String Theory Media

new work: alf binnie's WWII archtop for premier guitar

My editor at Premier Guitar suggested I tackle a story that popped up in a small daily newspaper in Montana about a WWII widow who was donating her husband's archtop guitar to the Canadian War Museum. He was Alfred Binnie, a Canadian who served in England's Royal Air Force and who was shot down and imprisoned by the Nazis. While in a prison camp, the Germans actually accommodated his request for a guitar. He kept this instrument through several other camps and the horrible march West of POWs as they fled the Russians under guard as the war wound to a close. It was a very cool story to delve into and I'm grateful to PG for suggesting it. The online story is HERE, but I'd suggest clicking through to the digital edition of the magazine, because it's one of the best looking and easiest-reading online magazines out there. 

we shot that: sierra hull's new videos

String Theory Media was pleased to be called in as DP on what I think is our best looking shoot to date. The artist is the joyful and refreshing Sierra Hull, with whom we did a debut album EPK a few years ago. The video here is Sierra's acoustic cover of Adelle's "Someone Like You," shot live in studio at Nashville's House of David. It's online exclusively at CMT.com. Two more performances are on their way. 

Tags: Someone Like You, Sierra Hull, Sierra Hull Videos

 

 

 

guitar night at music city roots; heh heh

Our good friend Todd Mayo books the artistry on Music City Roots and he does an unbelievable job. But every now and then I ask to borrow the keys. And this coming August 3, I attempt to actually drive over the horizon in dad's sports car. Drunk on freedom, I asked myself what my dream guitar show would look like. How could we represent as many styles and schools as we could in one show and find true exemplars of the six-stringed arts?

I came to Nashville 15 years ago besotted with guitars. I'm a hobbyist player to be sure, but I still play every day and guitar dominates most of the music I listen to. From Django and Eddie Lang to Les Paul, Clarence White and Stevie Ray Vaughan and Bill Frisell and so many more, I'm a lifelong fanatic. And besides, the guitar is the core instrument of Music City. Take it away, and all those other beautiful instruments would not have had much to do. Acoustic and electric. Jazz, folk, country and rock. I wondered how complete a picture MCR could paint of Nashville's current roots and country guitar scene.

And in the end, I simply can't believe my good fortune. My Nashville dream team, no compromises, was available and willing to come play. It began when I learned about Ben Hall, the youngest among them. He's a twentysomething cat who plays in the fashion of Merle Travis and Chet Atkins, the great finger-picking geniuses. Ben is an amazing, tasteful player, and for all the heavy hitters on this bill, Guitar Night at Roots was actually inspired by and built around him. In the bluegrass, flatpicking, flattop vein, there are none better or more innovative than Bryan Sutton and David Grier. They've influenced the way I listen and play (as if) more than any other contemporary players, so they had to be there.

Bassist Viktor Krauss doesn't play guitar in his group (though he does play) but he's built his band around and composes for two guitarists, Todd Lombardo and Steve Walsh. Their semi-written, semi-improvised groove music hits all my music pleasure centers. It's just about perfect. And we'll end the night with the guy who's dazzled us as lead guitarist in 18 South. Guthrie Trapp will bring a band of friends and we'll just see what happens. With all respect to a half dozen other Nashville cats, Guthrie is the most complete electric guitarist I've seen since the death of the great Danny Gatton during my years in D.C. More than just a stunning technician, he's a fountain of ideas, and I'm an utter groupie. 

So I'm still kind of dazed that this is happening, and I can't believe this is part of my job. So please let me invite all of you who ever thought for a moment that the guitar is a good and worthy thing to come to the Barn on August 3 and see this endlessly interesting instrument played at its pinnacle.

 

music and my daughter, part 3

 The fascinations and challenges continue. FongChong is doing pretty well, all things considered. She’s had a bit of a relapse recently into some negative, rejecting behavior, but through June she spent a number of very exciting weeks just getting more and more comfortable with everything. Including music. 

A turning point kind of night began with a good dinner on a Friday a few weeks ago. I decided that FC, who’d been only sporadically talking about or using her iPod, needed a stimulus program. I came down the flight to my music room and left the kitchen door open. Pulled out Songs in the Key of Life, the LP version thanks much, and put it on nice and loud. Not a minute into “Sir Duke,” two lovely females appeared and perched on the couch. FC learned that Isn’t She Lovely is about a baby, and she was kind of blown away by the Sir Duke horn parts, a melody I know so well from about the time I was her age.

I also had great fun introducing her to the turntable.

radical music storytelling on the ipad

At last. At last. We’re free at last. I can’t believe I didn’t hear about this back in the winter when it was released, because the History of Jazz iPad app by 955 Dreams in Mountain View, CA is a watershed.

The ‘we’ who are free are writers and historians and chroniclers and explainers, because now we have a new sandbox in which to play that is nearly unlimited in its ability to mingle text, image, motion, design, and audio. I’ve been advocating for Music-Doc-As-iPad-App since the iPad came out (decades ago, right?). Short of the money-is-no-object, lovingly designed box set, this is the greatest medium ever conceived for telling music stories. The same could be said for all kinds of subjects, from art history to astronomy. But this is a music blog and I’m a music storyteller, so I’ve truly been waiting for this moment. This is what we need. This is what I want to work on. This is monetizable AND smart. It’s scalable, non-pirateable and fun. It comes with headphones for intimate listening/exploring, or you can easily jack it in to your stereo. It sits in your lap like an LP cover. You can browse and flip through scrapbooks and timelines while you listen to the subject of the story.

The History of Jazz doesn't realize ALL this potential, but it's a great start, and it is BA-YOU-tifully designed. After the jump, an insightful interview with the company’s three founders and my review of the app.