James Blackshaw (born 1981) is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

-based folk

fingerstyle Fingerstyle guitar is the technique of guitar picking, playing the guitar or bass guitar by plucking the strings directly with the fingertips, fingernails, or picks attached to fingers, as opposed to flatpicking (plucking individual notes with ...

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselv ...

and

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

. Blackshaw primarily plays an acoustic

12 string guitar A twelve-string guitar (or 12-string guitar) is a steel-string guitar with 12 strings in six courses, which produces a thicker, more ringing tone than a standard six-string guitar. Typically, the strings of the lower four courses are tuned in o ...

and has been compared to

Bert Jansch Herbert Jansch (3 November 1943 – 5 October 2011) was a Scottish folk musician and founding member of the band Pentangle. He was born in Glasgow and came to prominence in London in the 1960s as an acoustic guitarist and singer-songwriter ...

Robbie Basho Robbie Basho (born Daniel R. Robinson, Jr., August 31, 1940 – February 28, 1986) was an American acoustic guitarist, pianist and singer. Biography Basho was born in Baltimore, and was orphaned as an infant. Adopted by the Robinson family, ...

, John Fahey, Jack Rose, and

Leo Kottke Leo Kottke (born September 11, 1945) is an acoustic guitarist. He is known for a fingerpicking style that draws on blues, jazz, and folk music, and for syncopated, polyphonic melodies. He overcame a series of personal obstacles, including parti ...

. He has released albums on the labels Celebrate Psi Phenomenon, Barl Fire Recordings, Static Caravan, Digitalis Industries, Important Records, Tompkins Square, and Young God Records. In April 2016, he announced an indefinite hiatus from recording and performing music. His show in

in August 2016 is his last one prior to hiatus. In July 2019, he announced his return to recording and performing.

Discography

Albums

*''Apologia'' CD (Self Released) 2003 *''Celeste'' CD (Celebrate Psi Phenomenon) 2004, (Barl Fire Recordings) 2005 and (

Tompkins Square Tompkins Square Park is a public park in the Alphabet City portion of East Village, Manhattan, New York City. The square-shaped park, bounded on the north by East 10th Street, on the east by Avenue B, on the south by East 7th Street, and on ...

) 2008 *''Lost Prayers and Motionless Dances'' CD (Digitalis Industries) 2004 and (Tompkins Square) 2008 *''Sunshrine'' CD (Digitalis Industries) 2005 and (Tompkins Square) 2008 *''O True Believers'' LP (Bo'weavil Records) & CD ( Important Records) 2006 *''Waking Into Sleep - Goteburg 27.05.06'' Live recording, CD (Kning Disk) 2006 *''

The Cloud of Unknowing ''The Cloud of Unknowing'' (Middle English: ''The Cloude of Unknowyng'') is an anonymous work of Christian mysticism written in Middle English in the latter half of the 14th century. The text is a spiritual guide on contemplative prayer in the ...

'' CD/LP (Tompkins Square) 2007 *'' Litany of Echoes'' CD (Tompkins Square) 2008 *''

The Glass Bead Game ''The Glass Bead Game'' (german: link=no, Das Glasperlenspiel, ) is the last full-length novel by the German author Hermann Hesse. It was begun in 1931 in Switzerland, where it was published in 1943 after being rejected for publication in Germa ...

'' CD (Young God Records) 2009 *'' All is Falling'' CD/LP (Young God Records) 2010 *'' Holly EP'' LP (Important Records) 2011 *
Love is the Plan, the Plan is Death
' LP (Important Records) 2012 *''Fantomas: Le Faux Magistrat'' OST CD/2LP (Tompkins Square) 2014 *'' Summoning Suns'' CD/LP (Important Records/P-Vine) 2015

Compilations, collaborations, split releases and guest appearances

*''Davenport Vs. James Blackshaw'' CD-R with Davenport (Static Records) 2005 *''Gold Leaf Branches'' 3xCD (Digitalis Industries) 2005 *''Sunshrine / Celeste'' LP (Bo'Weavil Recordings) 2005 *''Imaginational Anthem Vol. 2'' CD (Tompkins Square) 2006 *''A Raga For Peter Walker'' CD (Tompkins Square) 2006 *''The Garden of Forking Paths'' - a compilation CD curated and featuring music by James Blackshaw, Chieko Mori,

Jozef van Wissem Jozef van Wissem (born 22 November 1962) is a Dutch minimalist composer and lute player based in Brooklyn. In 2013 Van Wissem won the Cannes Soundtrack Award for the score of ''Only Lovers Left Alive'' at the Cannes Film Festival. Career Jozef v ...

and Helena Espvall. Artwork by

Hanna Tuulikki Hanna Tuulikki is a Finnish-English vocalist, musician and artist, born in Sussex, who is involved in the Nalle (Finnish for "teddy bear") and Scatter musical projects, and has also contributed to the One Ensemble of Daniel Padden.Cooper, NeilEm ...

CD (Important Records) 2008 *Brethren of the Free Spirit (duo with

) - ''All Things Are From Him, Through Him and In Him'' CD/LP (audioMER) 2008 *Brethren of the Free Spirit - ''The Wolf Also Shall Dwell With The Lamb'' CD/LP (Important) 2009 *Current 93 - ''Aleph at Hallucinatory Mountain'' CD (Durtro/Jnana) 2009 *Sailors With Wax Wings - ''Sailors With Wax Wings'' CD 2010 *Myrninerest - ''“JHONN,” UTTERED BABYLON'' CD 2012 *''The Watchers'' (with

Lubomyr Melnyk Lubomyr Melnyk (born December 22, 1948) is a composer and pianist of Ukrainian origin. Melnyk is noted for his ''continuous music'', a piano technique based on extremely rapid notes and complex note-series, usually with the sustain pedal held ...

) CD/LP (Important Records) 2013

References

External links

jamesblackshaw.tumblr.com
*
James Blackshaw at Young God RecordsJames Black Shaw website
1981 births Living people English folk guitarists English male guitarists Important Records artists Young God Records artists 21st-century British guitarists 21st-century British male musicians {{UK-guitarist-stub