Roots Music Stomp - Roots of American Guitar

Description

Join us for the April edition of Roots Music Stomp – hosted by Craig Edwards and featuring Tom Randall, and Jacob Wysoski. This month we’ll explore the roots of American traditional guitar styles in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. We’ll talk about C.F. Martin, Orville Gibson, and other guitar makers who shaped the design of the guitar, the popularization of the guitar as a polite “parlor’ instrument, and the ways that parlor music influenced generations of guitarists right up through the Folk Revival of the 1950s and 60s to the present day.

Tom Randall is a multi-instrumentalist, luthier (stringed instrument builder), and music educator from Amherst, MA. He started playing guitar in the early 1970’s and later, mastered the electric/acoustic bass as well as mandolin, banjo, and other string instruments. He has built dozens of fine, hand-crafted stringed instruments (guitars, mandolins, and long-necked mandolins) as well as repairing and restoring many more. Tom’s lifelong fascination with the guitar has led him to explore a diversity of styles and techniques. He earned a BA in music/organology from Wesleyan University and a MA in music education from UMASS-Amherst.

Jacob Wysoski, a guitarist from Norwich, Connecticut, finds his musical inspiration in the timeless American folk guitar styles of the 1920s-1940s, particularly drawn to the playing of Maybelle Carter. With a focus on her techniques and various guitar tunings, Jacob’s music embodies the richness authenticity of classic Americana. Jake is a rising star in the Americana/Roots music scene, frequently performing at festivals, concerts, at venues like the Jalopy Music Theater in Brooklyn, NY, and on street corners in the time-honored tradition of the “songsters” whose music predates blues guitar.