A couple gracious guitarists and their great guitars

[AMW]

Last night we had an in-store performance by Peter Janson and Steve Davison. The music was absolutely amazing! We had a pretty small crowd (students gone for the summer, Monday night, etc) but the folks who were at the store were enraptured.

Peter played a lovely older Ted Thompson guitar, and his music was a mix of Celtic and more modern fingerstyle influences. I cannot say enough about Peter's TONE. The guitar sounded lovely, but it was easy to see and hear that the magic was in his fingers... no string noise, no nail click, just absolutely buttery, beautiful tone for days. Reminded me of Martin Simpson, and that's some tall Cotton.

Steve was great as well, switching between his Goodall jumbo and an exquisite fan-fret 12-string from Tony Yamamoto (very similar to the one pictured below). Steve's sound was more on the Leo Kottke side, very lyrical playing that conjured imagery of his Arkansas home.



The guys played a number of stellar duets, in addition to their solo tunes, and the slight amplification (for presence not volume) helped the sound to fill up our little shop. Big props to local opener Aaron Lefebvre, who hit a home run with his modern fingerstyle (think Kaki King, Antoine Dufour) original compositions.

A great night all around! Peter and Steve are still on tour (www.americanguitarmasters.com) so be sure to check them out if they're playing near you!

[Larry Pattis]

Two very-large talents, and proud to be friends and accomplices in crime...!

Thanks so very much for hosting the AGM event, Raymond. Wish I could have been there...