Wednesday 29 April 2009

James Blackshaw "Waking Into Sleep"

I heard James Blackshaw on Radio 4 a couple of days ago and I knew I had one of his CDs tucked away somewhere. Well, it took some digging out, but here it is. Released on the Kning Disk label in 2006, Waking Into Sleep was recorded in Gothenburg during May of that year and features 4 longish instrumental tracks. Blackshaw’s a master 12-string guitarist, very much in the style of John Fahey and his Takoma posse. Jack Rose would be the closest contemporary comparison; both display remarkable finger dexterity, and as Blackshaw explained in his interview, repetitive strain injuries are not uncommon. There are close to ten albums available by Blackshaw, and you can find great reviews online for all of them, but this is the only one I’ve heard and I like it very much. Fans of Fahey and the new weird folk music would do well to investigate.

www.myspace.com/jamesblackshaw

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