Martin Simpson profile

and manages to create a sound that is completely his own, mixing some Mississippi mud into his blues-soaked slide work. Not strictly jazz, not strictly folk, or blues, master acoustic guitarist Simpson is one of the few solo guitarists, much like his great jazz contemporary Martin Taylor, who can hold you spellbound with just his fingers, 6-strings and a bottleneck slide. Years of backing up some of the folk world’s finest singers, as well being a fine singer himself, has helped him forge his own ‘narrative’ style much in the tradition of Blind Willie Johnson and Ralph McTell, while his command of natural and artificial harmonics both beggars belief and sends chills. Combining this a deep knowledge of the beautiful English folk repertoire and you have one of the UK’s prime guitar talents, one of the few that make the hairs on your neck stand up – magical.