If you thought banjo and guitar was limited to the likes of Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, this 17 song compilation is a fascinating revelation. During the 60s-70s guitar and banjo got a renaissance, with some unique and fresh sounds coming from new voices. John Fahey’s unique and highly influential picking style is featured on “Night Train to Valhalla” as well as on a duet with Bill Barth during “On the Banks of the Owchita” with the sounds ranging from pastoral to avant garde delta. Leo Kottke is positively homespun on “The Ice Miner” and “Anyhow” whereas a duet between Peter Walker’s nylon strings and Alex Lukeman’s 12 string drone is an impressionistic delight.
The real eye-openers take place during Billy Faier’s strumming banjo on “Longhorn Express” which sounds like an Indian drome, while tensile Asian tones are heard on Robbie Basho’s 12 minute marathon “The Thousand Incarnations of a Rose.” For extra measure there is Peter Walker on sarod along with Jim Pepper’s flute, John Blair’s violin and Jim Hotep’s table for a South Asian “Gypsy Song” as well as Middle Eastern tones by Harry Taussig oud-like guitar on “Children’s Dance.” Eclectic without being electric.