various artists - The Middle of Everywhere: Guitar Solos Vol. I

The idea for this project started when Alternative Guitar Summit founder Joel Harrison presented a concert of virtual solo performances from around the world during the pandemic. Struck by the fantastic variety of people's work he decided to produce a CD as a way of documenting these and other brilliant artists. Playing solo is a formidable challenge—it’s fascinating to see the different approaches the players take. Each performance is wonderfully different from the rest. There are wild whaps and thrums from Nels Cline, artful classical design from Fareed Haque, mysterious and enveloping electronics from Nguyen Le, a lovely baritone mood piece from Kurt Rosenwinkel, gorgeous, soulful melody and harmony from Camila Meza, overdriven walls of sound from Anthony Pirog, virtuosic fretless raga from Anupam Shobhakar, and on.

You never know what will come next, and yet it all fits as one statement. Lush chords and blasts of noise, tonal and atonal, ambient and highly structured sit side by side.

Says Harrison, “All these players are colleagues and friends. They’re part of the extended family of the guitar summit. Each has a strong voice and profound dedication to their craft. It’s an honor to gather them all under one roof.”

And the title? Harrison describes it as “a phrase that conjures an image befitting solo performance: one is alone, solitary, no immediate feedback from a band. And yet—the creator is everywhere in his or her imagination, with infinite potential, no boundaries.” 

Artists: Fareed Haque, Nguyen Le, Nels Cline, Liberty Ellman, Anupam Shobhakar, Camila Meza, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Anthony Pirog, Cecil Alexander, Miles Okazaki, Henry Kaiser