Archive for August, 2010
Gillian Welch, Del McCoury, Ricky Skaggs Join Peter Rowan On Legacy
On September 7, bluegrass legend Peter Rowan will release his Compass Records debut, Legacy. Joining him on the album are genre giants Del McCoury and Ricky Skaggs (“God’s Own Child”), singer-songwriter Tim O’Brien, and Gillian Welch and David Rawlings (“So Good”). Rowan, a Grammy winning singer-songwriter, played guitar and sang vocals for the father of [...]
Sept/Oct 2010 On My Deathbed Contest
The Sept/Oct contest winner is Michael Lovett of Nashville, Tennessee. See his list and read a short Q&A about the records he picked here. BROUGHT TO YOU BY: ALVAREZ GUITARS ABOUT THE GUITAR: Handcrafted in a traditional workshop in a Japanese mountain village under the personal guidance of master luthier Kazuo Yairi, Alvarez Yairi guitars [...]
Next BIG Nashville Conference Preview: RootMusic
The Grateful Dead’s new BandPage celebrates the group’s eclectic history. Earlier this month, American Songwriter spoke with J Sider, founder and CEO of a new music technology company called RootMusic. About five months ago, Sider’s company launched their first digital tool called BandPage, which is essentially a “plug-in” application for Facebook that lets musicians and [...]
For The Thrifty: Sierra SAS30CEM
For The Thrifty Sierra SAS30CEM LIST: $659.00 WEB: www.sierraguitars.net The Sierra SAS30CEM is an auditorium acoustic-electric cutaway designed with a round, narrow body to yield a warm, balanced tone. Like most of the other guitars reviewed in this column, Sierra builds them with a dovetail neck joint for that extra tone girth. The Sierra SAS30CEM [...]
A Great Guitar, Regardless of Price: Tanglewood TW70-H Grand Auditorium
A Great Guitar, Regardless of Price Tanglewood TW70-H Grand Auditorium LIST: $1,749.00 WEB: www.tanglewoodguitar.co.uk Tanglewood’s Heritage Series, inspired and designed by custom builder Michael Sanden of Sweden and influenced by the golden era of acoustic guitars, represents Tanglewood’s best. These are all-solid wood guitars constructed from some of the finest tone woods available. The TW70-H [...]
Recession-Ready Acoustics: Cheap Guitars That Are Anything But “Cheap”
In 1980, our country was staggering toward a recession, with unemployment and the cost of living rising to create a perfect storm of financial hardship. Today, our economy is experiencing similar travails. However, there is one fundamental difference between our current economic woes of today and the recession of thirty years ago: right now, a [...]
Get Yo’ Gut-String On: Córdoba Fusion Series 12 Orchestra CD/IN
Get Yo’ Gut-String On Córdoba Fusion Series 12 Orchestra CD/IN LIST: $755.00 WEB: www.cordobaguitars.com/fusion A hardcore classical guitarist can easily drop 10 large on a gut-string guitar that will respond to every subtle tonal variation that a master’s fingertips may want to express. Most of these fine distinctions are lost once a guitar is plugged [...]
An Asian Take on an American Classic: Guild GAD-50
An Asian Take on an American Classic Guild GAD-50 LIST: $1,399.99 WEB: www.guild.com The Guild Acoustic Design series, or GAD for short, introduced in 2004, was designed to offer guitars with premium specifications at affordable prices. It gives price-conscious players the opportunity to step into the Guild world and get a high quality, all-solid wood [...]
The Workhorse: Takamine ETN40C
The Workhorse Takamine ETN40C LIST: $1,649.00 WEB: www.takamine.com Import brand guitars fight an uphill battle when attempting to sell in the states. In the relatively short time Takamine has been exporting to the U.S. (since 1975), they have enjoyed an amazing amount of success. Although the Takamine luthiers are top notch, what gave Tak their [...]
Joe Purdy’s “Troubadour” Live from SXSW
[Photo Credit: James Milner] Joe Purdy played American Songwriter‘s 2010 South by Southwest day party, co-hosted by XO Publicity and Future Sounds. In the videos below, shot in Austin, Texas, last March, Purdy discusses the Voice Project, a non-profit that raises money for Northern Uganda through a unique “cover chain,” in which artists cover their [...]
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