Thursday, January 07, 2010

RIP Jack Rose

Jack Rose

I hate to start Pound for Pound back up on a sad note, but it is what it is. The music world and the city of Philadelphia lost one of its great ones on December 5, 2009 - Jack Rose. For those that don't know, Rose was one of the great guitar players and experimental musicians around. He was a founding member of the seminal noise band Pelt, then spent most of this decade making solo music on his acoustic guitar. He mixed country, blues, ragtime, ragas, avant garde sounds, all on his 6- & 12- string and lap steel guitars, taking the mantle from legends like John Fahey and Robbie Basho.

I want to take the first few posts of this return celebrating the man and his music. We'll touch on some of the earlier Pelt stuff, but mostly I'll be uploading material from his solo releases of the past 5 years or so. It is some of the most haunting, beautiful and interesting music of the last decade; I'm heartbroken that this new one will not get Mr. Rose's imprint on it.