Cool steel-string tour going on right now

[kingnimrod]

Just wanted to give everyone a heads-up on a cool touring act going on right now. Here are the remaining dates:

Tues April 4, Madison, WI - Venue TBA
Wed April 5, Minneapolis, MN - Venue TBA
Thurs April 6, Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle
Fri April 7, Lexington, KY - Venue TBA
Sat April 8, Nashville, TN - The Church
Sun April 9, Knoxville, TN - The Pilot Light
Mon April 10, Atlanta, GA - Eyedrum
Tues April 11, Asheville, NC - Harvest Records
Wed April 12, Durham, NC - Duke's University
Thurs April 13, Charlottesville, VA - Twisted Tea Bazaar
Fri April 14, Baltimore, MD - The Talking Head
Sat April 15, Brooklyn, NY - Asterisk (with Gris Gris)
Sun April 16, New York, NY - Tonic
Mon April 17, Philadelphia, PA - The little side room at First Unitarian Church


I will be going to the one here in Atlanta next Monday (April 10) night at The Eyedrum.

I am in no way affiliated - just passing on the word because I hope some people will come out to see some unique music. If you like John Fahey, this will be right up your alley. I can't make any promises about the opening bands - they could weird you out, but Jack Rose is the real deal.

Here's a blurb about his latest album:

***Kensington Blues, the fourth full-length release from Jack Rose, is an inspired mix of styles and sounds that brings his in-person steel string guitar mastery down to CD scale. This is Rose's most diverse outing by far, with straight ragtime, heavy 12-string, and that sweet, sweet Weissenborn lap guitar all checking in. Honed during endless touring in 2004, the repertoire here is delivered with maximum authority in a series of first-take performances recorded in early 2005.
"Cathedral et Chartres" and "Calais to Dover" are dense, brooding 12-string numbers, recalling the key tracks on 2004's Raag Manifestos. "Calais" features a sequence of right hand picking furious enough to evoke a dream state-- la Charlemagne Palestine's "Stumming Music." "Rappahanock River Rag" and "Flirtin' With the Undertaker" are pure syncopated ragtime, while "Kensington Blues" offers an almost regal take on the intersection of Anglo and American folk traditions. The epic "Now That I'm A Man Full Grown" was the signature piece of many of 2004's live shows, a display of mindboggling slide invention that straddles the line of East and West a la "Yaman Blues" from the Opium Musick LP. In something of a surprise inclusion, Jack's take on John Fahey's "Sunflower River Blues" (long a staple of Pelt and solo gigs but never included on a record) is subtle and expressive, with a wonderful rise and fall that perfectly accentuates Fahey's beautiful melody.

Steel string guitar wizardry from Fahey's neck of the woods (spiritually and physically)
Jack Rose is a member of drone collective Pelt and Appalachian folk revivalists The Black Twig Pickers
Covers John Fahey's "Sunflower River Blues"

You can listen to a few soundclips from it here or do a search in iTunes.

Unfortunately for Eyedrum, the Creative Loafing doesn't really help publicize the shows in their concert menu. Too many times have I gone there to be one of 2 people in the audience because no one knew what was happening. I'd love to see some more people out there, especially for something like this that should appeal to a broad number of people.