February 22, 2021: "This Week in Fingerstyle!"

          

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

February 22, 2021

by Randal L Meek

"www.randalsview.blog"

"This Week in Fingerstyle" is the wonderful creation of the talented fingerstyle artist Daryl Shawn who stays on top of everything fingerstyle and creates this spectacular playlist each week! So much good fingerstyle guitar music is being produced these days by incredible and talented musicians, and I'm here to put a smile on their faces every Monday morning!

Daryl Shawn, an incredibly talented fingerstyle artist himself, makes my job easy as he sorts through all the new releases each week and chooses a new "top ten" featuring a representative current best in the world of fingerstyle and adds the new top ten to "The most exciting playlist on Spotify" every Monday morning! "This Week in Fingerstyle" curated by Daryl Shawn is where you'll find the absolute best that true "Indie" has to offer in the world of fingerstyle! 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 as we check out what gems Daryl found for us this week! "This Week" now has over 500 "Followers" enjoying this weekly treat!

First up this week is "Jett's Arrival" by Glenn Roth! I had the pleasure of attending a couple of Glenn's shows at the Boulder, CO Saturday Farmer's Market. Stellar shows that captivated everyone enjoying the late spring sunshine on a Saturday morning. "Jett's Arrival" is an original composition by Glenn that exhibits the finesse and dynamism that Glenn commands. This piece creates a warm, beautiful atmosphere that is sure to delight you! Well done Glenn!

"Sosegado" by Elson Complex is a piece that requires you to engage the higher parts of your brain! Sophisticated and enchanting with a flamenco/spanish theme that is rather haunting. Just a delightful 2 minutes of music that leaves you pondering the mysteries of life. Nice, Elson!

"The Wind and the Waves" by Peter Lainson is just delightful! Slow, rhythmic with a beautiful melody poignantly punctuated with delightful harmonics. Peter has such skill and diversity at his command that you'd never guess by his "down to earth" & genuine personal style! It's been a long time coming, but so wonderful to see Peter creating & releasing beautiful pieces on a regular basis! Lots more to come from this talented artist!

"Vivaldi's Guitar Concerto in D" 3rd movement, by Jürg Kindle and William Ogmundson is just delightful. Everyone knows this piece, even "non-guitar people". So much has been written about this piece over the centuries that there is not much more for me to say other than well done Jürg & William and Bravo!!

"A Dream Takes Flight" by Ken Verheecke is another in the long line of his pieces that just make you melt and float away! Such incredibly calming, peaceful music! Love this Ken!

And Stephen Wake's "Sheebeg Sheemore" has managed to capture a second time one of the top ten spots! How fantastic and deserving for such a stellar rendition of this classic Turlough O'Carolan piece. Here are my notes from two weeks ago: "Sheebeg Sheemore" by the incomparable Celtic artist Stephen Wake is a tremendous rendition of this Turlough O'Carolan classic. Having been done by just about every fingerstyle artist who ever ventures into Celtic music, Stephen's wide-ranging skills bring something new to this piece. On Stephen's fingers this piece flows more gently than the often "harsher" renditions of "Sheebeg & Sheemore". I've played this piece for decades, but can never manage to control it with the beautiful sliding runs that Stephen manages here. Check this one out for sure! I'm sure Turlough is smiling somewhere with a nice tumbler of fine Scotch in hand!

"Farewell" by Jens Hausmann is passionate and peaceful with just a tiny touch of jazz seeping through the cracks! Its' beautiful and romantic!

"Hit The Road Jack" by Ulli Boegershausen is a true gem and "must listen to" piece. A classic hit piece turned into a master fingerstyle piece. If Ulli has a transcription of this piece it should be learned by every fingerstyle artist. Such beautiful phrasing and the subtlety on the sparse percussive techniques is something to study for weeks! Man this one has everything and may be my favorite cover of the year!

"Morning Blue" by the incredible Tommy Berre & Denis Turbide is a beautiful "watch the day unfold with a great cup of coffee" piece. Happy, hopeful and just lovely in every way. You guys nailed it!

And finally "The One You Love" by Alain LaFontaine closes out the new top ten with this sweet romantic classic. Beautiful Alain!

And don't stop there! Remember that all the past selections follow the new top ten starting with "Let Her Go" by Nylonwings and Rudi Salisbury! Enjoy and keep listening!

Daryl Shawn, thank you again for making my Monday mornings a very special and exciting part of every week! And for highlighting the talents of these brilliant artists who work and struggle so hard just to share their beautiful music with the world!

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 and "Follow/Heart/Like" the artists that give you their all each week!

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