Viewing: The Acousticati - View all posts

I hope you'll join me on Saturday 6th June for a live Instagram chat with a giant of the acoustic scene, the mighty Tony Polecastro! Tony will be familiar to many of you as the host of Acoustic Tuesday…

Chatting with super luthier Michael Greenfield about any subject whatsoever is one of life's real pleasures. Here, in all its rough and ready glory is an hour of exactly that - from the advantage that a solid foundation in guitar…

Montreal is one of my favourite cities in the world, not least because it is home to one of my favourite people in the world, the legend of modern acoustic guitar luthiery that is Michael Greenfield. 

My friendship with…

It was a real pleasure to catch up with my dear friend Jason Kostal in an Instagram Live chat last Saturday! Thank you to everyone who joined us for the session where we discuss the history of the fingerstyle acoustic…

I know that many of us have been experiencing stress, anxiety and sleep disruption. If that's you then I'd like to play for you. 

I have started a series of Late Night Live Stream sessions on my YouTube channel, this…

Back when that sort of thing was actively encouraged I was invited to Sound Network HQ London to film a comparison video of the DPA microphone range. DPA is a super-high end microphone company that sprung from the ashes…

One of the guitars I was most looking forward to playing at the grand finale of the Holy Grail Guitar Show is a collaboration that I have been working on with luthier Thierry André of Quebec. This is he. As…

I know that many of us have been experiencing stress, anxiety and sleep disruption. If that's you then I'd like to play for you. 

I have a series of Late Night Live Stream sessions on my YouTube channel, the…

It was a joy to catch up with two giants of the acoustic music scene Tommy Emmanuel and Jerry Douglas at Royal Festival Hall in London. The guys were in town for the Transatlantic Sessions concert and I was dispatched…

Throughout my life as a player the archtop guitar has held a brooding and slightly intimidating mystique. Now, as I'm learning how to appreciate the subtleties and nuances of these beautiful instruments - built with an intent and technique far…

One of the joys of a visit to the Turnstone Guitars workshop is a cup of tea and a chat with Rosie Heydenrych, the luthier behind all these beautiful instruments. 

This time we filmed it (it's been a while!) as…

I was first introduced to the music of Willy Porter by Jason Kostal several years ago and I've been looking forward to meeting the man himself in person ever since. Willy is currently on tour here in the UK and…

Ben Walker has been one of my favourite players for a while now and it was a pleasure to finally get to meet him at his studio in Brighton this week. 

Ben's beautiful new album Echo has just been released…

It's funny, archtop guitars have been much on my mind of late. Maybe it was performing on Linda Manzer's Iceberg at the closing ceremony of the Group of Seven exhibition in London...

Or discussing the joys of good archtops with…

Luthier Jason Kostal is rightly recognised for his attention to detail at all stages in the guitar making process and during my recent visit to his workshop in Phoenix Arizona we had a chat about the importance of string choice…

Over the past few years Rory Dowling of Taran Guitars has been working on a very special new design with legendary UK guitarist Martin Simpson! Yes, really!

Taking inspiration from a 1930's Martin and Rory's Tirga Mhor design this…

I firmly believe The Fretboard Journal to be one of the gold standards for printed guitar journalism worldwide and the magazine itself is truly a thing of beauty. One thing you don't get in the hard copy, of course, is…