Ned Evett (born May 9, 1967) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter, best known for inventing and playing the fretless glass-necked guitar.

Biography

Edward Duncan Evett was born in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

, United States. A son of a university English professor and an opera singer mother, Evett excelled at music; first playing the

ukulele The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings. The tone and volume of the instrumen ...

at the age of 11, progressing to the classical guitar and giving his first professional performance at the age of sixteen. He then won a classical guitar scholarship, but dropped out before graduating to play in rock bands around the US. Evett began playing fretless guitar in 1990 on a modified stratocaster. He first appeared in print in ''Fingerstyle'' magazine's 'Bizarre Guitars' profile, who stated "Ned Evett will make you reconsider the plucked-string instrument". Evett developed the use of glass fingerboards for fretless guitar in 1996. In 1996, Evett played the fretless glass-necked guitar with Warner Brothers Recording artists Built to Spill, on their album, ''

The Normal Years ''The Normal Years'' is a compilation album of singles, live songs, songs on other compilations, and previously unreleased recordings by indie rock band Built to Spill. The album consists of songs that were recorded between 1993 and 1995 by va ...

''. In 2003, Evett won the North American Rock Guitar Competition and, in 2004,

PBS Television The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educati ...

broadcast a documentary about the competition titled ''Driven To Play''. The competition launched a series of high-profile opening concert performances for Evett with notable musicians, including

Joe Satriani Joseph Satriani (born July 15, 1956)Prato, Greg"Joe Satriani – Music Biography, Credits and Discography". ''AllMusic''. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved May 28, 2014. is an American guitarist, composer, songwriter, and guitar teacher. Early in his ...

the Allman Brothers The Allman Brothers Band was an American rock band formed in Jacksonville, Florida in 1969 by brothers Duane Allman (founder, slide guitar and lead guitar) and Gregg Allman (vocals, keyboards, songwriting), as well as Dickey Betts (lead guitar, ...

John Fogerty John Cameron Fogerty (born May 28, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. Together with Doug Clifford, Stu Cook, and his brother Tom Fogerty Thomas Richard Fogerty (November 9, 1941 – September 6, 1990) was an American mu ...

George Thorogood George Lawrence Thorogood (born February 24, 1950) is an American musician, singer and songwriter from Wilmington, Delaware. His "high-energy boogie-blues" sound became a staple of 1980s rock radio, with hits like his original songs "Bad to the ...

Eric Johnson Eric Johnson may refer to: Music *Eric Johnson (guitarist) (born 1954) an American guitarist and recording artist * Eric D. Johnson (born 1976), member of multiple indie-rock bands including Fruit Bats, The Shins and Califone Politics * Eric Joh ...

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

, and

Leon Russell Leon Russell (born Claude Russell Bridges; April 2, 1942 – November 13, 2016) was an American musician and songwriter who was involved with numerous bestselling records during his 60-year career that spanned multiple genres, including rock and ...

. In December 2003, ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

'' described Evett as "The perfectly sane and vastly entertaining master of the fretless glass-neck guitar". In 2007, ''

Guitar Player ''Guitar Player'' is an American popular magazine for guitarists, founded in 1967 in San Jose, California. It contains articles, interviews, reviews and lessons of an eclectic collection of artists, genres and products. It has been in print si ...

'' described Evett as "The world's first fretless guitar rockstar". In 2012, Evett released ''Treehouse'', his sixth solo record, produced in Nashville, Tennessee by musician

Adrian Belew Robert Steven "Adrian" Belew (born December 23, 1949) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. A multi-instrumentalist primarily known as a guitarist and singer, he is noted for his unusual and impressionistic approach to ...

. An animated filmmaker, Evett and

co-created the original animated series ''Crystal Planet'', currently in development.

Discography

* Built to Spill : ''

'' (1993) *''An Introduction to Fretless Guitar'' (2001) *''Fretless Guitar Masters'' (2001) *''Circus Liquor'' (2003) *''Evett/Vigroux'' (2004) *''iStole'' (2004) *''Village of the Unfretted'' (2005) *''Middle of the Middle'' (2007) *''Afraid For You'' (2010) *''Treehouse'' (2011)

Television appearances

*''Driven to Play''

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

(2004)

References

External links

North American Rock Guitar Competition
{{DEFAULTSORT:Evett, Ned 1967 births Living people American blues guitarists American male guitarists American rock guitarists American rock singers Songwriters from Tennessee Lead guitarists Guitarists from Tennessee 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American male musicians American male songwriters