|
Vestapol
Vestapol is a music publishing company with over 100 DVDs and videos published as of 2004. It has been releasing videos since the 1960s, mainly featuring jazz, blues, country and folk music artists. The video line is produced by Stefan Grossman. Artists who have recorded on Vestapol video include Merle Travis, Joe Pass, Pat Kirtley, Norman Blake, Preston Reed, and Raymond Fairchild. The name Vestapol refers to an open D Major tuning for the guitar, common in finger-style guitar in country and folk music. Grossman also began to acquire concert footage of the old blues and country artists who had been rediscovered in the 1960s and had often made TV appearances; this was the basis of Vestapol Videos, which edited and reissued this footage. It was a breakthrough for younger guitarists to be able to watch Big Bill Broonzy, Lightnin' Hopkins, Reverend Gary Davis Reverend Gary Davis, also Blind Gary Davis (born Gary D. Davis, April 30, 1896 – May 5, 1972), was a blues and gospel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Merle Travis
Merle Robert Travis (November 29, 1917 – October 20, 1983) was an American country and western singer, songwriter, and guitarist born in Rosewood, Kentucky, United States. His songs' lyrics often discussed both the lives and the economic exploitation of American coal miners. Among his many well-known songs and recordings are "Sixteen Tons", "Re-Enlistment Blues", " I am a Pilgrim" and " Dark as a Dungeon". However, it is his unique guitar style, still called "Travis picking" by guitarists, as well as his interpretations of the rich musical traditions of his native Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, for which he is best known today. Travis picking is a syncopated style of guitar fingerpicking rooted in ragtime music in which alternating chords and bass notes are plucked by the thumb while melodies are simultaneously plucked by the index finger. He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970 and elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1977. Biography Early ye ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stefan Grossman
Stefan Grossman (born April 16, 1945) is an American acoustic fingerstyle guitarist and singer, music producer and educator, and co-founder of Kicking Mule records. He is known for his instructional videos and Vestapol line of videos and DVDs. Early life and influences Born in Brooklyn, United States, Grossman described his upbringing in Queens, New York, as "lower middle-class", and his parents as "very leftist", valuing education and the arts. He began playing acoustic guitar at the age of nine, when his father bought him an archtop-style (f-hole) acoustic guitar made by Harmony. Later he moved on to a Gibson archtop guitar which he played between the ages of nine and eleven, taking lessons and learning to read music. For a few years, he gave up playing but resumed again at the age of 15. Grossman's interest in the folk revival was sparked by attending the Washington Square Park "Hoots". He took guitar lessons for several years from Rev. Gary Davis, whom he later describe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Norman Blake (American Musician)
Norman Blake (born March 10, 1938) is a traditional American stringed instrument artist and songwriter. He is half of the eponymous Norman & Nancy Blake band with his wife, Nancy Blake. Music career Early performing Blake was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and grew up in Sulphur Springs, Alabama. He listened to old-time and country music on the radio by the Carter Family, the Skillet Lickers, Roy Acuff, and the Monroe Brothers (Charlie Monroe, Charlie and Bill Monroe). He learned guitar at age 11 or 12, then mandolin, dobro, and fiddle in his teens. When he was 16, he dropped out of school to play music professionally. In the 1950s, Blake joined the Dixieland Drifters and performed on radio broadcasts, then joined the Lonesome Travelers. When he was drafted in 1961, he served as an Army radio operator in the Panama Canal Zone. He started a popular band known as the Fort Kobbe, Kobbe Mountaineers. A year later, while he was on leave, he recorded the album ''Twelve Shades of Bl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Preston Reed
Preston Reed (born April 13, 1955) is an American fingerstyle guitarist. He is noted for a two-handed playing style and compositional approach that uses the guitar's body as a percussion instrument. Biography Reed learned guitar as a child on his father's guitar and, for a short time, studied classical guitar. When he was 16 his interest was rekindled by Jorma Kaukonen's acoustic guitar-playing in Hot Tuna. He began to compose his own songs in the style of Leo Kottke and John Fahey. His first public performance was at Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C., in a concert with poet Allen Ginsberg. Reed moved to Scotland in 2000. Technique and musical influences Reed plays with his fingers, thumbs, fists and hands at once. He is also a player of blues or ballads reminiscent of Bill Evans, one of his musical idols. As a teenager, Reed was initially influenced by Leo Kottke and John Fahey and in the beginning of his career was a more traditional fingerstyle player. In t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joe Pass
Joe Pass (born Joseph Anthony Jacobi Passalaqua; January 13, 1929 – May 23, 1994) was an American jazz guitarist. Pass is well known for his work stemming from numerous collaborations with pianist Oscar Peterson and vocalist Ella Fitzgerald, and is often heralded as one of the most unique and notable jazz guitarists of the 20th century. Early life Pass was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, New Brunswick, New Jersey, on January 13, 1929. His father, Mariano Passalaqua, was a steel mill worker who was born in Sicily. The family later moved to Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Pass became interested in the guitar after he saw Gene Autry on television. He got his first guitar when he was nine. He took guitar lessons every Sunday with a local teacher for 6-8 months and also practiced for many hours each day. Pass found work as a performer as early as age 14. He played with bands led by Tony Pastor (bandleader), Tony Pastor and Charlie Barnet, honing his guitar skills while learning the ro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pat Kirtley
Pat Kirtley (born in Kentucky, United States) is an American fingerstyle guitarist, composer and guitar educator. Biography Pat Kirtley grew up in a musical Kentucky family. As a child he was exposed to the musical influences of his mother's family – listening to country and bluegrass – and his father's family who were more attracted to pop and classical music.''Pat Kirtley'', Interview by James Jensen for Acoustic Music Resource (1999) Accessed on November 17, 2007. Kirtley's first exposure to guitar, at age 5, was hearing guitarist and composer Spider Rich (writer of many tunes for , including [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Raymond Fairchild
Raymond Fairchild (March 15, 1939 – October 13, 2019) was an American banjo player from North Carolina in the Great Smoky Mountains. He was widely known for his fast playing, his fancy and intricate picking, and his ability to mimic the sounds of both animals and humans. Biography Fairchild was born in Cherokee, Swain County, North Carolina. He learned music, from an early age, from his mother's side of the family. His more formal musical influences included Earl Scruggs, and Don Reno. When he was young, he played for tips at a tourist stop in Maggie Valley.Williams 1995, p. 61. The owner of the tourist stop, Ted Sutton, taught young Fairchild about show business.Williams 1995, p. 62. When Fairchild wasn't performing, he worked as a stonemason.Making His Own Way by Wayne Erbsen< ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Open D
Open D tuning is an open tuning for the acoustic or electric guitar. The open string notes in this tuning are (from lowest to highest): D A D F A D. It uses the three notes that form the triad of a D major chord: D, the root note; A, the perfect fifth; and F, the major third. To tune a guitar from standard tuning to open D tuning, lower the 1st (high-E) string down a full step to D, 2nd (B) string down a full step to A, 3rd (G) string down a half step to F, and 6th (low-E) string down a full step to D. In this tuning, when the guitar is strummed without fretting any of the strings, a D major chord is sounded. This means that any major chord can be easily created using one finger, fretting all the strings at once (also known as barring); for example, fretting all the strings at the second fret will produce an E major, at the third fret an F major, and so on up the neck. Open D tuning is very popular with slide guitar (or 'bottleneck') players, as it allows them t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Big Bill Broonzy
Big Bill Broonzy (born Lee Conley Bradley; June 26, 1903 – August 14, 1958) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. His career began in the 1920s, when he played country music to mostly African American audiences. In the 1930s and 1940s, he navigated a change in style to a more urban blues sound popular with working-class black audiences. In the 1950s, a return to his traditional folk-blues roots made him one of the leading figures of the emerging American folk music revival and an international star. His long and varied career marks him as one of the key figures in the development of blues music in the 20th century. Broonzy copyrighted more than 300 songs, including adaptations of traditional folk songs and original blues songs. As a blues composer, he was unique in writing songs that reflected his rural-to-urban experiences.Barlow, William (1989). ''"Looking Up at Down": The Emergence of Blues Culture''. Temple University Press. pp. 301–303. . Life and ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lightnin' Hopkins
Samuel John "Lightnin" Hopkins (March 15, 1912 – January 30, 1982) was an American country blues singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional pianist from Centerville, Texas. In 2010, ''Rolling Stone'' magazine ranked him No. 71 on its list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. The musicologist Robert "Mack" McCormick opined that Hopkins is "the embodiment of the jazz-and-poetry spirit, representing its ancient form in the single creator whose words and music are one act". He was a notable influence on Townes Van Zandt, Hank Williams, Jr., and a generation of blues musicians like Stevie Ray Vaughan, whose Grammy winning song "Rude Mood" was directly inspired by the Texan's song "Hopkins' Sky Hop." Life Hopkins was born in Centerville, Texas. As a child, he was immersed in the sounds of the blues. He developed a deep appreciation for the music at the age of 8, when he met Blind Lemon Jefferson at a church picnic in Buffalo, Texas.Allmusic biography/ref> He went on to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reverend Gary Davis
Reverend Gary Davis, also Blind Gary Davis (born Gary D. Davis, April 30, 1896 – May 5, 1972), was a blues and gospel singer who was also proficient on the banjo, guitar and harmonica. Born in Laurens, South Carolina and blind since infancy, Davis first performed professionally in the Piedmont blues scene of Durham, North Carolina in the 1930s, before converting to Christianity and becoming a minister. After relocating to New York in the 1940s, Davis experienced a career rebirth as part of the American folk music revival that peaked during the 1960s. Davis' most notable recordings include "Samson and Delilah" and "Death Don't Have No Mercy". Davis' fingerpicking guitar style influenced many other artists. His students included Stefan Grossman, David Bromberg, Steve Katz, Roy Book Binder, Larry Johnson, Nick Katzman, Dave Van Ronk, Rory Block, Ernie Hawkins, Larry Campbell, Bob Weir, Woody Mann, and Tom Winslow. He also influenced Bob Dylan, the Grateful Dead, Wizz ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
