New Orleans is known for good food and great music. Jimmy Robinson is a talented musician doing his part to make sure that acoustic guitar has a prominent place in that musical gumbo. His music is expansive, melodic and full of rich 6- and 12-string harmonies. With a lightning pick and a supple wrist, Jimmy draws fiery melodies and thunderous rhythms from his musical tinderbox. Over half of the tracks on his solo effort, Vibrating Strings, are instrumental. The vocal tracks will be especially pleasing to listeners who enjoy Jackson Browne. Two of the tracks are covers. Jimmy does a great job with Zep’s Kashmir, but the show stopper is The Wind Cries Mary. This is a visionary arrangement of Jimi’s classic done with acoustic guitar and a brass section. Yes, this one sounds like New Orleans: smooth, easy and tasty. Jimmy is also part of the fusion jazz group known as Twangorama. If it turns out that Frank Zappa faked his death and moved to New Orleans to concentrate on guitar based instrumental music, we know what group he is part of. Wonderfully intense, mind stretching music. He's brought us 3 songs to share with you: Big Blue, Brian O'Neal and Hammers.
Alex Bett is a guitar and music technology teacher in Nottinghamshire, England. His latest release Knock on Wood is a nice mix of acoustic guitar based folk, classical and Latin sounds. There is a refreshing thoughtfulness to his melodies. Occasionally, as in 21st Blues, Alex combines his love of technology with contemporary finger style slapping and tapping ala Michael Hedges, Andy McKee and Don Ross. All done quite tastefully with surprisingly pleasantly results. Check out Pergin Bay, Squiggle and 21st Blues. You'll find them on this page.
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ABOUT THIS SITE
Welcome to Free Solo Guitar! There's really nothing quite like great instrumental music played on acoustic guitar, as millions of fans worldwide will attest. For many, it started with Mason Williams' huge radio hit, "Classical Gas", way back in 1968. Today, the popularity of this kind of music continues because of fingerstyle guitar masters like Tommy Emmanuel, Leo Kottke, Doyle Dykes, Phil Keaggy, Alex DeGrassi and the late Michael Hedges.
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