Fantastic double bill featuring two unparalleled guitar voyagers, separated in age by some decades but united by their respective new and jaw-dropping releases on the esteemed Tompkins Square label.
WILLIAM TYLER
Well-known for his work as part of Lambchop and Silver Jews, William Tyler follows up his release as Paper Hats with an album under his own name on Tompkins Square - 'Behold The Spirit'. For this live performance he will be playing as a duo with Volker Zander of Calexico.
"Tyler’s solo album, the first under his own name, experiments with the boundaries of acoustic guitar, at times incorporating bits of sampled noise, hiss and drone into his compositions, at others anchoring his playing in a countrified tradition of slide and swing.... The world is crawling with Fahey-loving acoustic guitar players these days — in large part thanks Tompkins Square — but ones as good as William Tyler are rare." Dusted Magazine
A self-styled old white blues guy from Yorkshire and one of the most under-rated heroes of our time. Chapman's uniquely English melancholic perspective and emotive guitar style first won him the admiration of John Peel and then more recently kindred spirits Jack Rose and No Neck Blues Band. 2011 will see Tompkins Square release 'Word Fail Me Vol 1+2' and a re-issue of his classic 'Fully Qualified Survivor'
The guitar and voice of Michael Chapman first became known on the Cornish Folk Circuit in 1967. Playing a blend of atmospheric and autobiographical material he established a reputation for intensity and innovation. Signed to EMI's Harvest label he recorded a quartet of classic albums. LPs like 'Rainmaker' and 'Wrecked Again' defined the melancholic observer role Michael was to make his own, mixing intricate guitar instrumentals with a full band sound. The influential album 'Fully Qualified Survivor', featuring the guitar of Mick Ronson and Rick (Steeleye Span) Kemp's bass, was John Peel's favourite album of 1970. 'Survivor' featured the Chapman 'hit', "Postcards of Scarborough", a characteristically tenderly sour song recounting the feelings of nostalgia and regret.
A lively and accomplished improviser, Michael gained a reputation for re-working material, both before an audience and on record. Songs were seen as standards, themes to be explored, extended and varied on stage and in the studio. The Don Nix produced 'Savage Amusement' featured versions of the Chapman songs "Shuffleboat River Farewell" and "It Didn't Work Out". Different musicians and a different sound breathed new life into earlier material, showing Michael to be a jazz musician in spirit if not in sound.
