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A Drop of the Pure
Steve Baughman
Tall Tree Records
With liner notes by Pierre Bensusan
In recent years, the guitar as back-up instrument in Celtic music has
changed. Top American players including El McMeen from New Jersey, Steve
Baughman and Tom Long from California, along with Pat Kirtley from Kentucky,
David Surette from Maine, and John Sherman from
Ohio have joined with England's John Renbourn and Martin
Simpson, France's Pierre Bensusan, and Italy's Franco Morone, in growing
the body of recorded work that includes Irish music. ...What sets these
guitarists apart from their rhythm counterparts is that they play finger-style.
They use their fingers rather than a flat pick to pluck notes from their
instrument. In the course of developing this distinctive body of guitar
music called Celtic finger-style, they have produced an almost bewildering
number of guitar tunings and stretched the instrument's repertoire and use
far beyond that of a rhythm instrument in a band... It's similar in fact
to the resurgence in interest in the ancient harp music of Ireland. ...
Celtic finger-style guitar playing is riding a similar wave of interest.
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Irish Music Magazine
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