Some of my favorite musical artists

In years past, my Music page had a list of favorite artists with links to their web pages. In the age of Google, however, such a thing is really unnecessary any longer-- one can very easily find information on any musician (or anything else for that matter) with a few mouse clicks. So instead, I now just list my fave artists below with a short blurb on why I enjoy them.

Laurie Anderson A multimedia pioneer if ever there was one. My favorite album of hers is Strange Angels.

Adrian Belew An eclectic artist, amazing guitarist and whimsical songwriter. He's worked with Talking Heads (he's all over their Remain In Light album) and of course a pillar of King Crimson. But his solo work is great too, especially Mr. Music Head.

Camper Van Beethoven I think of them as R.E.M. on acid. Some truly weird but great music, with such memorable titles as "Take the Skinheads Bowling", "Where the Hell is Bill?", and "All Her Favourite Fruit." And, best of all, they are BACK! Their first album of new material in over a decade, New Roman Times, was released in early 2007. Spinoff band Cracker is also well worth a listen.

Bruce Cockburn Canadian singer-songwriter and virtuoso guitarist gets way too little attention in the US. His earlier work, charged with left-wing political commentary, has given way to more introspective musings that still pack a punch. I particularly like Breakfast in New Orleans, Dinner in Timbuktu and the recent Speechless, a collection of his guitar instrumentals.

Creedence Clearwater Revival One of the all-time great rock 'n' roll bands. If John Fogerty's passionate vocals can't make you feel something, you must be dead!

Devo It isn't easy being a Devo fan... but I dig their plastic wigs! Despite being a little less adventurous than some of their other work, Freedom of Choice remains my favorite Devo disc.

Bob Dylan "I just wanted it to rhyme, man."

Steve Earle The great Texas singer-songwriter proves that just because someone's voice has a twang does NOT mean they are a country artist! Few musicians are making more damning indictments of the wack jobs in charge of this country than Steve. Seminal albums include Transcendental Blues and The Revolution Starts Now.

Brian Eno A true Renaissance man, covering the range from the quirky but hook-laden pop of Here Come the Warm Jets to the ambient eeriness of Apollo: Atmospheres.

Euphoria A mostly instrumental group whose style has been labeled "guitaronica" for its combination of excellent acoustic guitar with rhythmic grooves. Like nothing you've heard before.

Peter Gabriel Amazingly insightful lyrics combined with music showing disparate influences and stellar musicianship. One of my musical heroes; I've got everything he's ever recorded. No way to pick a favorite...

John Hiatt Another of my absolute top musical heroes and one of the greatest American songwriters who ever lived. Songs of joy, love, loss, humor, pain, pleasure, sorrow, surrealism, all conveyed by a gravelly voice that evokes all those emotions and more. His run of records from Bring the Family through Crossing Muddy Waters is as good a canon as anyone ever.

Leo Kottke Simply the greatest acoustic guitarist ever, and my all time musical hero. I rip off his stuff shamelessly whenever I can figure out one of his tunes.

Little Feat One of the tightest, funkiest bands in creation. If you don't own Waiting for Columbus, go get it. Right now. I'll wait.

Los Lobos One of the greatest American bands ever, with their Latino background they combine both the musical traditions of Mexico and the East L.A. barrio that they came from. Very strong songs, many of which give a view into the way of life of this vibrant and essential part of American culture. Don't miss their outstanding 2006 release The Town and the Valley.

Lyle Lovett Although he started out Nashville-country, he quickly moved in other directions, including more pop- and jazz-tinged styles. Amazing vocalist and songwriter who always has the best studio musicians on hand. The Road to Ensenada remains probably his best work to date.

James McMurtry Another of my top-five or so heroes. Son of Academy Award winning screenwriter and novelist Larry, nobody can paint as full a picture in so few words. He's a sardonic, wry commentator on human nature whose songs shine a light on the details of life, from relationships to the progressive weakening of the small-town American heartland that are arresting and lasting.

Joni Mitchell One of the greatest women in the history of music. Astonishing range of vocal and musical talent and an awesome way with words.

Pretenders and Chrissie Hynde. She's so good it hurts.

Lou Reed You got a problem with that?

Talking Heads and the solo work of David Byrne. And you may ask yourself, well, how did I get here?

Lucinda Williams Another strong, impassioned woman songwriter, a towering talent. Another whose twangy voice does not mean she's just a country artist. Fabulous in concert too!

XTC Probably the best English band ever? Certainly the best to hit Swindon in a long time.

Neil Young A genius of rock and roll, vastly influential and important.

My Guitars

Up until July 2004, I owned three guitars: A Hernandis classical, a Taylor 412ce steel-stringed acoustic, and a Yamaha 12-string. That month, our home was burglarized, and among the stolen items, to my heartbreak, were both the Hernandis and the Taylor (the 12-string was in a closet and out of sight of the thieves). Losing the Hernandis was particularly devastating, as it was the guitar my late father bought for me in 1974 to encourage my studies of classical guitar, and which I have played at many family gatherings in the years since. The memories of those good times are worth almost more to me than the guitar itself.

During late 2004 and early 2005, I had two new guitars custom-made to my specifications by Pimentel and Sons Guitarmakers here in Albuquerque, a family business that has been producing fine guitars for over fifty years. This section shows a photo of each of my stolen guitars and photos of the new ones, with in-progess shots taken while they were under construction. I am very grateful to the Pimentel family for allowing me to make multiple visits to their workshop to take these photos while they did their work!!

This photo shows me playing my Hernandis classical guitar with my brother-in-law Bob DiChiro at my niece Kristy DeMarco's 2003 wedding.

This photo shows me holding my Taylor 412ce steel-string guitar at the wedding of a friend in 2000. The girl beside me is my good friend Dawn, who sang at the wedding.

This is my Yamaha 12-string, model FG-441S. It's not a top-of-the-line instrument, being factory made and listing for just a few hundred dollars. But it plays well and has a very nice tone. I don't play it as often as I did the other two by a long way.

Pimentel Classic Guitar

Construction of my new classical guitar got underway in September 2004. It is a "soft cutaway" made with a European spruce top, East Indian rosewood back and sides, and Honduras mahogany neck 1 & 15/16" wide and 7/8" thick (slightly narrower and thinner than a standard classical), with an African ebony fingerboard. The head angle is slightly sharper than usual so that when I tune down to open tunings there will still be good tension on the strings. I am fortunate that my new classical guitar was made by Señor Lorenzo Pimentel himself (each Pimentel guitar is made by just one luthier, no tag-team operations).

3 November 2004

Señor Lorenzo working on the spruce top of the classical guitar.

Closeup of the spruce top. Later in the process, it will be stained "flamenco amber" instead of the yellowish natural spruce color-- that's the shade I wanted.

This photo shows the bracing structure on the underside of the spruce top.

Closeup of the classical's rosette.

This is the East Indian rosewood from which the back and sides will soon be made. Note the gorgeous grain pattern and beautiful color of the wood.

24 November 2004

The mahogany neck and rosewood sides have now been attached to the spruce top, which now displays the soft-cutaway shape. These images show the newly installed sides from a couple of angles.

The mahogany neck has also been attached to the the body. These shots show the neck, which remains to be stained and the headstock carved. The front of the headstock will have an inlaid moon-and-stars design similar to, and a bit larger than, the inlay in the spruce top of the steel string instrument, as depicted below.

Here, Señor Lorenzo affixes the rosewood back to the classical's sides. Now it really looks like a guitar!

10 December 2004

The guitar is now really taking shape. Here we see the front of the instrument, with the fingerboard in place and the grooves for the frets cut. Next steps for the front are the installation of the bridge, and finally routing the openings in the headstock where the machine heads will be installed.

The back is now complete, and the beauty of the wood's grain and color are now even more striking than before. On the bottom of the guitar, the last remaining job is the bit of inlay between the two curved sides right at the bottom of the instrument.

Señor Lorenzo holds the guitar... he says it should be done by Christmas!

11 January 2005

Well, it wasn't done by Christmas, but it's done! The visual beauty of this instrument is exceeded only by its incredible sound and amazing feel in playing. It's deep and rich and bright all at the same time, and each note on the neck is completely true. The action, neck width and thickness, and all the rest make for a very very easy guitar to play. These photos show the guitar from a couple feet away.

These photos show some closeups of some of the details. The headstock's moon & stars inlay came out very nicely, and if you look closely at the photo showing the rosette and label inside, you can see Lorenzo's signature above "Pimentel".

15 July 2005

Six months after the guitar was finished, I brought it back to the shop so that Señor Lorenzo and Rick could inspect it for continued structural integrity (no problems at all) and so they could hear how the sound has "opened up" since its completion. It was great to hear them play it.

Pimentel Steel-string Guitar

I have only a few photos of the steel-string being made, for one reason or another. Construction of the steel-string got underway during October 2004. It is also a "soft cutaway" model in the "mini-jumbo" body size, with a Sitka spruce top, Indonesian rosewood back and sides, mahogany neck, and African ebony fingerboard. All Pimentel steel-strings are made by Señor Lorenzo's son Rick Pimentel, who also does all the custom inlay on every Pimentel guitar and is president of the company. It will have a rosette of inlaid turquoise, with a moon-and-stars inlay that Rick designed from my description, virtually identical to the one on the head of the classical guitar.

3 November 2004

Sitka spruce top of the steel-string. Grooves around sound hole show where rosette will be inlaid.

I provided some simple design ideas to to Rick Pimentel, who came up with a very nice moon-and-stars design to be placed next to the rosette. The moon will be made of pale yellow, variegated mother-of-pearl, and the stars will be made of abalone. The tracing paper in this photo shows the approximate location of that design on the steel string's top. (At first, I asked to have the same design on the classical's top, in the same position, but Rick and Señor Lorenzo advised me to move it to the headstock. They convinced me that it just wouldn't look right on a classical top, and I am quite happy that I took their advice on the matter.)

24 November 2004

The turquiose rosette inlay and the moon-and-stars design are now complete on the spruce top. Once the top has its finish, these colors will be even more vibrant. (The close-up shot is slightly out of focus-- it's not your eyes!)

Rick Pimentel works with the bracing on the underside of the spruce top.

Late Summer 2005

As I was warned, it took a while longer for the steel string to be constructed. Here it is in its final stages of completion. The finish has just been applied, and the head and bridge remain to be fitted with hardware.

Autumn 2005

The completed steel string is just as beautiful as the classical. And it plays as good as it looks... effortless action, smooth feel, and a huge tone that fills up any room.

The detail on these guitars is fabulous... and they are both simply a joy to play!

Musical Recordings

In this section I offer several mp3 files of my playing, some solo and others with additional instrumentation and production by Bob DiChiro, my sister Juli's husband and a professional musician and producer.

An Axe to Grind

In late 1994, my brother-in-law, Bob DiChiro, an experienced professional musician, had me visit a home recording studio he helped build for Tim Philen, in Tim's Calabasas (California) home. We recorded a set of instrumental tunes there, with Bob expertly manning the sound board and later adding many layers of additional instrumentation onto basic tracks that I played, mostly on a nylon-string classical guitar. Bob made my playing sound like a million bucks, and his expertise made everything come together very well. And he did it all in only a few weeks!

I used to have the space to allow all of these tracks to be downloadable from here for your listening pleasure, but I no longer have that luxury. However, I do have enough space to store a few of the files here for downloading; if you would like any of the others, simply email me using the address at the bottom of these pages with the titles you would like and I will be glad to send them to you. To download the ones that are here, denoted by the musical note graphic, right-click (Mac: click and hold) on the active links and select "Save link as..." or similar in order to save the file to your computer. Simply click the link to have your browser just play it without saving it.

A-soulin'

Old English yule song. This version based on a Peter, Paul, and Mary arrangement. 1.7 Mb

My Sweet Lady

The old John Denver song. Bob and I performed this at the wedding of one of my best friends, Mark Reed.4.1 Mb

Viola Blues

Composed by my friend Patrick Plemons and myself (mostly Pat). 2.0 Mb

The Ice Miner

By Leo Kottke, my guitar idol. 3.5 Mb

Death Don't Have No Mercy

Traditional, Bob's arrangement. 3.0 Mb

Mr. Bojangles

The Jerry Jeff Walker tune. 3.5 Mb

Romanza

Traditional Spanish guitar piece. I don't play this one anymore. 2.1 Mb

Canon in D

...or what is usually known as Pachelbel's Canon. 2.1 Mb

Dear Prudence

The Beatles song. 4.0 Mb

If I Had a Rocket Launcher

Bruce Cockburn's polemic. 3.3 Mb

Silent Night

The traditional Christmas carol. 1.6 Mb

A Wedding in September

In September 2001, I had the privelege of playing for my good friends Lisa and Jerry Butwid on their wedding day. As a remembrance for them, I recorded the tunes I played that day to send to them, and they are posted here as well. The quality of these recordings is totally amateur, nothing like the professional polish of the above pieces, although the sound fidelity is pretty good. These are just solo renditions on my (since stolen) classical guitar, Rosebud, with no studio treatments whatever, just live playing into a microphone.

The same restrictions as above apply here. To download the one track I have space to store (again denoted by the musical note), right-click (Mac: click and hold) and select "Save link as..." or similar in order to save the file to your computer. Simply click the link to have your browser just play it without saving it.

Study in G

A standard part of the classical repertoire, a study for the right hand. 3.8 Mb

In My Life

The Beatles tune from Rubber Soul. 5.1 Mb

In Christ There is no East or West

An Episcopalian hymn. I stole this arrangement from Leo Kottke.4.5 Mb

The Fisherman

A Leo Kottke composition, from Six and Twelve String Guitar. 6.8 Mb

Ashokan Farewell

Written by Jay Unger, originally for violin, featured as the main musical theme in the Ken Burns "Civil War" documentary series. 7.8 Mb

America the Beautiful

After the 11th of September, it just seemed to be time this got into my songbook. 5 Mb

Valentine's Day

A gorgeous love song by Steve Earle. 5.5 Mb

All the Ways I Want You

A lovely love song by Bruce Cockburn. 6.4 Mb

Over Yonder

Another by Steve Earle. It's not a love song, but it's a very pretty melody. 5.6 Mb

Blue

An achingly gorgeous melody by Lucinda Williams. I played this while Jerry seated the mothers of the bride and groom, and while he re-entered with his groomsmen.7.8 Mb

Lagrima

A traditional Spanish piece for the classical guitar, composer unknown. This was played while the bridesmaids, ringbearer, and flower girl entered for the ceremony.4.6 Mb

Cancion Mixteca

A Mexican folk song about longing for one's homeland, but it's an absolutely splendid melody. This was the processional for the bride.8.5 Mb

2000 Miles

A love song by Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders. This was the recessional as the wedding party left. 6.0 Mb