Dec. 2, 2019: "This Week in Fingerstyle!"

"This Week in Fingerstyle" by Daryl Shawn!

December 2, 2019

by Randal L Meek

"www.randalsview.blog"

"The most exciting playlist on Spotify" reloaded again for a great Monday morning! "This Week in Fingerstyle" curated by Daryl Shawn! Daryl does all the selecting of the tunes, I just make a few comments. Put your headphones on or AirPods in and disappear into these wonderful sounds!

First up is "Winwin" by the incredible Jürg Kindle! In today's "zero sum gain" world this really upbeat piece brings us back to center creating a feeling of pure goodness and an "everybody wins" musical environment. If you are feeling even slightly down or tired of negativity, this song will lift you up! Another "win" for Jürg & for us, the lucky audience!

"Komorebi" by Daria Semikina is a deep-feelings piece with intensity and creativity like an ever changing waterfall ending in a quite deep pool. Just tremendous!

"Learn to Fly" is the master Jon Hart giving us a tantalizing and tasty version of the Foo Fighters hit. Turning a pop hit into a beautiful & sensitive fingerstyle piece is no easy feat, but Jon gives us a wonderful performance that outshines the original hit. The recording itself is masterful with a lush depth of sound reaching from the luscious deep bass through the bell-like harmonics. Beautiful!

"Pay the Piper" is a medeival, renaissance-inspired beauty by Andrew York and Dirk Freymuth. My hands shake just a little as I dare attempt to describe a piece by one of the true masters of fingerstyle Andrew York; his playing, transcripts, recordings & performances over decades cast one of the longest shadows in the world of guitar. In fact all I dare say is that it is a truly beautiful "period piece" that stands out and shines as completely different in the fingerstyle world that may have grown just a tad bit homogeneous. If there is an artist with the standing & stature to gently nudge the genre, it is Andrew York, and this piece, I believe, does that and hopefully reminds all of us to follow our own path and create the music we love rather than defaulting into creating the music we think will "sell". A dilemma all artists face to some extent. Thank you Andrew York & Dirk Freymuth for the piece & the nudge!

"The Wexford Carol" by Stephen Wake gives us a Scottish master's take on a well-recognized tune. Stephen's sensitivity and phrasing are beautiful and Stephen's mastery of the full fingerboard and beautiful harmonics give us a lovely slow dance everywhere the guitar can take us. Love each new piece that Stephen give us! This one clearly fits any Holiday playlist but also should find itself on any Celtic or just solid fingerstyle guitar list. A wonderful piece!

"Arawn" by David Brimer is eloquent & lace-like with its beautiful falling runs next to a strong structure that holds the piece together like fine intricate porcelain! If you've ever listened to Jackson Browne, Graham Nash, Steven Stills or Bonnie Raitt, you may well have already heard some of David's fine guitar work that helped make these artists what they are today. David now thrills us with both his own band and a solo career. "Arawn" can be found on the just-released compilation guitar album "Woodworks Vol. 1" on the Sonder House label! 

"Marchione's Dream" is the talented & visionary Lance Allen's (Allen & Bright) tribute to master luthier Stephen Raphael Marchione who has built some of Lance's finest guitars. There is something truly sensuous and seductive about a guitar built just for you and this piece by Lance captures that feeling of holding a sensitive and beautiful instrument as close as you can and producing beautiful music. An intoxicating piece!

"Where is My Mind?" is Liad Abraham's incredibly sensitive rendition of The Pixies hit. Liad's fluid guitar playing has an ebb and flow that gives this piece an emotional intensity that will have your core being aching for an unknown something that is just beyond reach. Beautifully done Liad!

"Delphinium" is my own piece (Randal L Meek) with the guitar tuned all the way down to "open F" giving it a deep lush sound. Honored to find this piece here on "This Week" and on the just-released "Woodworks Vol. 1" compilation guitar album by Sonder House. I'm calling this album "The most epic guitar album of the year!" Enjoy the 25 artists on this album who are at the top of their game!

The final piece on "This Week" is Nylonwings' (David Westin) rendition of "Happy Xmas (War is Over)". I believe John Lennon would have loved this rendition by David. This piece always brings tears to eyes wherever it is played in whatever version, and it is a favorite of musicians, but David's sweet nylon-strings hit right at the heart of the emotion behind this holiday classic! May this vision someday happily come to pass!

And that completes the new top ten for this week! You will now find all the past "This Week in Fingerstyle" music following this week's new ten so you can enjoy all that this wonderful playlist has brought to the world of fingerstyle! Enjoy!

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!

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