Ragtime guitar is one of the most exciting and complex styles for a guitarist to master. The techniques involved can become very complicated and for a novice these can sometimes interfere with the spirit of the music. But in the hands of a talented and experienced guitarist this music can capture a unique texture as well as being one of the most rhythmic and attractive musical forms known. This album presents four of the leading exponents of ragtime guitar. Their approach to ragtime differs yet each one manages to capture that all important element called 'feel.' Duck Baker's playing on his nylon strung flamenco guitar has excited audiences throughout Europe Japan andAmerica. He brings an energetic spirit to each tune that he plays. His right hand technique coupled with the use of a flamenco guitar creates a strong and rhythmic sound. Tim Nicolai also uses a nylon strung guitar though his technique is more classical oriented. His rendition of Solace - A Mexican Serenade demonstrates clearly how well classic rags can be adapted to a classical guitar approach. The shades and tones of Tim's arrangements show a gentleness and true understanding for the music. Likewise the Dutch Wizard Ton Van Bergeyk brings his own touch and humor to two original ragtime oriented instrumentals. Ton's command of the steel string guitar is very impressive. His arrangements combine many elements and clearly show his love for the music of Scott Joplin to Glenn Miller! Ton has recorded several solo albums on as well as being heavily featured on the album I Got Rhythm (SGGW133). Lasse Johansson adds another approach to ragtime guitar with his four solos. His version of Creole Belles is very interesting and demonstrates how successfully a brass band arrangement can be adapted to the guitar. It is also interesting to hear this composition as one of the sections has become very popular through the playing and recordings of Mississippi John Hurt. Lasse's duets with Claes Palmqvist are fine examples of the

This collection brings together Happy Traum's second Kicking Mule album in an enhanced CD along with a separate DVD of Happy in a solo concert in 1981. Here's what Eric Andersen said about American Stranger: 'Haunted and ancient. That's how Golden Bird sounded the first time Happy sang it to me. Catskill Rip Van Winkle poetry. And true. Nothing strange there. A wizard's hand appeared from the dark wood. Diamonds that glitter and gold that shines. Catskill magic. The strings weave through the trees and out again into our ears. Remember when neighbors lived far away and people were seldom seen? Our ancestors in Appalachia and the Smokies? Dulcimers fiddles andpsalteries were our only telephones then. They made us less lonely for the mountains possessed us in the dark. No other music quite ever retrieved like mountain music the irretrievable like love or life lost forever. The strings and wood were rubbed with rue as well as joy. So be it. Happy is a hero. He had me singing gospel songs one crazy night. He took my head over the Blue Ridge on another. He had me dreaming to the strains of his concertina and when I woke up I was lying somewhere on a shore in England. He's a walking campfire. He's got the Instincts of a rock and roller; he's a master of the groove. And these songs were made to travel. There's one about a stranger sailing toward his string of broken hearts and another trail churning in his wake. There are buckets of moonbeams and a dark road East Texas blues Irish melodies and a Bahamian murder ballad. A lot of these songs could have written themselves. And maybe they did. Some call it the greatest irony of all and some call It folk music. Remember the cowboy's love for his horse? Can you hear the wind whistling through the rigging of a 3-masted ship heading out of Liverpool to someplace distant and mysterious? Nothing strange there except that the singer Is an American. So tune your ears through the murmurings of the soil and the waterfalls of mountains and hear those fiddles play! I'm sure

Duck Baker plays all types of music. His playing combines genres as varied as rags blues country gospel cajun bluegrass Celtic music ballads and jazz swing New Orleans jazz and free jazz. In this album he joins with Mike Piggott on fiddle and Stefan Grossman on guitar to offer an exciting excursion in to the music of the 1920s and 1930s. Fingerstyle guitar playing with the Duck touch!

Ragtime guitar is one of the most exciting and complex styles for a guitarist to master. The techniques involved can become very complicated and for a novice these can sometimes interfere with the spirit of the music. But in the hands of a talented and experienced guitarist this music can capture a unique texture as well as being one of the most rhythmic and attractive musical forms known. This album presents four of the leading exponents of ragtime guitar. Their approach to ragtime differs yet each one manages to capture that all important element called 'feel.' Duck Baker's playing on his nylon strung flamenco guitar has excited audiences throughout Europe Japan andAmerica. He brings an energetic spirit to each tune that he plays. His right hand technique coupled with the use of a flamenco guitar creates a strong and rhythmic sound. Tim Nicolai also uses a nylon strung guitar though his technique is more classical oriented. His rendition of Solace - A Mexican Serenade demonstrates clearly how well classic rags can be adapted to a classical guitar approach. The shades and tones of Tim's arrangements show a gentleness and true understanding for the music. Likewise the Dutch Wizard Ton Van Bergeyk brings his own touch and humor to two original ragtime oriented instrumentals. Ton's command of the steel string guitar is very impressive. His arrangements combine many elements and clearly show his love for the music of Scott Joplin to Glenn Miller! Ton has recorded several solo albums on as well as being heavily featured on the album I Got Rhythm (SGGW133). Lasse Johansson adds another approach to ragtime guitar with his four solos. His version of Creole Belles is very interesting and demonstrates how successfully a brass band arrangement can be adapted to the guitar. It is also interesting to hear this composition as one of the sections has become very popular through the playing and recordings of Mississippi John Hurt. Lasse's duets with Claes Palmqvist are fine examples of the

This collection brings together Happy Traum's second Kicking Mule album in an enhanced CD along with a separate DVD of Happy in a solo concert in 1981. Here's what Eric Andersen said about American Stranger: 'Haunted and ancient. That's how Golden Bird sounded the first time Happy sang it to me. Catskill Rip Van Winkle poetry. And true. Nothing strange there. A wizard's hand appeared from the dark wood. Diamonds that glitter and gold that shines. Catskill magic. The strings weave through the trees and out again into our ears. Remember when neighbors lived far away and people were seldom seen? Our ancestors in Appalachia and the Smokies? Dulcimers fiddles andpsalteries were our only telephones then. They made us less lonely for the mountains possessed us in the dark. No other music quite ever retrieved like mountain music the irretrievable like love or life lost forever. The strings and wood were rubbed with rue as well as joy. So be it. Happy is a hero. He had me singing gospel songs one crazy night. He took my head over the Blue Ridge on another. He had me dreaming to the strains of his concertina and when I woke up I was lying somewhere on a shore in England. He's a walking campfire. He's got the Instincts of a rock and roller; he's a master of the groove. And these songs were made to travel. There's one about a stranger sailing toward his string of broken hearts and another trail churning in his wake. There are buckets of moonbeams and a dark road East Texas blues Irish melodies and a Bahamian murder ballad. A lot of these songs could have written themselves. And maybe they did. Some call it the greatest irony of all and some call It folk music. Remember the cowboy's love for his horse? Can you hear the wind whistling through the rigging of a 3-masted ship heading out of Liverpool to someplace distant and mysterious? Nothing strange there except that the singer Is an American. So tune your ears through the murmurings of the soil and the waterfalls of mountains and hear those fiddles play! I'm sure

Ragtime guitar is one of the most exciting and complex styles for a guitarist to master. The techniques involved can become very complicated and for a novice these can sometimes interfere with the spirit of the music. But in the hands of a talented and experienced guitarist this music can capture a unique texture as well as being one of the most rhythmic and attractive musical forms known. This album presents four of the leading exponents of ragtime guitar. Their approach to ragtime differs yet each one manages to capture that all important element called 'feel.' Duck Baker's playing on his nylon strung flamenco guitar has excited audiences throughout Europe Japan andAmerica. He brings an energetic spirit to each tune that he plays. His right hand technique coupled with the use of a flamenco guitar creates a strong and rhythmic sound. Tim Nicolai also uses a nylon strung guitar though his technique is more classical oriented. His rendition of Solace - A Mexican Serenade demonstrates clearly how well classic rags can be adapted to a classical guitar approach. The shades and tones of Tim's arrangements show a gentleness and true understanding for the music. Likewise the Dutch Wizard Ton Van Bergeyk brings his own touch and humor to two original ragtime oriented instrumentals. Ton's command of the steel string guitar is very impressive. His arrangements combine many elements and clearly show his love for the music of Scott Joplin to Glenn Miller! Ton has recorded several solo albums on as well as being heavily featured on the album I Got Rhythm (SGGW133). Lasse Johansson adds another approach to ragtime guitar with his four solos. His version of Creole Belles is very interesting and demonstrates how successfully a brass band arrangement can be adapted to the guitar. It is also interesting to hear this composition as one of the sections has become very popular through the playing and recordings of Mississippi John Hurt. Lasse's duets with Claes Palmqvist are fine examples of the

This collection brings together Happy Traum's second Kicking Mule album in an enhanced CD along with a separate DVD of Happy in a solo concert in 1981. Here's what Eric Andersen said about American Stranger: 'Haunted and ancient. That's how Golden Bird sounded the first time Happy sang it to me. Catskill Rip Van Winkle poetry. And true. Nothing strange there. A wizard's hand appeared from the dark wood. Diamonds that glitter and gold that shines. Catskill magic. The strings weave through the trees and out again into our ears. Remember when neighbors lived far away and people were seldom seen? Our ancestors in Appalachia and the Smokies? Dulcimers fiddles andpsalteries were our only telephones then. They made us less lonely for the mountains possessed us in the dark. No other music quite ever retrieved like mountain music the irretrievable like love or life lost forever. The strings and wood were rubbed with rue as well as joy. So be it. Happy is a hero. He had me singing gospel songs one crazy night. He took my head over the Blue Ridge on another. He had me dreaming to the strains of his concertina and when I woke up I was lying somewhere on a shore in England. He's a walking campfire. He's got the Instincts of a rock and roller; he's a master of the groove. And these songs were made to travel. There's one about a stranger sailing toward his string of broken hearts and another trail churning in his wake. There are buckets of moonbeams and a dark road East Texas blues Irish melodies and a Bahamian murder ballad. A lot of these songs could have written themselves. And maybe they did. Some call it the greatest irony of all and some call It folk music. Remember the cowboy's love for his horse? Can you hear the wind whistling through the rigging of a 3-masted ship heading out of Liverpool to someplace distant and mysterious? Nothing strange there except that the singer Is an American. So tune your ears through the murmurings of the soil and the waterfalls of mountains and hear those fiddles play! I'm sure

The British folk club scene is a fairly huge and unique underground institution. At anytime since the early 1960's you would have been able to find a thousand or so weekly or monthly clubs gathering in all sizes of pub rooms around the land and in the Universities and colleges. In the great majority of these the guitar has been the commonest instrument; picked strummed thrashed and caressed in a multitude of styles and levels of competence. Fashions and fads come and go but certain players have such a widespread influence that their own styles become part of the mainstream. When I heard the tapes of this album it impressed me as the essential John James. Probablybecause he was a working musician 'live' that is I never felt that his earlier studio albums (except for 'Sky In My Pie' with Peter Berryman) did him full justice. His recent Kicking Mule debut 'Descriptive Guitar Instrumentals' was probably the first to really showcase what a lively fluent creative and dynamic player he really is. This one not only does all that but really catches the essence of a John James performance. I'm a great believer in albums which truly represent the artist and if you've never seen John 'live' you can take my word for it that this one does. What's more it has a real cross section of the favourite tunes and songs from his stage repertoire over the past decade plus a selection of newer goodies to join that company. – Ian Anderson/FolkRoots Track Listing: Picture Rags Opus 18 Silver Swan Suitcase Shaped Like That Black And White Rag Rosebud March How Can I Tell You Pickles And Peppers Ragtime Millionaire Head In The Clouds Coconut Dance Victory Rag You And I Across The Water B Minor Run Tears and You Got Something There

This is the fourth recorded collaboration between acoustic guitarists John Renbourn and Stefan Grossman recorded in 1987 and produced by Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones. As on its three predecessors the appeal lies in the contrast between Renbourn's traditional British folk style and Grossman's jazz and folk-blues leanings. Ideally as on 'Rites of Passage' and 'Keeper of the Vine ' Renbourn concentrates on an intricate folk-based pattern that Grossman decorates with bluesy embellishments. The two have a previously expressed interest in adapting jazz classics to their two-guitar approach and they do so here on the standard 'Round About Midnight ' then recall theirearlier work on tunes by the late Charles Mingus with the mournful 'Farewell to Mr. Mingus.' Since they play differently their guitar lines can be identified and appreciated separately even when they are intermingling.' – All Music Guide Many acoustic guitarists probably have some degree of acquaintance with the work of John Renbourn and Stefan Grossman but for the unfamiliar here's a short history: In the 1970s Stefan toured regularly sometimes on double-bills with Renbourn. Fate stepped in when through a promoter's error it was advertised that these two legends-in-the-making would be performing guitar duets. Though they hadn't worked as a duo before the guitarists decided to give it a go and the seeds were planted for a series of fantastic duet albums. The playing on this album as well as Under The Volcano and their eponymous debut is a fascinating melting pot of European and American musical styles and the pair achieves a sound as elegant as it is expansive. Though their individual contributions to the world of guitar playing had been weighty before their partnership these duet albums serve to take both guitarists' playing to new heights and their enduring compositions still sound fresh today.

Ton Van Bergeyk is a guitarist's guitarist. That is not to say that his playing is at all over-technical or hard for non-guitarists to appreciate. To the contrary his music is quite direct and engaging. Ton has absorbed elements of a great many widely varied guitar stylists and is himself already a major influence among younger players.The present release evinces his still widening tastes and abilities including modern jazz blues contemporary pop more swing tunes and even Mexican serenadas. The range of guitar styles and sounds (Ton uses a nylon-strung as well as a steel here) is extraordinary and makes for great listening.

This collection brings together Happy Traum's second Kicking Mule album in an enhanced CD along with a separate DVD of Happy in a solo concert in 1981. Here's what Eric Andersen said about American Stranger: 'Haunted and ancient. That's how Golden Bird sounded the first time Happy sang it to me. Catskill Rip Van Winkle poetry. And true. Nothing strange there. A wizard's hand appeared from the dark wood. Diamonds that glitter and gold that shines. Catskill magic. The strings weave through the trees and out again into our ears. Remember when neighbors lived far away and people were seldom seen? Our ancestors in Appalachia and the Smokies? Dulcimers fiddles andpsalteries were our only telephones then. They made us less lonely for the mountains possessed us in the dark. No other music quite ever retrieved like mountain music the irretrievable like love or life lost forever. The strings and wood were rubbed with rue as well as joy. So be it. Happy is a hero. He had me singing gospel songs one crazy night. He took my head over the Blue Ridge on another. He had me dreaming to the strains of his concertina and when I woke up I was lying somewhere on a shore in England. He's a walking campfire. He's got the Instincts of a rock and roller; he's a master of the groove. And these songs were made to travel. There's one about a stranger sailing toward his string of broken hearts and another trail churning in his wake. There are buckets of moonbeams and a dark road East Texas blues Irish melodies and a Bahamian murder ballad. A lot of these songs could have written themselves. And maybe they did. Some call it the greatest irony of all and some call It folk music. Remember the cowboy's love for his horse? Can you hear the wind whistling through the rigging of a 3-masted ship heading out of Liverpool to someplace distant and mysterious? Nothing strange there except that the singer Is an American. So tune your ears through the murmurings of the soil and the waterfalls of mountains and hear those fiddles play! I'm sure

Ragtime guitar is one of the most exciting and complex styles for a guitarist to master. The techniques involved can become very complicated and for a novice these can sometimes interfere with the spirit of the music. But in the hands of a talented and experienced guitarist this music can capture a unique texture as well as being one of the most rhythmic and attractive musical forms known. This album presents four of the leading exponents of ragtime guitar. Their approach to ragtime differs yet each one manages to capture that all important element called 'feel.' Duck Baker's playing on his nylon strung flamenco guitar has excited audiences throughout Europe Japan andAmerica. He brings an energetic spirit to each tune that he plays. His right hand technique coupled with the use of a flamenco guitar creates a strong and rhythmic sound. Tim Nicolai also uses a nylon strung guitar though his technique is more classical oriented. His rendition of Solace - A Mexican Serenade demonstrates clearly how well classic rags can be adapted to a classical guitar approach. The shades and tones of Tim's arrangements show a gentleness and true understanding for the music. Likewise the Dutch Wizard Ton Van Bergeyk brings his own touch and humor to two original ragtime oriented instrumentals. Ton's command of the steel string guitar is very impressive. His arrangements combine many elements and clearly show his love for the music of Scott Joplin to Glenn Miller! Ton has recorded several solo albums on as well as being heavily featured on the album I Got Rhythm (SGGW133). Lasse Johansson adds another approach to ragtime guitar with his four solos. His version of Creole Belles is very interesting and demonstrates how successfully a brass band arrangement can be adapted to the guitar. It is also interesting to hear this composition as one of the sections has become very popular through the playing and recordings of Mississippi John Hurt. Lasse's duets with Claes Palmqvist are fine examples of the