BRATTLEBORO — Guitarist Glenn Jones, a friend and musical protégé of folk guitar hero John Fahey, will perform at the downtown Brattleboro art space Epsilon Spires on Thursday, April 14, at 8 p.m. The event will also feature Vic Rawlings, a musician, documentary filmmaker, and instrument-builder based in Western Massachusetts.
“Jones is a master of the guitar style known as 'American Primitive,'” a news release states, “a term coined by Fahey to describe an intricate fingerpicking style typical of country blues and early string band music combined with inventive tunings and melodies.” The critic Linda Laban wrote in The Boston Globe that Jones “uses half-capos and alternative tunings to create incandescent sitar-like sounds,” and that “these shimmering musical meditations evoke a wondrous tranquility that's simply soulful.”
Although all of Jones's music is instrumental, his acoustic guitar and banjo riffs “drive and roll in a way that feels distinctly narrative,” and the introductions he provides for his songs “add color to an already deeply engaging musical experience that expands significantly on the tradition from which it sprung,” organizers say.
“I lived for several years in nearby Western Massachusetts and have a great fondness for the area,” says Jones about his upcoming show at Epsilon Spires. He adds that the last time he played Brattleboro was for “the infamous Brattleboro Free Folk Festival” in 2003, which featured Jones alongside musicians such as Michael Hurley, Jack Rose, Paul Flaherty, and Chris Corsano of Sunburned Hand of the Man.
Rawlings's music was a staple of the underground music scene in Boston before he relocated to Western Massachusetts, according to a news release. He has performed for many years in the electroacoustic genre. He has held residencies and teaching positions at schools such as the Oberlin Conservatory, MIT, and Harvard, among many others. His feature-length documentary Linefork, about the banjo player Lee Sexton, screened at Epsilon Spires in 2021.
“Both of the pieces I'm planning to play were derived from the process of teaching and learning American music forms, but they do not directly refer to those traditions,” says Rawlings. “As a musician and listener, I enjoy the magnification of sonic detail that comes from repetition and duration. This generates an immediate and meditative space for me as a performer. Epsilon Spires will be a great venue for this sound, especially paired with Glenn's music,” he adds.
Tickets for the event are $18 and can be purchased at epsilonspires.org. For more information, contact director Jamie Mohr at jamie.moh78@gmail.com.