"This Week in Fingerstyle" by Daryl Shawn on Spotify!

"This Week in Fingerstyle" by Daryl Shawn on Spotify!

"The most exciting playlist on Spotify" reloaded again for a great Monday morning! "This Week in Fingerstyle" curated by Daryl Shawn! This morning I had this wonderful thought again that for the last year, for the first time in my life, I really look forward to Monday mornings! And "This Week in Fingerstyle" is the reason why! Put your headphones on or AirPods in and disappear into these wonderful sounds!

First up is "Awaiting" by Chris Embers! Few pieces have such beauty and universality that they can translate to multiple different instrument platforms and retain their fiercely moving quality: "Awaiting" is one of those pieces. Haunting and searing this is the "Guitar Version" of a piece that you can find in strings and also piano. It's beautiful in all versions, but since the guitar is my instrument of choice the guitar version is my favorite. This is simply beautiful: give it many listens and the time and attention it deserves!

Jurg Kindle's "Secret Garden" speaks of intrigue and sheer joy at having found this wonderful place! And that's how I feel with every new piece that Jurg releases! Jürg's original pieces always fascinate me because he has the classical training and ability that allows him to create new pieces that sound like they have existed for centuries! He also has the lyrical and melodic creativity to make each new piece shine! "Secret Garden" has the finesse and quality that would make it a hit in any century and it is one of my new favorite pieces! 

"After the Rain" literally has my head spinning! This piece is a collaboration of such beauty that most any artist would want to put this one at the front and center of their profile! Not with these two master artists! These two, with huge catalogs of tremendous work individually and in various collaborations, have chosen to release this one under pseudonyms (Edy Hafler & August Flendahl) and "share" the glory with self-created alter-egos. This piece is so delicious that it belongs on every guitar playlist in existence and an added treat is the "identity legerdemain" that these two masters can afford! Just listen, enjoy and relish this beautiful new stunning piece!

With "3 Libras" Ernesto Schnack taps into his inner Kurt Cobain and brings back many memories with a fine piece that stands out as very different from much of today's similarity. Well done!

With "In The Garden" one of my favorite artists, Mathew Joseph, manages to carry us away to a small chapel in a pastoral setting to a time when religion brought universally warm feelings and he delights us with a favorite old hymn. Times have become polarized, but as usual, Mathew brings nothing but peace and goodness with his sweet sound! This man, in both his music and his life, has tapped into the beauty and peace of the universe and allows us a look inside! Beautiful!

"Siesta" by the man who is soaring to the top of the charts with a sublime sound is the newest piece by the incredibly talented Billy-Joe! Humble and unassuming with his success, Billy-Joe Clark has created a sound that finds itself at the crossroads of ambient and new age fingerstyle and opens up a brand new world! The music (every piece Billy-Joe Clark has come out with) is ethereal, but grounded, absolutely exquisite in its simplicity and I'm not sure Billy-Joe Clark even realizes how good it is! An amazing genre-expanding talent!

"Woke" by "The Field Tapes" (Kyle McEvoy - The Field Tapes) and Matt Tondut is my favorite new "ambient" piece! With just enough melody to engage and a steady beat to hold it all together and pull it forward, this one delights! 

Wow! "Jock O'Hazeldean" is a surprise! One of the exciting things about "This Week" is that Daryl Shawn does not share ahead of time what pieces are lucky and worthy enough to land on this weekly changing playlist. So, I'm surprised and thrilled to find my (Randal L Meek) newest piece, the traditional Celtic "Jock O'Hazeldean" on the list! Thanks Daryl Shawn, you just brought a huge smile to my face and made not just my "Week", but my month at least! 

"Focus" by Andrew Gialanella is another piece that sort of slides between genres with the classical feel of a nylon-string, but a sound that meanders in and around Americana for a result that is unique and oh so satisfying! Well done!

And Rick Cyge joins the stage in style to close out "This Week" with his version of the popular "If" by Bread! We all know this song and tune by heart but Rick gives it wings and lets it soar again! A beautiful, romantic close to "This Week"!

Daryl Shawn, thank you again for making my Monday mornings a very special and exciting part of every week!

And that's it for another "This Week in Fingerstyle" by Daryl Shawn who every week puts together "the most exciting playlist on Spotify"!

Remember to "Follow/Heart/Like" the playlist that Daryl Shawn so painstakingly creates every week!

Join us every week for "This Week in Fingerstyle" on Spotify!

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