Music:
Member Since: 3/16/2007
Band Members: Bill Benzel, solo acoustic guitar.
Influences: Pete Seeger, Rev. Gary Davis, Andres Segovia, The Beatles, John Fahey, Tom Rapp, Daevid Allen, Ray Kane, Led Kaapana, Dennis Kamakahi, D. R. Auten, Jim Earp to name a few.
Every note heard played by another musician, as well as every sound produced by nature or man, has an influence. It's just a matter of degree.
Sounds Like: Imagine yourself on the left coast, walking along a somewhat deserted beach that's populated by a few occasional sunbathers. You look out toward the horizon to see a couple of surfers, patiently awaiting the next set. And you come across a guy sitting, playing guitar. You stop to listen, barely able to hear the instrument above the pounding of the surf. As you listen you sense that he is playing to the ocean and the ocean is drumming and listening, drumming and listening. He is repeating short phrases over and over, not exactly practicing but changing the expression with each repeat as he adjusts to the rhythmic changes he hears coming back from the surf.
One of the surfers pops up on his board and the guy's involvement with the music ceases as his attention shifts. He watches the surfer for a few moments, then notices you and the two of you begin a conversation. He explains that these little fragments you've been hearing come in, windborne, from the crests of the waves. He plays them as they come to get them under his fingers. They then get tucked away in muscle memory and, later, he will organize them into longer phrases and then organize the longer phrases into instrumental songs.
You smile and wish the guy well. He nods and, before waving goodbye as you walk off, he tells you that the ocean is a perfect playing partner. The ocean never stops drumming and never stops listening.
Type of Label: Major
