dfbm #90 - Morning Raga Pt. XII - American Primitive, Solo Guitar, Mixtape - Blog

This new edition of Morning Raga is standing in the shadow of some really exciting releases that are coming up on the horizon. Let’s walk torwards them:

(Go South for tracklist and download)

Large chunks of Jack Rose’s back catalogue will be reissued this fall. You’ve probably already heard about that¹² and I don’t have anything new to add. He’s as influencal as Fahey and keeping his legacy alive is a great thing. With White Mule I’ve chosen a piece from the 2002 album “Red Horse, White Mule” which is among the batch of reissues.

Another eagerly awaited release is the Tompkins Square compilation Imaginational Anthem Vol. 8. It’s consisting of tracks from little known and very rare private press records from the 70s to the 90s. The collectors Michael Klausman and Brooks Rice, along with Tompkins Square’s Josh Rosenthal, did a great job to dig out stuff that partly existed on the internet, but only if you knew what you were looking for. So it’s possible to find the posthum released album by fingerstyle guitarist Perry Lederman, online³. Others are really hard to find, sometimes you can still ask the artist and they might have a spare copy.
The compilation comes with a nice booklet filled with a lot of extra information.

The fantastic track Snow Queen by guitar duo The Keithe Lowrie Duet is taken from that compilation.

While researching about those artists, I came across a post by Dan Lambert⁴ from 2006, who was mentioning Brooks Rice and a planned compilation called THE HOLLOW BODY: Solo Guitar on the Private Press 1966-1980. The tracklist he posted assembled strongly Imaginational Anthem Vol. 8 and Numero Group’s Wayfaring Strangers: Guitar Soli⁵. So this project has been in the works forever it seems.

shameless self-promo

American Primitive Apparel

Another artist who appears on IA8 is Joe Bethancourt with a song from his 1969 album String Concert Album. IA8 features the wild, tripped-out Raga, I’ve chosen a rendition of Davey Graham’s Angi. The mixdown of the album is pretty odd. Real hard panning of the instruments to the left and right channels. According to Bethancourt’s wife, he got a sitar from a fellow guitar player who was unknown to him, after playing his Raga. The unknow guitarist’s name was Jimi Hendrix.

Tyler Wilcox stated in his review⁶ of IA8 for Aquarium Drunkard, that “obscurity doesn’t equal quality”. And he is right, but so far I only heard good obscure stuff or my mind is clouded by obscurity and I want it to sound good⁷.

Whatever, just listen to the opening piece of this mix, Birth of Orion, which comes from an unreleased album, recorded by a guy called Kirk Richards, in the late 70s. Sometimes he resembles Leo Kottke’s precise machine gun picking, occasionally an oboe (or another wind instrument) joines in. A real gem which hopefully becomes available some day.

This is followed up by a wonderful piece on a 12-string guitar by Kurt Gratton Plahna. Everytime it’s played it grabs my attention and I have to stop what I am doing. Even now, writing this down.

Legendary flamenco and raga guitar player Peter Walker is known for his connection and friendship to folk singer Karen Dalton. The other day he was talking about Karen Dalton’s guitar and played a piece on it in a BBC feature about Dalton⁹. On the Free Music Archive I found a recording of Walker¹⁰ playing Dalton’s guitar on Irene Trudels show on WFMU. Check out both!

Hayden Perigo, who actually sent me the Kirk Richards track, released a cassette with his earliest recordings, on Scissor Tails Records. He really knows his stuff and I wouldn’t wonder if he is going to reissuing it on vinyl in 30 years (or whatever is the preferred medium then), because it is so good.

Talking about Scissor Tails Records – label owner Dylan Golden Aycock is going to release some new and very exciting music by Wes Tirey¹¹, Joseph Allred and a long play vinyl record of his own music. Featured here is the flowing and tumbling piece Arkansas River.

One of Anthony Pasquarosa’s latest work is the album Astral Guitar Projections II, only available on his live shows, if I am right. The album has some strong Master Wilburn Burchette vibes¹² — twangy solo e-guitar tunes that melt your brain as if it were cheese.

I heard Mark Cohen’s Variations on Wildwood Flower for the first time on Jeff Conklin’s WFMU show The Avant Ghetto¹³. A solo acoustic guitar on Folkways Records? Did I miss something? I guess so. Mark Cohen is maybe better known as a protest folk singer, but on this Folkways Records release he lays out an eleven minute improv piece over the Wildwood Flower theme.

Another surprise was finding out about the Italian blues and Fahey aficionado Roberto Menabò. He just reissued his debut album from 1985. Unlike other musicians who often don’t like their debut, he listened to it again after 30 years and he was so proud of it that he went on and put it out as cd. In an interview⁸, recently published here on the blog, he talked about the concept of the “transatlantic guitar”, blues and of course about John Fahey and Robbie Basho.

Daniel Bachman’s has a new record coming out as well. The liner notes, written by James Toth, are a good read¹⁴. He asks the same questions I had. Where is he going? What to expect after he has delivered for the last 5 years?
Find out yourself. Toth also wrote a short description to each track, so you can go and imagine how Bachman’s new record will sound like and then buy it to see if it matches up with your imagination.

Finally, I’m happy to have next to E. Dresch, who I have featured here from early on, another lone solo guitarist from Germany – his name is P.J. Phillips and he was shredding in the acoustic punk duo Mevresavlt¹⁵ in the past. Now he’s recording fingerstyle pieces by his own.

TL;DR – Two hours of all strings considered. Spread the word. Support your local guitar slinger! Enjoy.

Download Stream @ Mixcloud

Tracklist

Kirk Richards Birth of Orion Lost Album 1977 discogs
Gratton Library Willow House 2016 web
Peter Walker Tune on Karen Dalton’s Guitar Live at WFMU on Irene Trudel’s Show on 6/9/2008 2008-06-09T00:00:00 web
Hayden Pedigo Dark Hollow Do You Sing? Vol. 1 2015 web
P.J. Phillips Earth Shakes Four Walls and Beyond 2016 web
Dylan Golden Aycock Arkansas River Church of Level Track 2016 web
Alex Archibald Pink Slippers For East Van Pink Slippers For East Van 2016 web
Glenn Jones & Matthew Azevedo Portrait of Basho as a Young Dragon Basket Full of Dragons (A Tribute to Robbie Basho, Vol II) 2016 web
Ross Hammond As The Seasons Come Flight 2015 web
Magnus Dewi The colour of spring improvisation Three ghosts 2015 web
Seabuckthorn Returnee I could see the smoke 2016 web
Jon Camp Fleeting Moment > No Moment Stifled Hair-Trigger 2016 web
Scott Key The Moonshiners Are Gone This Forest and the Sea 2013 discogs
Joe Bethancourt Angie String Concert Album 1969 discogs
Jack Rose White Mule Red Horse, White Mule 2002 discogs
The Keithe Lowrie Duet Snow Queen Imaginational Anthem Vol. 8 – The Private Press 2016 discogs
Daniel Heikalo Hommage à John Fahey L’Espoir 2004 web
Anthony Pasquarosa The Worm Ouroboros Astral Guitar Projections II 2016 discogs
Mark Cohen Variations on Wildwood Flower Fare Well, Traveller 1977 web
Roberto Menabò Il ritorno dell’Enola Gay A bordo del Conte Biancamano 1985 web
Daniel Bachman The Flower Tree s/t 2016 web
Joseph Allred Holy Blue Window (for Daniel) Fire And Earth 2016 web
Jack Wirth Last Man Standing 12-String Guitar 2016 web
E. Dresch Ancora Home Recordings 2012 web
Lukas Read Slow Burn Boogie Neo Age 2016 web
Andy McLeod Golden Elephant Potions 2014 web
M.S. Dagley Dance Of The Broken Thumb Mystery Of The Guitar 2011 discogs
Suni McGrath Seven Stars II Seven Stars 2014 web