FEATURE: FINGERSTYLE LESSON WITH MARTIN SIMPSON
Martin Simpson applies his virtuoso fingerstyle chops and skilled arrangements to traditional and contemporary songs. With video. [More]

FEATURE: PLAY OUT NOW!
From getting your gear set up to conquering stage fright, here’s how to make the leap into performing. [More]

PRIVATE LESSON: MIKE DOWLING
The consummate songwriter, teacher, and jack-of-all-trades guitarist talks about adding excitement to simple progressions. With audio. [More]

FEATURE: 51 TIPS FOR MAKING BETTER RECORDINGS
Learn how to set up your studio efficiently, choose (and place) the best mic, optimize your digital audio workstation, and even “fix it in the mix.” [More]

NEW GEAR REVIEW: COLE CLARK FAT LADY FL2AC DREADNOUGHT
Unique construction and tonewoods add up to a beautifully voiced dreadnought from Down Under. With video. [More]

NEW GEAR REVIEW: REGAL RD-40V
Highly affordable, wood-body resonator delivers bucketfuls of bluesy vibe. With video. [More]

NEW GEAR REVIEW: THREE RHYTHM STOMPBOXES
These units from Ellis, EnRoute, and Shadow provide foot-stompin’ rhythmic self-accompaniment. With video. [More]

RAMBLIN’ JACK ELLIOTT, A Stranger Here
In a lifetime of recording, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott has never sounded quite like this. Produced by Joe Henry, A Stranger Here recasts Elliott as a blues singer, covering Blind Lemon Jefferson, Mississippi John Hurt, and Rev. Gary Davis. It’s an odd choice, but it’s only the first: though Henry has hand-picked country blues from the 1920s and ’30s, he’s surrounded Elliott with a cool, contemporary West Coast band led by David Hidalgo (guitar, accordion), Greg Leisz (guitar, mandolin, dobro), Van Dyke Parks (piano, vibraphone), and David Piltch (upright bass). The concept is a leap of faith for Elliott, and by some miracle, it works brilliantly from start to finish. At 77, his guitar playing is still beautifully fluid and deceptively simple, but there’s a new depth in his voice. Given the chance to sing the blues, he’s absolutely convincing, bringing a gravitas to Blind Willie Johnson’s “Soul of a Man,” a bone-weariness to Furry Lewis’s “Falling Down Blues,” and a bitterness to Son House’s “Grinnin’ in Your Face.” They’re facets of Elliott we haven’t heard before, and with the stunning support of the ensemble—especially Leisz, who finds the timeless middle ground between Blind Willie Johnson and Bill Frisell, his frequent collaborator—he makes it all sound perfectly natural. (Anti, anti.com)
—KENNY BERKOWITZ

GURF MORLIX, Last Exit to Happyland
Although he made his name initially as a guitar player and producer for Lucinda Williams (among others), Austin-based Gurf Morlix has carved out an interesting career as a songwriter and performer in his own right. On Last Exit to Happyland, Morlix’s weary voice punctuates minimalist Americana songs that ooze atmosphere and regret. From the mournful warning of “Crossroads” (“but you’re gonna get caught, and you’re gonna bleed”) to the elegiac “She’s a River,” which features Patty Griffin on backup vocals, Morlix uses understatement and clutter-free arrangements to throw the songs’ raw emotions into sharp relief. Last Exit to Happyland sounds like a man taking stock of his life, from youthful exuberance long gone to the specter of mortality. It’s a work of dignity, honesty, and gruff reflections free of sentimentality—an album coming from a man who knows that time is precious, and he can’t waste another moment. (Rootball, gurfmorlix.com)
—MARK SMITH

For more CD reviews, go to acousticguitar.com/playlist.

JUNE 2009: Interview with Neko Case; Ernie Hawkins explores the style of blues master Rev. Gary Davis; our editors give the lowdown on the highlights of the NAMM show; reviews of the PRS Tonare Grand acoustic and Acoustic Image Corus amp; and music to Paul Simon’s “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard” and Iron and Wine’s “Naked As We Came.”

JULY 2009: Feature lesson with Bruce Cockburn; the music of James Blackshaw, Sean Smith, and Sir Richard Bishop; reviews of the Takamine Limited Edition 2009 and UltraSound Pro-250 amplifier; and music to Death Cab for Cutie’s “I Will Follow You into the Dark” and Led Zeppelin’s “Hey, Hey, What Can I Do?”

AUGUST 2009: Six 12-string guitars reviewed; great two-chord songs; interview with Justin Townes Earle; reviews of the DPA 4099 clip-on microphone and the Ovation iDea; music to Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Who’ll Stop the Rain” and the Sharon Isbin/ Edward Flower take on “The Drunken Sailor.”

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