I hope that you will all bear with my post if I admit that coming from Britain artists of wonderful talent such as Doc Watson, Earl Scruggs, Tony rice were known by me but not fully appreciated. Sometimes saw them on late night programmes hidden deep in our lesser channels. We had our own traditional folk scene with great talents such as Dick Gaughan (Treat yourself and look him up).
My personal tastes as a young man were generally rock. It would be easy to fall into the Led Zeppelin namedrop but we had others like Uriah Heep and Jethro Tull. They both mixed acoustic work and altered tunings with heavy work and put them into their catalogues. As time progressed Rush became listened to (RIP Neil Peart) and there are some bass runs galore in songs such as Fly by Night. Blackfoot toured the UK and Europe and now that’s a group with some serious picking moments. Diary of a Working Man springs to mind as I write.
Still also went to Folk concerts and heard such works as Matty Groves , Sandy Denny does a great rendition. Then the internet and You Tube allowed for so much more. Matty Groves becomes Shady Grove with a click of the mouse and a wonderful new world (To me) of music was opened up.
Oh if you want translations for much of what Dick Gaughan sings I will get my wife to help me post. He often sings in what we call Scots English. My wife often speaks like this.
Hope this stimulates sharing and conversation.
