CDs

Ani DiFranco, To the Teeth

When a CD opens with a piercing, nearly eight-minute lament about the politics of violence and guns, accompanied by a tenor guitar run through amp vibrato, it’s safe to say the artist in question is no slave to fashion or commercial considerations. No, the mighty DiFranco continues to follow her own muse, and the results this time out are simply sublime. Spicing up the work of her road band are copious, funky horn charts, and even the Artist joins the party on "Providence." DiFranco herself wields all manner of guitars (tenor, baritone, acoustic, electric) as well as banjo, bells, megaphone, and more, and turns in a set of killer new songs—playful and poignant, sophisticated yet raw . . . definitively DiFranco. (Righteous Babe)

—Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers

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Gipsyland, Viva la Música

Here’s a new offering for those with an unquenched appetite for Gypsy guitar. Gipsyland trades the multiguitar wall of sound popularized by the Gipsy Kings for an integrated band mix produced by the London team responsible for Cher’s recent platinum hit. Kiko Motos, a former member of the Gipsy Kings, fronts this young group with cry-to-heaven vocals, and the band’s melodic hooks and multi-instrumental rhythmic onslaught carry the listener away to distant, exotic lands. (Hollywood)

—Danny Carnahan

New Grange

With a musical heritage that encompasses Hot Rize, Montreux, Psychograss, the Modern Mandolin Quartet, and a string of stellar solo projects, the musicians in New Grange have nothing left to prove artistically. That gives Mike Marshall, Alison Brown, Tim O’Brien, Darol Anger, Philip Aaberg, and Todd Phillips the freedom to explore previously unimagined possibilities for a band playing traditional stringed instruments. This remarkable CD includes original compositions like Aaberg’s elegant "Under the Hood" and Brown’s rollicking classic "Weetabix" alongside deconstructed traditional tunes such as "Handsome Molly" and "Sally Ann." (Compass)

—David McCarty

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Deborah Holland, The Book of Survival

On her latest CD, singer-songwriter Deborah Holland writes about suffering life’s day-to-day inanities with both desperation and a tongue-in-cheek irreverence. Holland is a former member of Animal Logic (with ex-Police drummer Stewart Copeland and jazz bassist Stanley Clarke), and her candid yarns and mirthful tales are dressed in charming harmonies and luminous string arrangements. With a winsome Joni Mitchell–esque soprano, spare yet powerful picking, plainspoken wit, and a refined melodic sense, Holland has created an audio life raft for lovers of unabashed acoustic beauty and open-hearted verse. (Gadfly)

—Karen Iris Tucker

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Robin Kessinger, Raw Guitar

Playing his well-worn 1982 Gallagher dreadnought without accompaniment, former National Flatpicking Champion Robin Kessinger has stripped down his often frenetic flatpicking style to focus on the melody on his newest CD. A master at cultivating seldom-heard tunes, Kessinger makes such obscure pieces as "Queen of the West" and "Silver Spire" sound like flatpicking standards and puts his own spin on old favorites like "Durang’s Hornpipe," "Over the Waterfall," and "Texas Gales." These spellbinding arrangements were recorded live to single-track digital with one Neumann mic and no effects or signal processing. (Roane)

—David McCarty

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Carol Barney and John Sherman, Ceol Anam

Guitar duets in Irish music are as rare as a bagel and lox sandwich in Dublin. So this CD by fingerstyle guitarists Carol Barney and John Sherman is a welcome addition to the genre. Sherman handles the melodies in D A D G A D tuning, while Barney fills the spaces with her chordal voicings in C G C G C F. Sherman demonstrates his picking speed on "Coach Road to Sligo" and "Cliffs of Moher," but he is equally adept at caressing the airs "Inisheer" and "A Week in January." Two vocals and a smattering of fiddle add flavor to this delightful album. (Folk-Legacy)

—Art Edelstein

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Pierce Campbell, Let It Go

Pierce Campbell writes memorable, engaging songs; sings with a deep, resonant voice; and plays melodic fingerstyle guitar. He is a guitar teacher and a multi-instrumentalist with the Kerry Boys as well as a regular on the songwriting and acoustic guitar workshop scene. Let It Go covers a lot of ground, from touching ballads and sing-alongs to ragtime numbers and a couple of spine-tingling instrumentals. (Twelfth Octave)

—Steve Givens

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Dirk Powell, Hand Me Down

When an old-time jam session really cooks, the music blends soul with controlled abandon. Dirk Powell, one of the young lions of American traditional music, brings this blend to Hand Me Down, a tribute to his southern roots. Powell alternates lead and backup roles here—on "The Silk Merchant’s Daughter" he showcases Ginny Hawker’s captivating vocals with a spare, chordal fiddle accompaniment, while several lovely cuts are sweet-toned, fretless banjo solos. Rhythm dynamos Christine Balfa and Jim Miller use twin guitars to drive classics like "Wild Bill Jones" and "Western Country." (Rounder)

—Sue Thompson

VIDEOS

Martin Simpson, Martin Simpson Teaches Alternate Tunings

The subtitle of this video, A Systematic Approach to Open and Altered Tunings, shows why it is so important: few guitarists take the time to think through the ramifications of guitar tunings. In this 59-minute video, Simpson illustrates the commonalities shared by various altered tunings, such as D A D G A D and C major. With Simpson’s approach, once you learn to work with one tuning, you’ll be able to transfer your knowledge to others and also to develop more sophisticated tunings from the basic ones. (Alfred)

—Gary Joyner

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Various artists, International Guitar Night at the Freight and Salvage Coffee House

This well-produced, one-hour video features fingerstyle guitarist/composers Alex de Grassi, Paulo Bellinati, Gerardo Núñez, Peppino D’Agostino, Brian Gore, and Antonio Calogero live at Berkeley, California’s famous folk club. Each of the performers was taped at the venue prior to the concert, which allowed for shots that would not have been possible with the audience present—in particular, close-ups of the players’ right and left hands from a variety of angles. These shots were then seamlessly edited into the actual concert footage. The result is a high-quality chronicle of International Guitar Night’s moveable fingerpicking feast in which the visuals are almost as dizzying as the music. (Guitar Kulture)

—Ron Forbes-Roberts

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Folk-Legacy, PO Box 1148, Sharon, CT 06069; www.folklegacy.com.

Gadfly, PO Box 5231, Burlington, VT 05402; (802) 865-2406; www.gadflyrecords.com.

Guitar Kulture, available from Acoustic Music Resource, (800) 649-4745, www.acousticmusicresource.com.

Roane, Rt. 3, Box 293, Spencer, WV 25276.

Twelfth Octave, PO Box 1490, Naugatuck, CT 06770; (203) 758-7581.