beauty and nuance.

Stefan Grossman started as a determined young blues devotee from New York City, studying under the tutelage of Reverend Gary Davis. Grossman himself quickly became something of a guitar guru… having a keen ear, and having learned first-hand from many of the original blues masters, Grossman began authoring instructional books aimed at disseminating classic American acoustic guitar styles, from country blues to ragtime. After a short stint at architecture school, he headed over to Europe, where he lived and worked for twenty years, starting the legendary Kicking Mule record label (alongside Takoma Records cofounder Ed Denson) which was instrumental in launching the careers of world-class guitarists like Duck Baker, Peter Finger, Dave Evans and Ton Van Bergeijk. Continue reading →

It’s “Beyond Berkeley Guitar” Week on W&W!

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Back in 2006, Tompkins Square, one of the world’s leading acoustic guitar, jazz and archival folk labels, released a compilation called Berkeley Guitar. The LP showcased the playing of three up-and-coming young guitarists : Matt Baldwin, Adam Snider and Sean Smith, who also assembled and produced the collection. The disc made it clear that the American Primitive guitar tradition, first popularized (I know, relative term) by now-legends like John Fahey and Peter Lang in the 60’s, was still alive and well in Berkeley in the new century.

On June 8, 2010, Tompkins Square will release a second installment, aptly titled Beyond Berkeley Guitar. This new collection was once again curated by Smith, and as the name suggests, the parameters have been expanded… Beyond Berkeley Guitar features the work of seven guitarists from the greater Bay area, and the music of these players covers a wider range of sounds, styles, and techniques, both compositional and philosophical.

The players’ geographic proximity results in only a little overlap in their approaches to solo guitar music… from the Robbie Basho-inspired, free-raga meditations of Rich Osborn to the kinetic, bluesy electric runs of Ava Mendoza, from Smith’s multi-movement psychedelic journeys to the more tightly wound, succinct opening statement by Aaron Sheppard… there is a lot of variety on offer, and the twists and turns all add up to make Beyond Berkeley Guitar not only a wonderful snap-shot (polaroid?) of a vibrant guitar scene, but also a great record in its own right.

With the help of Smith and the label, I was fortunate enough to get interviews with everyone who appears on Beyond Berkeley Guitar. For me, these interviews were both exciting and fascinating. The players who appear on this collection are all fantastic guitar players, there’s no doubt about it… but I was delighted (though not surprised) to find that they are all thoughtful, warm and intelligent people, happy to share their thoughts on the instrument, composition, the rich tradition of instrumental guitar music and its welcome resurgence.

The interviews will be posted one per day, starting tomorrow with Aaron Sheppard. There is little or no editing, in most cases. One important note : though I would usually provide a sound sample with any given interview or record review, each player only has one track on Beyond Berkeley Guitar… and I wouldn’t want to give everything away, just like that! I want to strongly encourage fans of finger-picked guitar music to pick up this release, you won’t regret it! Please enjoy the interviews.

Review : V/A “We are all one, In the Sun” CD (Important Records, 2010)

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by Chris Niels

We are all one, In the Sun brings together a diverse range of artists from all over the world to celebrate and share in the spirit of the late six and twelve-string guitarist, Robbie Basho. I was thrilled to review this compilation for Work & Worry, as Robbie is a musician who has deeply touched my soul, gifting me with an influence I will carry with me for the rest of my days on this earth.  Hearing a piece like “Dravidian Sunday” for the first time (from The Seal of the Blue Lotus) completely changed my outlook on not only the ragtime and blues guitar that I was learning at the time, but also my outlook on music in general.  Robbie’s playing and singing seemed to evoke that longing for peace that all human beings dream of, and I knew that I had found something special.  I remember thinking, and still do, that Robbie’s music exemplified a direction toward raw expression of the heart and soul that I also wanted to find in myself. Continue reading →