No one else plays the pedal steel guitar like Susan Alcorn. She combines a command of the instrument’s orchestral range with an improvisational fluency that lets her take the instrument far beyond its usual idiomatic settings. She began playing professionally in Chicago country bars in the mid-1970s, then went on to hone her chops in […]
Tag: guitarists
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Chinese guitarist Li Jianhong takes spiritual psychedelic noise to Europe
Guitarist Li Jianhong is fairly unknown in the U.S., but he’s one of the most important experimental musicians in China. Like Sonic Youth and Japanese rock collective Ghost, he straddles and/or blasts his way across the line between psychedelic rock and exploratory noise; he also frequently incorporates a spiritual component inspired by Buddhism and traditional […]
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Texan interdisciplinary artist and guitarist Sandy Ewen releases her first solo LP
Sandy Ewen’s music is a constant series of negotiations. She’s constantly seeing what new sounds she can get out of her guitar, using found objects such as steel-wool scrubbing pads, dowels, bolts, cat-grooming brushes, and lengths of chalk. She’s also an inveterate collaborator who relishes chances to test her compatibility with new acquaintances or to […]
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In Rotation: The Reader’s Tal Rosenberg on the only house musician in the Harper’s Letters section
Current musical obsessions of DJs and producers Ross Kelly and Samantha Roberts
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Artist on Artist: Fingerstyle guitarist William Tyler talks to Douglas McCombs of Brokeback and Tortoise
Artist on Artist: Fingerstyle guitarist William Tyler talks to Douglas McCombs of Brokeback and Tortoise.
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In Rotation: Artist Heather Gabel on Lungfish’s secret truths
Current musical obsessions of artists Heather Gabel and Amanda Joy Calobrisi
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The Secret History of Chicago Music: Eddie C. Campbell
Blues guitarist Eddie C. Campbell needs help getting home after a heart attack and stroke on the road in Germany.