Benjamin Verdery Yale OIS, 12/6/17

Kind of an oxymoron, Yale prof and classical guitarist Verdery expounding on American Guitar at the office of international students. I usually see Ben in a less talkative formal setting at Sprague Hall, but it was a treat to hear him explain how guitar affected his formative years. He starts with The Ventures, Link Wray, and the genius of Les Paul. The showmanship of Chuck Berry and how he influenced the British Invasion. The blues work of Robert Johnson laid the groundwork for the creamy note bending of B.B. King. Hendrix's amazing take on The Star Spangled Banner at Woodstock followed by his acoustic rendition of Hear My Train A Comin ( a staple on many a Burke mixtape). Duane Allman's stellar use of bottleneck slide on Statesboro Blues and Joni Mitchell's open tuning technique on Amelia. Ben has collaborated with Andy Summers and Leo Kottke, and has taught indie royalty Aaron and Bryce Dessner of The National. The underlying theme was that American Guitar reflects the melting pot that is America, a notion that seems to be under assault in today's vitriol. Ben closed with a couple of tunes, one was a beautiful slide inflected piece about a peninsula on the island of Maui ( Ben spends time in Hawaii), the other was his classical guitar reading of Purple Haze with touches of Hey Joe and The Wind Cries Mary.