Southern Exposure (Solo Guitar)

Southern Exposure (Solo Guitar)

A superb fingerstyle guitarist with a mix of harmonic adventure and metaphysical trappings similar to that of steel-string legend John Fahey, California native de Grassi moves ably from dense chordal work to vibrantly ornamented lines. Ethnic touches abound: The urgent motion of "36" is undercut with sunny flamenco gestures, while Brazilian <I>bossa</I> inform the taut rhythms and key changes of "Cumulus," foreshadowing de Grassi's later Bolivian influences. While it's hard to separate acoustic guitar's early-'80s reinvention from the hands of the late innovator Michael Hedges, <I>Southern Exposure</I> reveals de Grassi as an integral part of that creative cauldron, and his work has dated little--still proof that meditative moods can coexist with accomplished instrumental skill. <I>--James Rotondi</I>