Local finger style guitar legend Glen Roth has been perfecting his style for decades. Usually a stalwart of farmers markets and pop up happenings, it's easy to let Glen fade into the background. With no vocals and an easy picking style, Glen's sound is tailor-made for his day job. That day job is busking the NYC underground. Glen belongs to a busking collective who are sanctioned to inhabit the veins and arteries that flow through the city. With that much practice under one's belt, you can imagine the ease to which this player runs up and down the guitar neck. On this evening, I jumped at the chance to see him in a strict performance setting. As an opener, in the holiday season, Glen could have easily Deck-The-Halled it through his set. Instead we got a true view of his wizardry. I urge all to Spotify his mammoth Ghostrain, also an amazing take on Aerosmith's Dream On. He closed with a harmonics-laden chestnut Morroccan Christmas.
Glen Roth is so good, he routinely finishes in the top ten of the international finger style guitar championship held annually in....... Kansas. Another finalist happens to be Hiroya. A Berklee grad from Kyoto, Hiroya relies on loops and a more percussive new agey approach. Excellent in his own right, Hiroya sang and hummed through his nature-centric set. One tune was written near a natural stone bridge in Utah, another paid homage to an inn keeper in Tennessee. He closed with the American standard Shenandoah, which was oddly beautiful when twisted through an Asian accent.
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