Great
Contemporary Players- Gotta
see 'em live if you can
Muriel
Anderson - Widely respected as the premier woman finger
style guitarist on the scene today, Muriel Anderson is
the first woman to have won the National Finger Picking
Guitar Championship.
Daniele Bazzani - One of Italy's best fingerstyle players. Made a big impression on Tommy Emmanuel who says he's "really good". Apart from being a red hot picker, Daniele Bazzani is also a journalist of note who writes for Italy's foremost guitar publication, Chitarre.
Rory Block - The
girl sure can play acoustic blues. A strong, emotive vocalist
and a very fine guitarist. Acoustic blues doesn't get
any better than this. Outstanding, raw, pure and powerful,
Rory Block will play 'til her fingernails bleed. Literally!
Roy
Bookbinder - One of the most outstanding acoustic
blues performers on the scene today.
Ry
Cooder - The man! After all these years we still can't
get over the genius of his slide guitar playing.
Pat
Donohue - “Pat Donohue is one of the greatest
finger pickers in the world today...” Chet Atkins.
Enough said!
Doyle
Dykes - A guitar legend in the making. Although influenced
by a wide variety of musical styles and musicians from
the country of Chet Atkins to the rock and roll of Duane
Eddy and the Beatles, Doyle has developed a distinct,
recognizable sound that amazes audiences with skill while
capturing hearts with sincerity and soul.
Tommy
Emmanuel - Australian genius of the acoustic guitar.
Some say the best player in the world! Certainly his live
performances are completely awesome. See him if you can
or buy a DVD if you can't. His website is a treat too,
including cool tips and wise guitar homilies delivered
via real video. If there's one acoustic guitarist playing
today you can't afford to miss, it's Tommy Emmanuel. A
stroke of luck for fans is that Tommy's on a perpetual
world tour right now. He is liable to turn up at a theatre
near you at any moment.
Paul
Geremia - Another performer in the top rank of acoustic
bluesmen. Always playing, be sure to catch his act when
he blows into a town near you.
Richard
Gilewitz - A great teacher, communicator and a damn
fine fingerstyle player whose work encompasses and embraces
many styles from Bach to Fahey. Richard is a real treat
for fans of acoustic guitar.
Jon
Gomm - A quite extraordinary player whose awesome
percussive and picking power is pushing out the boundaries
of what is possible on the acoustic guitar.
Bert
Jansch - An immense fingerstyle talent, an inspiration
to many fine guitarists, including Jimmy Page.
Leo
Kottke - One of the truly great and seminal influences
in fingerstyle guitar.
Franco
Morone - In his homeland, Italy, Franco Morone has
long established himself as one of the most important
representatives of fingerstyle guitar playing. He is not
only a musician with a sensitive tonal vocabulary and
a solid knowledge of the craft, but has also made himself
a name as a teacher and author of educational books on
fingerstyle technique.
Kelly
Joe Phelps - Kelly Joe spent his early guitar playing
years as a jazz player. In the early 90's he made a life-changing
discovery in the blues music of players like Mississippi
Fred McDowell. Widely recognised as one of the best acoustic
guitarists in the world today.
John
Renbourn - John Renbourn is a legendary British acoustic
guitarist and founding member of Pentangle. Biography,
discography, tour dates etc.
Willie
Salomon - a truly authentic acoustic blues voice and
premier picker, specialising in roots fingerstyle blues.
His album "Country Blues And More" (Acoustic
Music Records) is one of the best new acoustic blues CD's
we've heard in a long while.
Jacques
Stotzem - The six string maestro from Belgium. A fantastic
contemporary fingerstylist whose early influences included
ragtime and blues. Whether on tour or in the studio, Jacques
is simply magnifique.
John
Sheehan- American wunderkind of all string driven
things. Has one of the best reasons for wanting to be
a fingerstyle player: "At 16 years old, hearing John
Fahey and J S Bach, I realised there was something more
important to me than baseball." Great player whose
tabs are now available on the net. Visit johnsheehan.net
for details.
Tim
Sparks - 1993 National Fingerstyle Champion for his
extraordinary adaptation of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite
for fingerstyle guitar. Tim is at home in a wide variety
of styles and is quite simply an inspiration.
Rick Payne - Rick
Payne -blues and slide guitarist extraordinaire. Check
out his fantastic acoustic blues. Listen
now. Rick also writes a lot of tuition for AGW, including
the best-selling 60
Day Fingerstyle Blues Camp
Woody
Mann - Student of the legendary Gary Davis. A great
performer and also teacher. Woody passes on the goods
learned straight from the horse's mouth!
Eric
Bibb - One of the brightest stars on the new blues
scene. Bibb's smooth blues voice and superb guitar work
give his songs an extra dimension.
Chris
Smither - Chris Smither is a consummate singer/songwriter.
He's always on tour and always plays passionately for
his audiences.
Duck Baker - An
insanely gifted acoustic guitarist. At home in a dizzy
variety of styles ranging from folk to Celtic to medieval
to blues to avante garde jazz. He has performed with bluesmen
Charlie Musselwhite and Jerry Ricks.
John
Hammond - One of handful of White blues musicians
who was on the scene at the beginning of the first blues
renaissance of the mid-'60s. Hammond combines powerful
guitar and harmonica playing with expressive vocals.
Bob Brozman - King
of the National guitar. Great Delta blues player and an
authority of Hawaiian guitar.
Ari Eisinger - Ari
Eisinger is a guitarist and singer who plays blues from
the 1920s and 1930s. Ari tours extensively, playing blues
from the golden age in the northeast, the midwest and
the south.
Keb' Mo' - Keb' Mo'
has once again been named Acoustic Blues Artist of the
Year at the Blues Foundation's W.C. Handy Awards. Not
only does he hold this title for both '97 and '98, his
self-titled debut won Country/Acoustic Blues Album of
the Year in 1995.
Michael
Messer - One of the best acoustic slide players on
the planet and a great educator to boot.
Martin
Simpson - A legend and true master of the acoustic
guitar. A Simpson gig is a sublime experience.
Brian
Robertson - A superb slide player and webmaster of
bigroadblues.com.
Tom
Yoder -
Acoustic guitarist extraordinaire. Hedges, Kottke &
Bensusan rolled into one!
Keith
Christmas - Exceptional English singer/songwriter
and fabulous acoustic guitarist.
Thomas
Lorenzo - a great latin jazz musician and distinctive
fingerstyle player based in Barcelona. A kind of cross
between Pat Metheny and Paco de Lucia
Eric
Lugosch has been praised for his stellar guitar work
and wonderful compositions in the prestigious magazines
of guitar playing, "Fingerstyle Guitar" and
"Acoustic Guitar", as well as reviewed locally
and nationally for his performances and his recordings.
Some
old masters
Blind
Blake
The undisputed king of ragtime guitar. His "West
Coast Blues", recorded in Chicago in 1926 was the
only commercially successful guitar instrumental of that
time.
Robert
Johnson
Did he sell his soul to the Devil at the Crossroads? Anyway,
he wound up fatally poisoned while playing near Greenwood,
Mississippi in 1938.
Howlin
Wolf
Better known for his electric work, but no mean acoustic
guitarist. He cut a great acoustic version of "Little
Red Rooster" with Eric Clapton and friends.
Blind
Lemon Jefferson
A highly distinctive acoustic guitar style. Second
only to Bessie Smith as the most commercially appealing
blues artist of the 1920s.
Blind
Willie Johnson
Born at the turn of the century, Blind Willie was a phenomenal
slide guitarist and the greatest gospel performer of his
generation.
Memphis
Minnie
Her original version of "When the Levee Breaks"
recorded with her husband, Kansas Joe, was covered by
Led Zeppelin.
Bukka
White
Popular house party musician. He was a great breakdown
artist; people danced with such fervour to his playing
that they literally broke down the floors at jukes and
plantation balls.
Sleepy
John Estes
Born 1899 in Tennessee, Estes earned his moniker for his
apparent ability to sleep while standing up! Traditional
country bluesman.
Charlie
Patton
The Delta's most popular bluesman for a quarter of a century.
Great baritone voice and tremendously intricate rhythmic
guitar style.
Furry
Lewis
One of the first guitarists to use a bottleneck for slide
guitar. Born 1893, he remained active until his death
in 1981.
Lightnin
Hopkins
Lightnin' Hopkins was a Texas bluesman. In a career spanning
6 decades he probably made more records than any other
bluesman.
Blind
Willie McTell
Born 1901 in Georgia, he usually played his blues
on a 12 string guitar. Became a preacher shortly before
his death in 1959.
Tampa
Red
Influential slide guitarist. He played a National
guitar and his work on it earned him the title "The
Guitar Wizard".
Son
House
One of the longest living bluesmen. Played with Charlie
Patton and Robert Johnson in the 1930s. Died 1988.
Big
Bill Broonzy
Big Bill was equally at home with acoustic country
blues as he was with the Chicago sound. He recorded one
of the very best acoustic versions of "Key to the
Highway."
Rev.
Gary Davis
Along with Blind Blake, Gary Davis was one of the
truly great guitar instrumentalists, who passed on his
knowledge to such contemporary luminaries as Stefan Grossman,
Woody Mann and Rory Block.
Blind
Boy Fuller
A disciple of Gary Davis, Fuller was one of the most
popular recording artists of the 1930s. Between 1935 and
1940 he recorded 135 sides.
Mississippi
John Hurt
Born 1894 in the Delta. Cut a few sides for Okeh records,
but faded into obscurity in 1928. Rediscovered in 1963
and became a popular "folk" attraction until
his demise in 1966.
Skip
James
A haunting modal style of playing. Most of his pieces
were in open E minor tuning. He was the only early bluesman
to excel both on the piano and guitar.
John
Lee Hooker
The Boogie Man. King of one chord songs like "Boogie
Chillen". Passed away 21 June, 2001. Check out his
later albums like "The Healer" and "Mr
Lucky", where he is supported by the likes of Carlos
Santana, Keith Richards, Robert Cray...
Leadbelly
Expert twelve string guitar player, with a claimed
repertoire of some 500 songs. Played with Blind Lemon
Jefferson.
