Beck's "Sea Change". Beautiful beautiful album, top to bottom.
Has more to it than just an acoustic guitar, but still definitely an 'acoustic' album. And a gorgeous one at that. One of my faves of all time.
__________________
Quote:
Originally Posted by shipshape
All the haters. Have a beer and move on to porcupine Tree or something. We are here doing the absolute best we can. It's hard work.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob Olhsson
Actually it's considerably less expensive to hire the best musicians and record live in a first class studio than spending months making records Sgt. Pepper style in a cheap studio.
Zep III Zep IV
Shakti Natural Elements
anything by Michael Hedges
Fractured Mirror by Ace Frehley is one of the best Acoustic pieces ever
also Alice in chains Jar of flies and SAP have some great acoustic guitar work
anything by Andres Segovia or Django
Fractured Mirror by Ace Frehley is one of the best Acoustic pieces ever
Without touching at all on the issue of whether you enjoy this piece (you clearly do, and that's cool), it really doesn't fit the description of acoustic music. It is a rock piece, with electric guitars, bass, and drums, that also happens to have a nice sounding acoustic guitar part. Genre-wise, it is closer to "More Than A Feeling" by Boston than to the other stuff described here, and sought by the OP. Not trying to start a disagreement, just trying to pay homage to the few descriptive terms that are useful in finding music we like/want/need.
I need to discover some more acoustic music, both for listening pleasure as well as mix references. I love singer/songwriter music, anything from Bob Dylan to Ray LaMontagne to The Civil Wars to Tyler Hilton or John Mayer. Looking for good acoustic albums with primarily only acoustic guitar and vocals, maybe a few production extras but not much. Anything from old to modern sounding production wise, let me know what you guys are listening.
There has been some truly amazing acoustic and folk out of the UK... The 60s were a particularly fertile time as the Brits picked up on the groundswell of interest in the US in American folk and blues. Much of the best of that music turned to the rich musical traditions of the peoples of the British Isles.
It was rooted in tradition and many of the artists tried to stay close to tradition but other took creative flight in interesting and sometimes strikingly beautiful ways. [And if you listen to the right stuff, like Bert Jansch, you'll find where the aforementioned Jimmy Page 'borrowed' some of his guitar arrangements.]
A lot of folks know about Fairport Convention because of Sandy Denny and Richard Thompson's times with that band.
(I'm a big Richard Thompson fan, as well, seen him five times. I wasn't the hugest Fairport fan, but I fell in love with Richard and former wife Linda's albums in the 70s. PS... the guy on that mini-documentary on Thompson embedded above who says Richard Thompson doesn't play any blues doesn't know what the blues is. If, say, "Al Bowlie's in Heaven" isn't a blues, I'm a one-eyed, one-horned, flying purple people eater.)
But those who aren't familiar with the acoustic folk jazz of Pentangle are really missing something. Pentangle introduced much of the world to the fine guitar work of the recently departed Bert Jansch, the amazing John Renbourn, the ethereal vocals of Jacqui McShee, the jazzy bass of Danny Thompson, and the sophisticated, swinging, but never out-of-sync drumming, percussion, and mallet work from Terry Cox. It's amazing stuff.
But there are a lot of fine artists from that era -- many of whom have continued making music for another half century...
Here are just some of the better known artists from the era...
Bert Jansch
John McCutcheon
John Renbourn
Dave Swarbrick
The Incredible String Band
Steeleye Span
Donovan
Fairport Convention
Davy Graham
Ashley Hutchings
The Sallyangie
Frankie Armstrong
Anne Briggs
Martin Carthy
Ewan MacColl
John Martyn
The Watersons
Back in the Americas, there was some great acoustic and folk music, as well, of course. The rural blues guys... who are legion. And then there are the folk singers, like Leadbelly and later Muddy waters, Rev. Gary Davis and others, who collected and performed and recorded -- curated, in a sense -- as well as sometimes creating their own in traditional styles.
Furry Lewis
Josh White
Sleepy John Estes
Mississippi John Hurt
Skip James
Leadbelly
Blind Willie McTell
Bukka White
Kurt Weill
Jelly Roll Morton
Dock Boggs
Blind Blake
Rev. Gary Davis
And then there were late 50s/early 60s folk-inspired artists working in an often similar fashion.
People like...
Jack Elliot
Dave Van Ronk
Phil Ochs
Steve Gillette
Tim Buckley
Ian & Sylvia
Joni Mitchell
Leonard Cohen
Gordon Lightfoot
Joni Mitchell
Judy Collins
Leonard Cohen
Stone Poneys (Linda Ronstadt's first band)
Doc Watson
Hamilton Camp
Frank Christian
Frankie Armstrong
Odetta
Eric Von Schmidt
Pete Molinari
Matt McGinn
Tim Hardin
Ralph MacTell
Osborne Brothers
Jim & Jesse
Bill Monroe
Flatt & Scruggs
Reno & Smiley
The Stanley Brothers
The Blue Sky Boys
The Carter Family
Grandpa Jones
Snuffy Jenkins
The Monroe Brothers
Lonesome Pine Fiddlers
A recent discovery for me is Nic Jones. Unfortunately most of his albums are no longer available, but his last album Penguin Eggs is truly amazing. This is probably his most well-known recording:
Hi Seth--I just listened to the new Allison Krauss album. It's very kool bluegrass. The musicians are stellar. Beautiful vocals. Produced by Mike Shipley--won a Grammy for engineering. Amazing detail and mixing. Warm, dynamic, --truly a treat to listen to in this goofy world of squashed music.
Well, I am old school... don't know many of who folks posted. But the OP asked for acoustic artists, not just a song or two on an albums. At least that is what I interpreted.
Besides older Dylan, I would look for anything of Jim Croce. He had his own style and the guy that played acoustic with him was great (I think his name was Maury Muehleisen who died in the plane crash with Jim).
One album I use to adore for acoustic in my younger daze was Jackson Browne "For Everyman"... him and David Lindley were truly awesome on acoustics... how he goes from a rockin "Take it Easy" and gingerly slows the acoustic strummin and pickin right into the song "Our Lady of the Well"... so sad and moving, but very inspiring. As for the rest of the songs, they are all great. This was one of the albums I would sit with my acoustic as a learning teen and try to figure out the chords and riffs (in the 70's sheet music was rare in my little coal mining town in central PA)...
YES, thanks for bringing in the great Richard Thompson!
a good starting point is his 1996 (or so) double CD You? Me? Us? this has an electric ('voltage enhanced') CD with a superb backing band (Jim Keltner, Jerry Scheff, Danny Thompson ...), and a acoustic ('nude') CD which is mostly solo voice / guitar (a little cello here and there). produced by Mitchell Froom, engineered by Tchad Blake - highly recommended record.
Lots of great recommendations here - Fairport, Pentangle, Joni Mitchell, etc. etc.
Stepping away from the mega-famous and classic tracks of yesteryear for a moment though, I'm currently enjoying listening to a couple of guys who go by the name of We Steal Flyers. Nice straightforward guitar singer-songwriter sort of stuff. Two blokes from Northumberland, two guitars, two nice voices that work well together. And they're good live. I think they've got stuff up on YouTube, plus tracks for download and a CD (small indie recording/production from a local studio as far as I know).
Don't know if it will be up everyone's street, but if you like the fairly mellow acoustic folk sort of thing, you might like this.
But if you're looking for something new and fun that messes with the boundaries between bluegrass, jazz and folk, I heartily recommend Joey Wright's "Jalopy". One of my faves of the last couple years.
Listening to Leo Kotke's "Guitar Music" as I type this... One of my all time faves.
Can't go wrong with John Fahey, Nick Drake, John Martyn, Bert Jansch, or even 'old school' acoustic blues guys like Big Bill Broonzy. And does Django Reinhardt qualify as 'acoustic music' or are we just talking 'folk'? Either way, everybody needs some Django in their day.
__________________
"I'll play it and tell you what it is later" Miles
New Reply 
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
