If You Like John Fahey...
Posted by: Nick Lees on 15 June 2007
Then you may well like James Blackshaw, a young English guitarist who's released several limited edition CDRs and a couple of more widely available albums, the most recent of which was released a week or so ago.
James is a raga-style guitarist and tends to play long stuff, mostly just featuring acoustic guitar but often with hints of accompaniment - bells here, harmonium drone there, and on his new album a couple of appearances from a violin.
It's accessable, and not as dark or blues-oriented as Fahey but not New-Agey bland.
Anyway, there are samples on his Myspace site - one from the new album The Cloud Of Unknowing and one from his previous studio album O True Believers. The track Spiralling Skeleton Memorial is from the live album Waking Into Sleep which is no longer available but the original is on O True Believers.
If you go to his website and click on Sounds you can get a few more shorter samples, including the Fahey-like Transient Life In Twilight (again from O True Believers).
I would rate this guy as highly as Jack Rose in the current crop of raga guitarists (see also Voice Of The Seven Woods, though he has yet to release an album).
James is a raga-style guitarist and tends to play long stuff, mostly just featuring acoustic guitar but often with hints of accompaniment - bells here, harmonium drone there, and on his new album a couple of appearances from a violin.
It's accessable, and not as dark or blues-oriented as Fahey but not New-Agey bland.
Anyway, there are samples on his Myspace site - one from the new album The Cloud Of Unknowing and one from his previous studio album O True Believers. The track Spiralling Skeleton Memorial is from the live album Waking Into Sleep which is no longer available but the original is on O True Believers.
If you go to his website and click on Sounds you can get a few more shorter samples, including the Fahey-like Transient Life In Twilight (again from O True Believers).
I would rate this guy as highly as Jack Rose in the current crop of raga guitarists (see also Voice Of The Seven Woods, though he has yet to release an album).