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1 week ago | 
acousticguitar.com | Mimi Fox |Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers |Mary Flower |Dylan Schorer
I’ve always loved how a simple melody can open the door to so many musical possibilities. The concept of theme and variations has been around for centuries, from classical composers to jazz improvisers, and it’s something I naturally gravitate toward in my own playing.
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2 weeks ago | 
acousticguitar.com | Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers |Adam Perlmutter |Maurice Tani |Danny Carnahan
The title track from Jason Isbell’s new solo acoustic album, Foxes in the Snow, is one of its happiest—an unabashed celebration of love and intimacy amid many songs that traverse much darker emotional terrain. Set to a bouncy minor-key groove, “Foxes in the Snow” also features some fine picking and is very fun to play, with a melodic solo that could stand on its own as an instrumental.
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3 weeks ago | 
acousticguitar.com | Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers |Greg Olwell |Michael Simmons |Adam Perlmutter
Jason Isbell owns some prized vintage guitars, such as a 1934 Martin 000-28 that he calls the best acoustic guitar he’s ever played. But when it came to recording his solo acoustic album Foxes in the Snow, he turned to this smaller and plainer Martin 0-17, a recent acquisition from Retrofret Vintage Guitars in Brooklyn, New York. Listed at $30, the 0-17 was nearly the bottom of the line in Martin’s 1940 catalog—only the 0-15, a very similar model with a less glossy finish, was cheaper, at $25.
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1 month ago | 
acousticguitar.com | Adam Perlmutter |Pete Madsen |David Surette |Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers
Sue Foley is both a guitarist and a scholar, and she was kind enough to create this exclusive lesson, breaking down key techniques from some of the musicians she celebrates on One Guitar Woman. In Example 1, Foley demonstrates the Carter scratch, a technique pioneered by Maybelle Carter in which the guitarist plays single-note melodies on the bass strings while adding chordal accents on the upper strings.
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1 month ago | 
acousticguitar.com | Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers |Adam Miller |Karen Peterson
In October 2024, Jason Isbell walked into New York City’s historic Electric Lady Studios with one guitar—a Martin 0-17 from 1940—and a satchel of new songs. For most of his career Isbell has worked with bands, from his stint in the early 2000s with Drive-By Truckers to many years leading the roots-rocking 400 Unit, but his plan this time was to go completely solo and acoustic.
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1 month ago | 
acousticguitar.com | Maurice Tani |Kate Koenig |Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers |Scott Nygaard
Jimmie Rodgers’ influence spans country, blues, and early rock ’n’ roll, earning him a place in multiple halls of fame. With a career that lasted just five years before his death from tuberculosis in 1933, Rodgers left an indelible mark on American music. “Waiting for a Train” became a hit in 1929, just as the Wall Street crash ushered in the Great Depression.
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1 month ago | 
acousticguitar.com | Mac Randall |E.E. Bradman |Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers |Kenny Berkowitz
Sitting in the spacious living room of his home on California’s central coast, Lloyd Baggs exudes the air of an old-school craftsman. As he peers through thick-rimmed glasses from beneath a gray baseball cap, his handsomely weathered face radiates both hard-earned wisdom and good humor; a trim white goatee only adds to that impression. If you didn’t know what Baggs did for a living, you might guess he made high-end furniture or built schooners by hand.
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1 month ago | 
acousticguitar.com | Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers |David Hamburger |Ruth H Parry |Gretchen Menn
Think of the guitar intro to the Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun,” played by George Harrison with a capo way up at the seventh fret. That passage is instantly recognizable because it introduces the song’s melody along with the chords—using common open chord shapes. In fact, Harrison continues to play the melody through much of the song, doubling his voice while holding down the rhythm.
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2 months ago | 
acousticguitar.com | Peter Penhallow |Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers |Adam Perlmutter
It is said that the shore in this song is the shore of the Jordan River, and that Michael is St. Michael, who guides us at least metaphorically, if not at one time literally, to the Jordan shore. I enjoyed “Michael” at age seven, when the Highwaymen made this wonderful spiritual a big hit on the radio. You can hear their version on Michael, Row the Boat Ashore: The Best of the Highwaymen. “Michael” uses a four-chord progression, arranged here in D (D, F#m, G, A7).
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2 months ago | 
acousticguitar.com | Mac Randall |Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers |Mark Small |Bob Doerschuk
When talking to Rosanne Cash, it’s hard to avoid the word legacy. (For the record, she said it first, in the second exchange of our Q&A below.) And what a legacy she represents, not only by virtue of her lineage—daughter of one American musical icon, Johnny Cash, and stepdaughter of another, June Carter Cash—but through her own work as a musician. Over a 45-year, 18-album career, Cash has built an estimable reputation for herself.
