Here are some random thoughts for acoustic music with acoustic guitar...
Almost anything by Martin Simpson. Favorites of mine include: ..Leaves of Life, Shanachie 97008(CD) ..When I was on Horseback, Shanachie 97016 (CD) ..Live, at the Holywell Music Room in Oxford, Red House 106 (CD)
Norman Blake-Live at McCabe's Doc & Merle Watson-Pickin' The Blues Stefan Grossman-Yazoo Basin Boogie Leo Kottke-One Guitar, No Vocals Peter Lang-American Stock Martin Taylor-Gold (Best Of) Baden Powell-Estudos The David Grisman Quintet(self-titled) John Hammond-Got Love If You Want It & Wicked Grin Ry Cooder & V.M. Bhatt-A Meeting By the River Gipsy Kings-Roots Paco de Lucia-Plays Manuel de Falla & Entre Dos Aguas Alexandre Lagoya & Ida Presti-Baroque Music for Two Guitars Sergio and Odair Assad-Play Rameau, Scarlatti, & Bach Benjamin Verdery and Rie Schmidt-Reverie
I would recomend another Michael Hedges album: "Watching My Life Go By" and then relatively early Phil Keaggy stuff like "The Wind and the Wheat" and especially "Beyond Nature".
My favorite (audiophile AND musical) is Grzegorz Krawiec 'Journey' on M-A Recordings (Mo68A). Terrific sound. In addition, one of the two or three most virtuosic performances on any instrument I in my collection (I own over 3000 recordings...)
Astonishing....do yourself a favor and pick it up.
Steve Hackett "Sketches of Satie" is pretty good. Classical acoustic guitar + flute though.
Hackett also has a DVD called Hungarian Horizons that features him playing acoustic guitar with some accompaniment in a live concert that I would recommend.
Chet Atkins put out lots of great acoustic guitar oriented stuff over the years. Check amazon for titles.
Also on a Genesis guitarist note, many of Anthony Phillips "Private Parts and Pieces" series is excellent as well. I've heard mostly vinyl of this series, but they mostly sound terrific. His work on the Genesis album "Trespass" always provides me goosebumps.
Great suggestions above...also listen to these artists...
Fingerstyle greats: Tommy Emmanuel, Pat Donohue, Mike Dowling, Pete Finger, Pete Huttlinger, Leo Kottke, Jack Williams, Rick Foster, John Knowles
Country/bluegrass: Bryan Sutton, Pat Flynn, Chet Atkins, Tony Rice, David Grier, Scott Nygaard
Blues/jazz: Jorma Kaukonen, Martin Taylor, Antonio Forcione, Acoustic Mania, Joe Pass, Paul Geremia, Earl Klugh, Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, Django Rheinhardt, Robben Ford
Classical: John Williams, Carlos Barbosa-Lima and Sharon Isbin, any of the Romeros, Manuel Barrueco, Ricardo Iznaola, Narcisco Yepes
Great suggestions so far. Since you don't suggest a specific style or genre, I'll just do as others do and ad a few names I have yet to read, but are worthy of the list (sorry if I missed them as I haven't read all the responses yet):
Rory Block, When a Woman Gets the Blues Kelly Joe Phelps (a master - pick anything...I like "Shine-eyed Mr. Zen") Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds Live at Luther College Joe Pass, "Way Out West" & "Virtuoso" Chris Whitley, "Living with the Law" Marc Ducret, "Detail"
Not only is this guy an amazing guitarist, this is one of the best sounding red book CD's I have ever heard. If you don't believe me, go buy it and give it a listen, you won't be disappointed!
Lots of good ideas here, but if your taste runs to pop and/or rock music, I might add:
Richard Thompson is my favorite acoustic guitar player in the pop/rock sphere, but most of his best records mix acoustic and electric guitar tracks. Beeswing and Vinvent Black Lightning are probably his best known acoustic tracks, but there are many, many more. The box set "Watching The Dark" is a treasure trove and much of it is nicely recorded.
Some of the Dick's Picks live Greatful Dead recordings feature wonderful playing and certainly have their following.
Lindsay Buckingham's last record was mostly acoustic and certainly worth hearing. Marshall Crenshaw's "Greatest Hits-Live Acoustic" is a wonderful record and "Neck and Neck" by Mark Knopler/Chet Atkins is great, too. Both David Lindley and Los Lobos have put out some wonderful acoustic guitar-centric recordings, but again, none of these are "pure" acoustic solo as oft cited above.
How about Blind Willie Johnson "Dark was the night cold was the ground" (1927).
By the way, I DETEST "Friday Night in San Francisco", with Al DiMeola, John McLaughlin, and Paco DeLucia. I saw the NY concert at Carnegie Hall. It was awful. Unmusical show-off nonsense.
"Some of the Dick's Picks live Greatful Dead recordings feature wonderful playing and certainly have their following"
Good point. Garcia was a fine acoustic guitarist. Most re-mastered Dead CDs I've heard sound pretty good. "American Beauty" and "Ripple" specifically, is the classic place to start for someone new to the many acoustic ensemble works by the Dead.
Good call Soulbrass, Nils Lofgren live is fantastic. It is out of print. If you can find one snatch it up. Check out song " Keith don't go " Great guitar work. You can also go to You Tube and you will find a great video of " Keith don't go " Joe
Julian Bream "Popular Classics For The Spanish Guitar" is a landmark recording, artistically and sonically. If you can find it, the three-LP set "Flamenco Guitar" by Manitas De Plata (Classics Record Library) is stunning. It doesn't appear to be available on CD.
Anything with Antonio Forcione, the "Hendrix of the acoustic guitar". My personal favorite is "Live!" (on the Naim Label: http://www.thenaimlabel.com/)
Something quite special: Wulfin Lieske, "What about this Mr. Tarrega?" (Tacet 65) on which Lieske plays 7 historical guitars made between 1856 and 1958.
Very good stuff also on Stockfisch Records, master engineer Guenter Pauler being an acoustic guitar aficionado himself (check the samples on http://www.stockfisch-records.de/stckff/sf_stockfisch_e.html )
If you are open to trying something a bit different, on the mellow side, you might want to check out Keola Beamer who plays the Hawaiian Slack Guitar. Try "Moe'uhane Kika-Tales from the Dream Guitar. It is not your typical Hawaiian stuff and there is no singing on this one.
From the great master of classical guitar "Segovia: The Great Master".
In the early 70's I was privileged to attend a once in a lifetime concert. Andre Segovia played for almost two hours in a small recital room to an audience of teachers, students and affinados. It was truly a wonderful concert.
The tracks on this album have been remastered from various studio dates and have very good sound quality. Also the album has an overall acoustic feel of a live recording. Listening to this album is not the same as being at that concert but it comes close.
Okay, don't laugh......the live acoustic cut of "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" on the Allman Brothers "2nd Set" CD is fantastic. Also, check out Garcia/Grisman "Shady Grove" and some cuts on Eric Johnson's first record.
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