Acoustic Guitar Resources:
Artists, Itineraries and Venues

General Resources

Music Interactive

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Acoustic Music News

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MYP: Music Yellow Pages

This site features over 34,000 categorized listings of contact info for manufacturers, wholesalers, and distributors in the music, pro audio, lighting, and entertainment industries.

Affedis: Transcriptons Flamencas

"The most comprehensive catalog of flamenco transcriptions available anywhere in the world;" you can purchase transcriptions via a form on the site. The site includes Flamenco World, providing regular info on festivals, new recordings, and other Flamenco news.

Who: Performer Information

The Pick of RMMGA: Essential and Obscure Recordings of Acoustic Guitar

A list, alphabetized by artist, of acoustic guitar recordings recommended by RMMGA readers in various postings and threads dating from early 1995 through May 1996. It was compiled by Dan Johnson.

FolkMusic.Org

The place on the web to find out about contemporary singer/songwriters performing acoustic music. Hosts links to many resources of potential interest to acoustic guitarists, particularly those interested in traditional and contemporary folk music. Note that the "Performers" section's search form is merely a link to Musi-Cal; to access the folkmusic.org artist listings (more complete than Musi-Cal's), use the "Browse" button.

Singer/Songwriter Directory

A collection of links to singer/songwriter web pages, hosted in Europe. Not nearly as extensive as FolkBook, but still useful.

Acoustic Northwest

This site "is an attempt to give voice to the great and varied acoustic and folk music talents here in the Northwest [US]." Run by singer/songwriter Mark Spittal, this site contains a large number of links to artist and venue pages for people and places in the Pacific Northwest.

On Site Entertainment, Inc.

A "hyper-linked hub of entertainment industry related information and services."

The Ultimate Band List

"The web's largest interactive list of music links where you the visitor can add the latest music links for your favorite bands."

Music Makers Central

"A page devote to helping working music business professionals stay in touch with other music biz pros. We can put your post including your name, address, email, and a link to your web page." A web form is available for adding your information to their Music Maker Directory, currently a free service.

Yahoo's Entertainment:Music:Artists Listings

Music Lists for Independent Musicians

A commercial site, providing DOS floppies and CD ROMs with 6 lists of international radio stations, record companies, web pages, promoters, bands, CD manufacturers, and other related businesses. If you want to pay $25 to $45 for this info, look at this site.

The Music and Audio Connection

A new site (and thus still heavily under construction as of Spring 96) with links to artist pages, events, companies and associations, classified ads, and other resources.

PassionFire Gold Music Promotions

"The premiere Internet site for promoting passionate, unadulterated, unique instrumental music by new, unknown, or unsigned artists." They offer free web space to instrumental artists of their choosing.

Nashville Music Network

Collects musician contact info, and provides a collection of music links. Also included interviews, classifieds, news, and concert info on the Nashville music scene.

When: Itineraries

Musi-Cal: Music Calendar Database

Club Date USA

A searchable database of the schedules of hundreds of clubs throughout the USA, including links to web pages for the clubs and artists hosted.

Pollstar: The Concert Hotwire

A concert tour database (mostly featuring itineraries of major artists who do extended tours).

OVERDRIVE

A worldwide events announcement database for registering and searching for recreational and cultural events. Readers can search by title, sponsor, location or date; posters obtain a password and record ID to allow updates.

The Hawaiian Music Island

This site includes a calendar of concerts worldwide featuring musicians from Hawai'i, including slack-key guitarists.

Where: Venues and Radio Stations

Folk Venue Database

Scott Russell put together this fantastic database, containing information on venues of all sorts and sizes that host acoustic acts. It is hosted by Hidden Water. It includes links to online itineraries for the venues at Musi-Cal, if available.

FOLK_VENUE List Server

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Puddlestomp Records Acoustic Venue Directory

Over 2600 listings of acoustic-friendly venues across the US, including coffeehouses, cafes, festivals, colleges, showcases, and more. Includes open mic info for hundreds of entries. This is a commercial product, costing $39.95 plus shipping.

Acoustic Northwest

This site "is an attempt to give voice to the great and varied acoustic and folk music talents here in the Northwest [US]." Run by singer/songwriter Mark Spittal, this site contains a large number of links to artist and venue pages for people and places in the Pacific Northwest.

The FOLKDJ List

A list of radio stations carrying folk and bluegrass music, submitted largely by members of the Folk and Bluegrass DJs list server, and hosted by Hidden Water.

The Internet Folk Radio List

Jeremy Butler's list of folk music programs and radio stations, compiled from readers of the folk_music, FOLKDJ-L, and FOLKTALK list servers and rec.music.folk, hosted at FolkBook.

FolkBook: Resource Database

The FolkBook page containing links to the sites above, and other more specific venue and radio station sites.

Acoustic Northwest

A catalog of acoustic music venues and events in the Northwest US, maintained by singer/songwriter Mark Spittal.???

Resources For Professional Musicians

Level: 11

A web site hosting articles and links of interest to career musicians, including interviews and articles on publishing, making business contacts, studio techniques, and other business-related topics.

Musicians/ Cyber Connection

A commercial site (hosted in Nashville, Tennessee) that provides an online musicians' recerral service and artist showcase for a monthly or yearly fee, using RealAudio to provide audio. Demos are categorized by instrument; guitar is one among many.

Record Labels And Distributors

Orchard Park Recordings & Eutycus Records

This site is the home of a label in the Finger Lakes region of New York that produces instrumental guitar recordings of acoustic jazz-pop originals and "Christmas music for all seasons" by local artists Tom Rasely and Scott B. Adams, as well as Celtic, World, and Christmas music by other central New York musicians.

Guitar Nine Records

Guitar Nine Rcords distributes instrumental guitar CDs (acoustic and electric) by hundeds of different independent artists. Besides the expected online CD ordering capability, the site serves as an online monthly magazine featuring info and reviews of work by Guitar Nine artists. Soundites are available, and a handy "Recommendations" page offers suggested listening organized by musical style.

Home Pages for Professional Acoustic Guitarists

FolkMusic.Org already contains links to pages for dozens and dozens of singer/songwriters. This list is only to artists known for instrumental performance and composition on the acoustic guitar.

See Anil Prasad's "Innerviews" for a large number of excellent interviews with legendary and up-and-coming musicians, with an emphasis on guitarists.

Charles David Alexander

Alexander was the 1992 Fingerstyle Guitar Champion.

Muriel Anderson

Chet Atkins

Do I really need to explain who Chet is?! This site has had problems with its provider and its status is up in the air; it should have a permanent home by summer of 1997.

Keola Beamer

Contemporary Hawaiin slack key guitarist and singer/songwriter.

The Official Pierre Bensusan Homepage

This site offers biographical information about Bensusan, a renowned fingerstyle player living in France, as well as information about his cds, books, and videos (with ordering information), his itenerary, discography, and contact info.

Rolly Brown

Brown was the 1980 National Fingerpicking Champion; he lives in Pennsylvania. His light hearted web site not only describes his CD, No Need For Words, but also offers some playing tips and a "Guitar Posting" area.

Julian Coryell

Julian is a jazz guitarist and singer/songwriter. Although much of his playing is on electric, his 1995 recording Jazzbo featured acoustic renditions of jazz classics.

Tony Cox

Tony Cox is an award-winning fingerstyle guitarist based in South Africa. He is well-known in his home country, not only as a solo artist, but also as half of the guitar duo Cox & Newman (or Newman & Cox!). Cox's composing and playing combines "the rigour and precision of classical technique" with "ingredients of blues, rock, ragtime, jazz and African styles to achieve an eclectic yet integrated and distinctive sound." He also composes for film and TV. His web site provides a bio, soundbites, his itinerary, and lessons and tips for performing his music (some drawn from his instructional video).

Alex de Grassi

DeGrassi's unique and intricate fingerstyle compositions helped define the "Windham Hill Sound" and herald the recent renaissance of interest in instrumental fingerstyle acoustic music. His first recording, Turning: Turning Back, was recently cited by Acoustic Guitar magazine as one of the top ten essential fingerstyle guitar recordings. Alex's official home page offers his bio, tour schedule, descriptions of available recordings and tab, info on joining the eMail mailing list, and a form with which you can ask de Grassi questions on any topic.

Jim Earp

Jim is based in San Diego. His first CD, a collection of original acoustic compositions called Rosewood, has been praised by critics as "nouveau-Celtic-classical-folk" with "a healthy, spiritual quality" recorded with "a sweet, finely-crafted sound." Jim also plays in the San Diego group Modern Peasants. His web site, which is part of Guitar Nine Records and allows online CD orders, offers soundbites from his CD, reviews, and biographical info.

Richard Gilewitz

Richard is a nationally acclaimed acoustic guitarist and composer who writes and performs an eclectic mixture of folk, jazz, blues, and classical music in the idiosyncratic style of Leo Kottke.

Paolo Giordano

Brian Gore

Brian is a San Francisco-based acoustic guitarist.

Michael Gulezian/Timbreline Music

Michael Gulezian's music reflects the enormous diversity of his musical influences. From the Middle Eastern and Armenian music he heard from his parents to the Beatles, Delta blues artists, and modern fingerstyle artists, Gulezian has developed a style that has earned him significant airplay on folk, jazz, and New Age radio shows. He has been touring and recording since 1978, and presently calls Nashville, Tennessee his home. His site includes bio info, brief descriptions of his recordings, touring and contact information.

Michael Hedges

Michael Hedges is by all accounts one of the most inventive and influential acoustic guitarists of all time. An accomplished fingerpicker and singer, he is best known for incorporating right hand tapping and percussive slapping into the acoustic guitar repertoire. If you haven't already heard him, you've probably heard someone inspired by him! There are two web sites devoted to Hedges and his music; one at Windham Hill Records, and Nomad Land: The Michael Hedges Web Site, run by fan Matt Guthrie, who also maintains Hot Type, the Michael Hedges email bulletin.

Richard Johnson

Richard Johnson's exciting and unique style brought him to the attention of Taylor Guitars, for whom he now runs guitar clinics. His playing has been compared to that of Richard Thompson, Dave Edmunds, Christopher Parkening, and others (all at once!). His site offers RealAudio files with samples of his music. You can also find some RJ links and place CD orders at The Artist Shop (check the New Artist page).

Robert Johnson

The blues legend.

Leo Kottke (and here, too)

Do we really need to tell you who Leo is?!

Adrian Legg

Combining monster technique, British wit, and strong opinions about the amplified acoustic guitar, Legg's music and words can be heard not only in performance and on radio music shows, but also as commentary on NPR's All Thing's Considered and in guitar lessons printed regularly in Guitar Player magazine. Adrian is also a frequent and eloquent contributer to discussions in the RMMGA newsgroup.

Phil Keaggy

This writer finds it impossible to praise Phil Keaggy's instrumental acoustic and electric playing and vocal work too much! The Phil Keaggy Fan Club hosts the official PhilKeaggy.com web site. Phil also has two extensive fan-run web pages devoted to his career, Way Back Home (hosted here at MuseWeb), and March of the Clouds (hosted at the informative Phil Keaggy Fans Online site).

Pat Kirtley

Pat Kirtley is the 1995 National Fingerstyle Guitar Champion. Besides composing and performing, he also writes for several national guitar publications. His musical styles span traditional, country, jazz, and Irish. His attractive site includes information about his own work and links to other Internet resources.

Leo Kottke

The official web site for Minnesota-based 6- and 12-string legend Leo Kottke. The site includes a discography (searchable), Kottke's tour schedule, a list of sources for printed tablature, and a "Notes" section that serves as "a soapbox of sorts, a place where I can get into trouble, a place where I can spout off on the current state of anything--no benefits, proselytizing, or gun control, just free association and privilege." There is also a form where fans can register to get email announcing site updates.

Adrian Legg

British-born guitarist Adrian Legg combines the diverse influences of folk, New Age, jazz, blues, and classical music with innovative use of acoustic and electronic equipment to forge a unique style that has garnered him such accolades as the Guitar Player Magazine fingerstyle guitarist of the year (for 3 years) and Guitarist Magazine's "Guitarist of the Decade." Besides touring and recording, he also writes columns for Guitar Player and commentary for National Public Radio's news show, All Things Considered.

Tom Long

Tom Long describes his playing as "Contemporary Urban Folk/Instrumental." He plays fingerstyle acoustic guitar instrumentals, "flavored more rootsy than jazzy," and occassionally plays 12-string and Dobro. He has two solo recordings (distributed by Acoustic Music Resource) and his playing is featured on two of Stefan Grossman's Celtic fingerstyle compilations. He has also published a tablature book, "Six Traditional Irish Fiddle Tunes for Guitar." His web site provides order info for his CDs and tab, links to Acoustic Music Resource, soundbites (AU files), and basic background info on Tom's career.

Robby Longley

Based in Los Angeles, California, Longley "mixes traditional flamenco and classical guitar with a hint of the blues.... From his self-taugh roots in New Orleans, Louisiana, Robby has artfully crafted a type of playing he calls Gypsy Guitar."

Nessa Marquez

Based in the Denver, Colorado area, Nessa Marquez plays nylon-string guitar in a versatile range of styles spanning classical, flamenco, jazz and R&B. Her influences are impressively diverse, ranging from Christopher Parkening to Earth, Wind & Fire and bassist Stanley Clark. In addition to her guitar performances, she also composes, sings, acts, and lectures on the entertainment business and on European and ancient history.

Franco Morone

El McMeen

Fingerstylist El McMeen records both instrumental albums and instructional videos (released by Stefan Grossman's Guitar Workshop). He plays most frequently in "Low C Tuning" (CGDGAD), and occassionally in DADGAD. His music combines many influences and styles: folk, rock, pop, choral music, orchestral music, and opera. His recordings often feature Celtic compositions and arrangements of hymns; transcriptions are available through Mel Bay. His lovely web site provides a bio, discography (with reviews and sound clips), concert itinerary (with reviews), online purchasing of El's CDs, and a press kit. It also features transcriptions of a few of El's arrangements, and a chord chart in CGDGAD tuning.

Billy McLaughlin

Billy McLaughlin's playing features the acoustic guitar using non-standard tunings and techniques; listeners often compare his playing to that of Michael Hedges and Stanley Jordan and his singing to that of Peter Gabriel and Sting. Billy also has a fan-run page that hosts his tour dates, tunings, and lots of other McLaughlin information and links.

Dorian Michael

Southern California artist Dorian Michael plays fingerstyle acoustic guitar and electric guitar. "He has studied and worked with almost every style except flamenco (never wanting to play quite that fast.)" Critics have praised his first CD, The Way We Dance (solo acoustic guitar), citing blues and folk influences such as John Fahey and Leo Kottke. His web site features sound clips from his CD, reviews, and will eventually offer some free tablature. Michael is also the author of the book/CD, Open Tunings for Solo Guitar, described on the site.

Greg Neaga, Fingerstyle Guitarist

Greg Neaga's music combines country, bluegrass, and folk influences; Chet Atkins is the player who has most influence Greg's playing. His site includes samples of his music, info about his CD, photos of his instrument collection, a guestbook, and links to a number of guitar-related web sites.

Al Petteway

Al Petteway has won 12 WAMMIE awards (Washington [D.C.] Area Music Association awards) for his instrumental albums, which feature some of the nicest fingerstyle playing fusing Celtic and American traditions you're likely to hear, often with accompaniment by Uilleann pipes, digeridoo, bodhran, and other traditional instruments.

Tom Rasely

Tom Rasely is based in McDonough, NY (the "Central Southern Tier" of upstate NY). He has recorded over 2 dozen album projects, as a featured artist as well as with other musicians, for Frolick 'N Music and Orchard Park Recordings labels. Tom specializes in melodic, instrumental guitar music, and has performed with several regional symphony orchestras, and twice at The White House. Tom teaches guitar in his Norwich NY studio and is an author with Mel Bay Publications. His web site describes his recordings and teaching, and provides contact information.

Preston Reed

Preston Reed's site has just moved and been updated!

Ted Reece

Colorado-based Ted Reece has studied classical guitar with Manuel Barrecco and Elliot Fisk, and combines that knowledge with contemporary techniques and cross-cultural stylings to create his original instrumental compositions. His composition, "Broken Arrow," won the 1996 National Guitar Workshop composition award. His web site includes a brief bio, RealAudio samples from his recordings, and a mailorder form for ordering his CD.

Harvey Reid

Multi-instrumentalist Reid runs his own label, based in York, Maine. This attractive and extensive site includes the obligatory album information, but also articles, essays, guitar tuning lists, gear descriptions, information about the Third Hand Capo that Reid endorses, and lot of other information.

Don Ross

Rick Ruskin

Now living in Seattle, Washington, Rick Ruskin began playing the guitar in 1962 in his native Detroit, Michigan. He studied with master blues/ragtime/gospel guitarist Rev. Gary Davis beginning in his high school years, but has since evolved a style of his own combining these traditional influences with popular and contemporary stylings. He is a regular contributor to Fingerstyle Guitar magazine. His site includes links to a companion site at ITR Records and to Video Progressions, producers of his instructional videos.

Martin Simpson

A widely acknowledged master of instrumental and accompaniment arranging and performing on acoustic guitar, Martin began his musical career in his home country of England, gaining fame as an accompanist for June Tabor. He subsequently moved to the US, living in upstate New York and California before moving to his present home in New Orleans. presently lives in Santa Cruz, California. The Official Martin Simpson Web Site is maintained by his bass player, Doug Robinson, under the auspices of his Watershed Arts arts marketing company. It includes biographical info, Martin's tour schedule, information about his equipment, and stories from the road. You can order his recordings at the site, and monthly guitar tips are planned. Martin endorses Highlander pickups, and there is a Martin Simpson web site at HighlanderPickups.com providing biographical info and a discography.

Don Ross

Don is a Toronto-based guitarist. In having won the 1996 Fingerstyle Guitar Championship, he is the only person ever to have won twice in the 25-year history of the contest.

George Villiers

British composer and guitarist with three acoustic instrumental CDs.

Carl Volk

Carl is a nylon-string player whose performances and original compositions combine classical, flamenco, and jazz styles. He studied classical guitar at the University of New Mexico school of music, and his influences include classical, Brazilian, and jazz players of both guitar and piano, especially Brazillian composer Antonio Carlos Jobim and Tango composor Astor Piazzolla. His site also hosts a Gallery of some of his photos of various subjects, including guitars.

Brooks Williams

Though best known as a singer/songwriter, Brooks Williams is an uncommonly excellent guitarist. His songs feature well-crafted accompaniment on acoustic guitar played with pick and fingers, or slide guitar; but his recordings and concerts also feature compelling instrumental compositions. He is currently (summer/fall 1999) recording his first solo instrumental CD.

Amateur Players

Chris Peckham also maintains a copy of the RMMGA Who's Who List, marked up forNetscape Navigator (i.e., with those ugly frames), at his Shed on the Web site.

The Guitar Link web site provides a free service linking like-minded guitarists/musicians who want to get together and jam, share techniques, etc.. The site provides a form to register your contact information and interests; if you match others' interests, you will receive their contact information by email. The site is based in London, England.

The Dean Markley Strings, Inc. web site has a Classified Section in which musicians wishing to connect with other musicians can post information (no items or services for sale allowed).

Michael Owings runs two web sites hosting audio files of online players: Execrable Guitar Solos hosting his own fingerstyle recordings, and Acoustic Performances hosting performances submitted by various other players.