The debut acoustic guitar album from
Cul de Sac's
Glenn Jones is extremely reminiscent of
John Fahey -- unsurprisingly so, given
Jones' long association with
Fahey as a fan and eventually, with
Cul de Sac, a collaborator (on the album
The Epiphany of Glenn Jones). These steel-string guitar instrumentals, like those of
Fahey's, have a fluid, ever-shifting feel, very much in the
Americana folk style, though often with a somewhat darker and more melancholic tone. They also contain hints of
blues and
gospel without ever straying too far into those genres. If this suffers in any way by a comparison with
Takoma Records' releases of bygone days from
Fahey and fellow instrumental guitar virtuosos
Peter Lang,
Robbie Basho, and
Leo Kottke, it's that it doesn't have the feel of breaking new ground. It's almost something of a
tribute record to the music those kind of guitarists made, rather than an identifiably individual statement, though the densely jangling gentleness of
"Nora's Leather Jacket" reaches out toward something more idiosyncratic. Still, it's abundant in both reverent affection for genre-blending,
folk-based American acoustic guitar eclecticism and, just as crucially, considerable instrumental skill on the part of
Jones himself. To be technical about things, not all of these eight tracks are
Jones' solo performances:
"Linden Avenue Stomp" is a duet with
Jack Rose of
Pelt. ~ Richie Unterberger
