Amerinca Primitive Guitar: An Album Primer

With such a vacuous name as American Primitive Guitar, one would believe the pseudo-genre to be nothing more than an amalgam of non-musicians working with sub-par instruments to create an unholy racket. That’s just not the case, though. Instead, the players who fall – or kinda are considered – a part of this genre are really masterful performers. There are most likely those readers who will cry out something like, “Long live Segovia,” or maybe even John Williams.

Sandy Bull - Fantasias for Guitar & Banjo (1963)
This gentleman is one of the lesser known proponents of a style uncommonly practiced with all too much attention lavished upon it. Being released prior to a some of the other, better known works in this (psuedo) genre, Bull didn’t really suffer – he wasn’t about to get famous anyway. But in the nascent days of hippiedom, one should have believed his magnum opus, “Blend,” to have garnered more attention than it did upon its release. The rest of the album is comprised of some adroit guitar work, but that lead off track, clocking in at 20 minutes or so, includes so many different ideas that what follows is almost a let down. Bull jams out with a drummer, gets droney for a bit and then moves along. If only there were more tracks like this.

Peter Walker - Rainy Day Raga (1966)
Still kicking around – and sounding oddly fresh even when set against a current crop of players – Walker and this high water mark for modern guitar playing has been canonized. Only recently did I lay eyes on an actual, G-d’s honest original copy of the disc. But the price tag affixed made me laugh. It’s good, but how good?

Robbie Basho – The Grail and the Lotus (1966)
Another one of the departed amidst this list that counts only two living members (Walker and Kottke), Basho was easily the most spacey. His inclusion of all too many Eastern snatches drips with ‘60s nonsense. But here on The Grail and the Lotus, the guitarist refrains from the singing that mars other efforts in his catalog. Perhaps not as endearing as some other discs on this list, it’s still a deft display of talent.

John Fahey - Days Have Gone By, Vol. 6 (1967)
Picking the high point of Fahey’s career is pretty much impossible. From the early ‘60s through the ‘70s, the guitarist rambled through countless classics. This one’s as good as any other. Just stay away from some of the latter day electric guitar experiments released during the ‘90s.

Leo Kottke - 6 and 12 String Guitar (1971)
Maybe the least serious guy represented here, Kottke and Basho share the same proclivity for singing. But on this disc, just like the title says, all he does is play. Maybe my personal favorite of the genre, Kottke wouldn’t again reach such heights as represented here, but that doesn’t diminish the early portions of his catalog. And if nothing else, the title of “Vaseline Machine Gun” seems worth the price of entry.