James Blackshaw on 'Echoes'

His finger-style guitar has roots in the rustic avant-garde Americana of John Fahey, but also looks to Indian and new classical music.

James Blackshaw, still in his mid-twenties, details the path that has led him to his compositional methods and playing. With a start in country blues of the 1920s and 1930s, through the iconinc players of "American Primative" instrumental guitar music John Fahey and Robbie Basho, he found a sound that allowed for the genesis of his personal musical vision. Now he draws as much from that path as from modern composers like Steve Reich and Arvo Part. The result is florid, mulitlayered compositions executed with a sterling technique.

His recordings in 2008 include a compilation he curated for Important Records titled "The Garden of Forking Paths," a duo recording with Dutch lute player Josef van Wissem on audioMER Records, and an upcoming solo album out on Thompkins Square to be titled "Litany of Echoes."

Hosted by John Diliberto, "Echoes" is a daily two-hour series of evocative, ground-breaking music seamlessly bridging new instrumental, world fusion, new acoustic, impressionistic jazz, and inventive vocal styles.

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