No Quarter
Nathan Salzburg : Affirmed (US,2012)****
Former member of Spatula, Idyll Swords, (from which I have reviewed one album before) and Shark Quest, Chuck Johnson was already effective before showing a vision as a guitarist. In a way he continues the finger style tradition of what was called primitive American guitar. He’s very melodic, at times lyrical in his playing, going from open moody to old time memories in rather melodic territories. There can be a steady rhythm play with some fingers, but the melodious inspirations can completely stand on its own too, finding its own developments.I rarely felt so much of the American based folkroots in someone’s guitar music, from old time music and ragtime over old black blues and bluegrass to American songwriting, rich in rhythmic picking strings, melodic progressions and ready with an openness to overcome the limited imprisoned rhythmic frames of early music. You can hear songs in his melodies, and that is what he has in them too, the 7th track comes up with a real song, still American styled with a backing female vocalist to it. The primitiveness of the first creation with struggle of the past finds a sort of new Renaissance in his playing (in some meanings of the word), which makes this new approach even more rewarding. To a degree Nathan Salsburg is rooted like a traditionalist, remembering like a folklorist but exploring like a creative artist, so the result is very rewarding !
Apparently, Nathan Salsburg indeed is a folklorist and also a producer and presenter of traditional music for East Village Radio. Every title on this album refers to racehorses.
