All songs written by Scott Wainwright
Scott Wainwright – Acoustic Guitar, Resonator Guitar (borrowed) Bottleneck, Harmonica
Grant Henderson – Keyboards, Synths, Vintage Synths, Drum loops, Percussion, Theremin
Chris Martin – Weissenbourne, Resonator Guitars
Produced by Grant Henderson
Talking Backwoods
‘Talking Backwoods’ is the latest album from Yorkshire Based Musician Scott Wainwright and is the eagerly awaited follow up to his 2015 studio album ‘Strangers Here’.
Recorded over two years at Loom Studio, West Yorkshire, Scott, together with Hexagons main man and studio owner, Grant Henderson, has brought together an album of twelve instrumental pieces, his first all instrumental work since 2008. ‘Talking Backwoods’ is an album that brings together a transcendental mix of American Pre WWII blues, ragtime, raga, electronica, ambient and incidental soundtrack music.
Using his love of The Takoma Records Label and its founder, American Primitive Guitarist, John Fahey, a fondness for the work of Aphex Twin and Brian Eno and inspired by the soundtrack work by the likes of John Carpenter, Ry Cooder and Ennio Morricone, Scott has created a journey through musical history that celebrates the crossing of many boarders and the absorption of seemingly polar musical opposites mixed into brave new whole.
Taking his guitar compositions through various moods and styles, Scott celebrates the acoustic guitar as an instrument that still has plenty to say in our modern world. Touching on Blues, Folk, String Band, Ragtime and even taking in ideas from Surf and Hawaiian guitar styles, Scott works his compositions into the electronic sound world developed in the studio with producer Grant Henderson.
Most of the pieces were composed for solo guitar and electronics, apart from ‘Back Woods Progress Blues’ which was written for Guitar and Harmonica. Three other pieces (Delta Surfin’, Dolly Johnson and After the Battle…) were written as duets to be played with Slide Guitarist and long time performance buddy, Chris Martin. The duets represent well the Country Blues idiom and see two guitars weave together around the melody and sounding at times, like a single instrument.
These pieces, though independently composed one at a time, stand together forming a singular piece, immersing the listener in a soundscape created for contemplation and allowing room for the personal interpretation of moods and emotions expressed in the overall sound.
In a world where words seem to be constantly driving into our lives, meaningless messages, confusing concepts, fake news and false opinion, their absence here, like the absence of the human voice, is meant to deepen the experience for the listener, allowing for personal and internal reflection. In short, this is a soundtrack to accompany the movies of the mind.
Many of these pieces will feature in acoustic form in Scott’s live shows, where he will continue to bring out fresh solo interpretations and improvisations.
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Scott Wainwright
Talking Backwoods
First I came across Scott Wainwright's album "Sentimental Debris" which is a pretty nice and pleasing mix of slide guitar, pre war blues and american primitivism. But then I checked out his 2018 album "Talking Backwoods" and the references to Aphex Twin and Brian Eno and John Fahey in the liner notes were much more intriguing, so I listened to that and it was better than I imagined.
I would argue to mix electronica and fingerstyle guitar/country blues is not an easy task.
But Wainwright really mastered it to merge glitch beats, acid synth bubbling and studio trickery with syncopated guitar blues ornaments.
Using his love of The Takoma Records Label and its founder, American Primitive Guitarist, John Fahey, a fondness for the work of Aphex Twin and Brian Eno and inspired by the soundtrack work by the likes of John Carpenter, Ry Cooder and Ennio Morricone, Scott has created a journey through musical history that celebrates the crossing of many boarders and the absorption of seemingly polar musical opposites mixed into brave new whole.
Taking his guitar compositions through various moods and styles, Scott celebrates the acoustic guitar as an instrument that still has plenty to say in our modern world. Touching on Blues, Folk, String Band, Ragtime and even taking in ideas from Surf and Hawaiian guitar styles, Scott works his compositions into the electronic sound world developed in the studio with producer Grant Henderson.
Fun album and highly recommended. Download on bandcamp and check out the strictly acoustic "Sentimental Debris".
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