About Me
I would assume that everyone had the same reaction as I did after hearing Gabe Valla play the guitar for the first time…so tasteful, elegant, powerful, melodic, improvisational, and soulful. Gabe Valla’s playing is truly a refreshing change of pace from the many artists who copy other players or popular trends. Rather, he prefers to carve out his own musical style, and then creatively attach that sound to other musical traditions. Each of Gabe’s performances and albums showcase a different side of his guitar playing. He has written, performed, and recorded bluegrass songs, new-grass compositions, singer-songwriter classics, plus a few tunes that defy genre.
His bluegrass playing was well documented ten years ago on “Notions and Novelties,†a Rebel Records release featuring Larry and Tony Rice. Most recently his playing and singing can be heard on “Union,†a duet project on Waterbug Records with fellow master musician Sam Pacetti . Additionally, Gabe helps front the contemporary bluegrass band VTW (Valla, Thomas, Williamson). His unique approaches to rhythm and lead guitar, as well as his command of the mandolin, help give VTW the exacting sound that has kept so many loyal fans over the years.
Currently Gabe is composing more subdued, ambient music. These new spacious melodies are very different than what Gabe played when he won the Merle-Fest guitar contest at sixteen years old. But, what ties all of his music together, is that in whatever style he writes, it will always have impeccable timing, tone, and taste. Gabe never feels satisfied with past accomplishments and is not content to stay in one place…often his fingers will write a song in one swift motion across the fretboard, as if the melody had existed before. This was the case with Empty Room, a song that many people, including this writer, would put in their “top songs of all time†list.-Mickey Abraham