S/D: Tompkins Square Records

2013 Daniel bachman album is A+, thanks for pointing me to it ILX!

George "Smoke" Dawson played banjo in MacGrundy's Old-Timey Wool Thumpers with Peter Stampfel (later of Holy Modal Rounders) in 1960, lived for years at Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs, NY, and roamed around the US as an itinerant bagpipe and fiddle player for decades. His life is laced with small triumphs, and lots of tragedy. But he's still with us. Tompkins Square reissues his only album, a remarkable 1971 private press LP, on August 19th, 2014. LP/CD/DL

Excerpted notes by reissue producer / Tompkins Square label owner Josh Rosenthal :

I was doing some research for a box set of music recorded at Caffe Lena, the hallowed folk music venue located in Saratoga Springs, NY, when I came upon a photograph of a musician I didn't recognize. He looked like a sixth member of The Band - a handsome fiddler with wax moustache, goatee, black Western hat. There was a traditional air to him, a seriousness, but there was also something wild there. I needed to know who he was, and everything about him. The producers told me his name was Smoke Dawson, and they had tape on him. We listened, and his live version of "Devil's Dream" made it onto the box set. Then I started digging. I found a 1996 blog post from someone named Oliver Seeler, who claimed to have recorded a solo album by Dawson in 1971. I called the number on the site, not expecting much from an 18 year old blog post. But he picked up. He gave me background on the record. And, he gave me Smoke Dawson's phone number . . .

SMOKE DAWSON 'FIDDLE' AVAILABLE AUGUST 19TH
CD : TSQ 5036 / LP : TSQ 5043
Distributed BY INgrooves in NA, Cargo UK for Europe

HEAR / POST A TRACK

https://soundcloud.com/tompkinssquare/connaughtmans-rambles-devils-dream-marche-venerie

AMES BLACKSHAW RELEASES 'FANTôMAS : LE FAUX MAGISTRAT' ON TOMPKINS SQUARE, JULY 8th
Live album features Simon Scott (Slowdive), Duane Pitre

In celebration of the centenary of Louis Feuillade's Fantômas silent film series, James Blackshaw was invited by Yann Tiersen to perform a live score to the fifth and final film, Le Faux Magistrat, at the beautiful and prestigious surroundings of the Théâtre de Châtelet, Paris on October 31st 2013.

Fantômas - a master of disguise and symbol of terror - is one of the most popular characters in French crime fiction, as well as a favourite with the avant-garde, particularly the surrealists.

Tim Hecker, Amiina, Yann Tiersen and Loney Dear also performed during the event (which was broadcast live on the European ARTE channel) each bringing their own unique sonic perspective to the other installments in the series.

Written during the course of a few months, Blackshaw drew influences from French impressionist composers, Brazillian guitar music, musique concrete and the works of other film composer such as David Shire and Pino Donaggio, to create a noirish score that is in turns sinister, quietly profound and thrilling.

Personally invited by James Blackshaw, experimental musicians Duane Pitre and Simon Scott (also of Slowdive) contributed drums, electronics, synth, bowed guitar, bass and more to Blackshaw's nylon string guitar and grand piano, with multi-instrumentalist Charlotte Glasson adding violin, vibraphone and several wind instruments to the 75 minute long work.

Available worldwide July 8th
CD : TSQ 5012 / 2LP : TSQ 5029
Digitally Distributed Worldwide by INgrooves
Distributed by INgrooves for North America, Cargo UK for Europe, Rocket for Australia

James Blackshaw on Tompkins Square :
The Cloud Of Unknowing - TSQ 1967
Litany Of Echoes - TSQ 1738
Lost Prayers & Motionless Dances - TSQ 1851
Celeste - TSQ 1837
Sunshrine - TSQ 1844

Better late than never:

ALICE GERRARD'S 'FOLLOW THE MUSIC' OUT SEPT. 30
Produced by M.C. Taylor (Hiss Golden Messenger). Featuring members of Hiss Golden Messenger and Megafaun

"Alice Gerrard has one of those voices that harkens back to the likes of Sara and Maybelle. She is the real deal with the right stuff and hasn't forgotten where country music came from."
- Emmylou Harris (June, 2014)

** Alice Gerrard turns 80 tomorrow, July 8 ! **

The trailblazing folksinger famously collaborated with Hazel Dickens. Their classic recordings for Folkways and Rounder in the '60's and 70's "rank among the most influential recordings in folk music history," (All Music Guide), and laid the groundwork for many artists, especially female bluegrass and folk musicians.

'Follow The Music' features traditional tunes and original songs by Alice, produced by Hiss Golden Messenger's M.C. Taylor, and features members of Hiss Golden Messenger and Megafaun. Available on LP/CD/DL via Tompkins Square, September 30th, 2014.

Hear / post a track from 'Follow The Music' - "Boll Weevil"
https://soundcloud.com/tompkinssquare/boll-weevil-by-alice-gerrard

smoke dawson LP is sounding pretty wonderful...

Nice vinyl sale & streams:

Smoke Dawson's 1971 private press LP "Fiddle" released today on LP/CD/DL !

George "Smoke" Dawson played banjo in MacGrundy's Old-Timey Wool Thumpers with Peter Stampfel (later of Holy Modal Rounders) in 1960, lived for years at Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs, NY, and roamed around the US as an itinerant bagpipe and fiddle player for decades. His life is laced with small triumphs, and tragedy. Our reissue of his lone 1971 solo album, 'Fiddle', is out now.

To celebrate this release (and make you feel a little better about the end of summer) we're throwing a 25% OFF all VINYL sale. Now Thru August 31, buy two or more LP's off our site, we'll paypal you back the discount. Every purchase of Smoke Dawson will automatically be entered to win a signed copy (pictured below), of which there are only two in the Universe.

Sample our music via Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/tompkinssquare

Loving that Smoke opener and a couple more; will have to adjust to others (used to more of a combo w this kind of instrumental music). This just in:

'Get In Union : Bessie Jones with the Georgia Sea Island Singers and Others' - 2CD set out on Tompkins Square, October 28th

* Produced by Grammy-nominated Curator of the Alan Lomax Archive, Nathan Salsburg
* Features 26 previously unreleased tracks. Unheard collaborations with Rev. Gary Davis, Sweet Papa Stovepipe, Mable Hillery, and others.
* Remastered from Lomax's original tapes

Bessie Jones was one of the most popular performers on the 1960s and '70s folk circuit, appearing-usually at the helm of the Georgia Sea Island Singers-at colleges, festivals, the Poor People's March on Washington, and Jimmy Carter's inauguration. "Get In Union" is a collection of her classic recordings with the Singers, combined with many previously unavailable solo and small-group performances captured by Alan Lomax between 1959 and 1966.

Alan Lomax first visited the Georgia Sea Island of St. Simons in June of 1935 with folklorist Mary Elizabeth Barnicle and author Zora Neale Hurston. There they met the remarkable Spiritual Singers Society of Coastal Georgia, as the group was then called, and recorded several hours of their songs and dances for the Library of Congress. Returning 25 years later, Lomax found that the Singers were still active, and had been enriched by the addition of Bessie Jones, a South Georgia native with a massive collection of songs going back to the slavery era. Over the next several years, Lomax and Jones worked together to present, promote, and teach Southern black folk song across the country, from nightclubs to elementary schools. "Get In Union" features freshly remastered audio from 24-bit digital transfers of Lomax's original tapes and notes by the Alan Lomax Archive's Nathan Salsburg and Anna Lomax Wood, who accompanied her father on his 1960 recordings of Bessie Jones and the Georgia Sea Island Singers.

HEAR / SHARE a track: https://soundcloud.com/tompkinssquare/get-in-union

Get In Union : Bessie Jones With The Georgia Sea Island Singers and Others
TSQ 5074 2CD Set Available October 28th on Tompkins Square
Distributed in NA by INgrooves. Cargo UK for Europe. Planet for Australia.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Recent : Smoke Dawson 'Fiddle' / Alice Gerrard 'Follow The Music' / James Blackshaw 'Fantomas : Le Faux Magistrat

Tompkins Square To Release 'When I Reach That Heavenly Shore : Unearthly Black Gospel, 1926-1936' 3CD/3LP Set, DECEMBER 9th, 2014
Produced by 7-Time Grammy nominee Christopher King

Among the most powerful music to be captured on 78 rpm in America during the 1920s & 1930s are those recordings of black sanctified and gospel singing. Ranging from plaintive mourning to unbridled ecstasy, the sacred music from this time period represents a flowering of diverse and idiosyncratic rural songs styles. At no time was there a wider panorama of religious songs in America.

Selected exclusively from Christopher King's private collection, the 78s included here represent the most unhinged, the most compelling survey of pre-war black gospel. Of the 42 tracks in this 3CD/3LP collection, 34 have never been reissued until now. The complete recorded output of the Primitive Baptist Choir of North Carolina is also included in this collection for the first time. Several rare & previously unissued photographs are also contained within. Lovingly and respectfully designed by Susan Archie and firmly grounded in Scripture by Christopher King.

Tompkins Square has been steadily mining the history of black gospel through previous collections - the Grammy-nominated 'He Is My Story : The Sanctified Soul of Arizona Dranes'; 'Fire In My Bones : Raw, Rare & Otherworldly African-American Gospel, 1944-2007'; 'This May Be My Last Time Singing : Raw African-American Gospel on 45RPM, 1957-1982' ; Bessie Jones - 'Get In Union'; and 'I Heard The Angels Singing : Electrifying Black Gospel from the Nashboro Label, 1951-1983'.
Stream/Post track from Soundcloud:
https://soundcloud.com/tompkinssquare/let-that-lie-alone-by-edward-w-clayborn

god bless tompkins square.

Oh yeah!

is this another mike mcgonigal joint? i still have a bad taste in my mouth from that guy's poaching other folks' comps.

oh wait, it's chris king.

i probably own 3/4 of this stuff already but what the hell. hard to fault this label. what what.

what was the prob w/ mcgonigal's comps? i hadn't heard anything about it, i don't think? love all of them.

if i'm not mistaken, he simply took the entire tracklist from a famed underground comp of memphis gospel and included it in one of his "own" comps w/o acknowledgment -- may even have taken the "masters" directly from the CDR as well (IIRC i put one of the CDs in my machine and it actually came up as the previous comp)

just kind of tacky is all

oh i missed this part

Of the 42 tracks in this 3CD/3LP collection, 34 have never been reissued until now

nice!

although i have such a surfeit of prewar african-american music that i've gotten kind of jaded about it.... i no longer get a big pang of excitement when i find out about some new collection or even new 78 being discovered.

:(

aww don't be sad. i might not be as immersed in all of this as you, so i'm still finding plenty of exciting old stuff. did you check out that alexis zoumbas thing (also a christopher king project) from earlier this year? amazing.

i'm not so immersed in it these days. mostly listening to japanese pop music from the 1980s.

Not seeing the song listings, but this is a reliable guy, judging by his T. Square track record:

http://www.tompkinssquare.com/images/TSQ2486_SeanSmith_Christmas.mini.jpg

Sean Smith - Christmas

Accomplished Bay Area guitarist Sean Smith has released several albums under his own name, and has produced and contributed to the compilations 'Berkeley Guitar' (TSQ5252, TSQLP5252) and 'Beyond Berkeley Guitar' (TSQ2394).

'Christmas', is a gorgeous contemporary acoustic guitar recording featuring fourteen well-known Christmas classics and two Sean Smith originals. Considering the vast amount of syrupy instrumental music in this genre, "Christmas' is a most welcome holiday album, and one which could well become a classic for many years to come.

Nice, he's great

Tweeted these:
Alice Gerrard, Follow The Music: Strong subtle vox, smokey mountain ballads: most brush by, eerie & beguiling, others hover, waiting 4 train

She ain't no wood nymph tho:

Alice Gerrard, Follow The Music cont: trad & originals, 0 twang or trills needed. Fiddle, acapella, dobro, ragtonk, whatever's right 4 song. Hiss Golden Messenger produces good.

TOMPKINS SQUARE RELEASES THE 7th INSTALLMENT OF 'IMAGINATIONAL ANTHEM', THE ACCLAIMED ACOUSTIC GUITAR SERIES, FEBRUARY 17, 2015

HEAR / POST "Trees Return To Soil" by Slowdive's Simon Scott
https://soundcloud.com/tompkinssquare/trees-return-to-soil-by-simon-scott

Tompkins Square's very first release was 'Imaginational Anthem Vol. One' in 2005, featuring American Primitive guitar pioneers like Sandy Bull, Harry Taussig, Max Ochs, Steve Mann and Suni McGrath paired with new jack players like Jack Rose, Brad Barr (Barr Brothers), and Kaki King. The album received wide praise via Rolling Stone, NPR and MOJO, who called the album "Groundbreaking." The pairing of old and new would continue through vols. 1-3. The first three volumes were collected as a box set. Volumes four and five focused solely on all new players, and gave many folks their first taste of Chris Forsyth, Steve Gunn, William Tyler and Daniel Bachman. The first five volumes were collected in a box set, along with a bonus live disc by William Tyler. 'Imaginational Anthem Volume 6 : Origins of American Primitive Guitar' stretched the timeline all the way back to the first recorded solo acoustic guitar performances of the 20's & 30's. Artists like Sylvester Weaver, Sam McGee, Riley Puckett and Lemeul Turner created the template for John Fahey, and all who followed.

'Imaginational Anthem Vol. 7' is compiled by 20 year old guitarist Hayden Pedigo, from Albuquerque, NM. Hayden has recently been featured in Vogue and The FADER
behind his own recent album release, 'Five Steps'. Hayden's selections represent a mature and balanced cross-section across the modern solo acoustic guitar spectrum. As with previous volumes, this one truly represents the state of the art - an area of evolving musical expression that is very vibrant and healthy indeed.

Tompkins Square's entire catalog, including all six volumes of the Imaginational Anthem series and two IA box sets, on sale thru Dec. 15th

Track Listing :

1.On a Slow Passing Through a Ghost Town-Chuck Johnson
2.Culverts-Sean Proper
3.Enchiridion-Norberto Lobo
4.Trees Return to Soil-Simon Scott
5.Sea Retreat-DBH
6.Araucaria-Jordan Norton
7.The Great North American Wilderness-Kyle Fosburgh
8.Something, or Oil Paintings-Christoph Bruhn
9.USA Self-Michael Vallera
10.Red Bud Valley-Dylan Golden Aycock
11.0/3-M.Mucci
12.Shadow Study at 6 am-Mariano Rodriguez
13.Olympic Peninsula Blues-Andrew Weathers
14.My Grandfather's 12 Gauge-Wes Tirey

TSQ5104 Distributed by INgrooves for NA, Cargo UK for Europe

More News :
* We now have a shopping cart on our website to facilitate multiple holiday purchases. Hallelujah !
* Alice Gerrard has received a Grammy nomination for 'Follow The Music', Best Folk Album. Her first nom, the 7th for Tompkins Square.

The previously mentioned Get In Union, by Bessie Jones and the Georgia Sea Island Singers, covers a fair amount of ground (and sea)(and sky, at all times). Work songs, play songs, several kinds of play, and Bible songs: don't know how these last relate to the mainstream of spirituals---pretty sure they go back past what music historians designate as gospel, for the most part. But they are visions, scenes, stories from the Bible, as lived---some levels in there, like maybe if you wanted to add more of the black experience to Divided & United: Songs of the Civil War. Or your own start-from-scratch mixes: there's a lot of lilt, roll, strictness and flexibility. And speaking of living, the title track is one of those with acerbic comments on behavior/attitudes in the congregation (not that some of the play songs aren't uppity; life on islands might get crowded).
Sometimes compelling, rarely less than charming (I'd say "never less," but my attention does wander sometimes, when lyrics and performances get too much like lessons).

"ONCE AGAIN, THE GREATEST THING GOING IN ACOUSTIC GUITAR" - THE FADER

'IMAGINATIONAL ANTHEM VOL. 7' IS HERE !

*** GET CAUGHT UP ! ALL 7 VOLUMES OF IMAGINATIONAL ANTHEM (PLUS A LIVE WILLIAM TYLER BONUS DISC) FOR ONE LOW PRICE, THRU MARCH 1. *** CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS
http://www.tompkinssquare.com/

LISTEN TO THE ENTIRE ALBUM VIA
THE FADERhttp://www.thefader.com/2015/01/30/im-never-going-to-stop-listening-to-imaginational-anthem-vol-7
FRETBOARD JOURNALhttp://www.fretboardjournal.com/audio/album-stream-imaginational-anthem-volume-7
or
RELIX http://www.relix.com/media/audio/album_premiere_imaginational_anthem_vol_7

Tompkins Square's very first release was 'Imaginational Anthem Vol. One' in 2005, featuring American Primitive guitar pioneers like Sandy Bull, Harry Taussig, Max Ochs, Steve Mann and Suni McGrath, alongside new jack players like Jack Rose, Brad Barr (Barr Brothers), and Kaki King. The album received wide praise via Rolling Stone, NPR and MOJO, who called the album "Groundbreaking." The pairing of old and new would continue through vols. 1-3. The first three volumes are collected as a box set. Volumes four and five focused solely on all new players, giving many folks their first taste of Chris Forsyth, Steve Gunn, William Tyler and Daniel Bachman. The first five volumes were collected in a box set, along with a bonus live disc by William Tyler. 'Imaginational Anthem Volume 6 : Origins of American Primitive Guitar' stretched the timeline all the way back to the first recorded solo acoustic guitar performances of the 20's & 30's. Artists like Sylvester Weaver, Sam McGee, Riley Puckett and Lemeul Turner created the template for John Fahey, and all who followed.

'Imaginational Anthem Vol. 7' is compiled by 20 year old guitarist Hayden Pedigo, from Amarillo, TX. Hayden has recently been featured in Vogue and The FADER behind his own recent album release, 'Five Steps'. Hayden's curation represents a balanced cross-section across the modern solo acoustic guitar spectrum. Vol. 7 is also the most geographically diverse of all volumes in the series, with players hailing from Lisbon, Malta, South America and the UK as well as the US. As with previous volumes, this one truly represents the state of the art - an area of evolving musical expression that is very vibrant and healthy indeed.

TSQ5104

Dear Friend,

One of our favorite musicians, Harvey Mandel, celebrates his 70th birthday today, but it is not a happy one.

Tompkins Square's Josh Rosenthal wrote an Appreciation for Aquarium Drunkard.

If you are a media person, we hope you will pick up on this story.

Please read and share. Thank you !

Tompkins Square Label Covers Mandel's achievements and present plight with equal care---brace yourself, but it's worth reading, at the very least...http://www.aquariumdrunkard.com/2015/03/11/harvey-mandel-an-appreciation-on-his-70th-birthday/#more-43771

When I Reach That Heavenly Shore comp on vinyl for record store day!

REMEMBERING MOUNTAINS : UNHEARD SONGS BY KAREN DALTON
RELEASE DATE : MAY 26 ON LP/CD/DIGITAL

Karen Dalton (1937-1993) recorded two studio albums during her lifetime,
neither of which contain any songs she wrote. By the good graces of legendary
guitarist Peter Walker, who oversees Karen's Estate, we are gifted with these
lost lyrics, now given voice by other great women of song.

TRACK LIST :

1) REMEMBERING MOUNTAINS - SHARON VAN ETTEN
2) ALL THAT SHINES IS NOT TRUTH - PATTY GRIFFIN
3) THIS IS OUR LOVE - DIANE CLUCK
4) MY LOVE, MY LOVE - JULIA HOLTER
5) MET AN OLD FRIEND - LUCINDA WILLIAMS
6) SO LONG AGO AND FAR AWAY - MARISSA NADLER
7) BLUE NOTION - LAUREL HALO
8) FOR THE LOVE I'M IN - LARKIN GRIMM
9) DON'T MAKE IT EASY - ISOBEL CAMPBELL
10) AT LAST THE NIGHT HAS ENDED - TARA JANE O'NEIL
11) MET AN OLD FRIEND - JOSEPHINE FOSTER

AVAILABLE ON TOMPKINS SQUARE MAY 26
INgrooves in NA, Cargo UK for EU/UK
CD : TSQ 5173 / LP : TSQ 5180

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0ZlWK-b_KY

That's interesting that Peter Walker oversees her estate

Yeah, I wonder if that helped to get any or all of those singers on there: "Oh wow, the Rainy Day Raga dude has Karen Dalton lyrics for me--?!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDjaOSqxLos

i missed an appearance by him in minneapolis last year because i had to work, really sad about that

NPR has the Patty Griffin cut from that Dalton record streaming:

http://www.npr.org/sections/allsongs/2015/05/21/402031771/new-music-patty-griffin-records-lost-karen-dalton-song

Nice continuation of the soul/gospel sound she perfected on Impossible Dream/Downtown Church.

** TOMPKINS SQUARE SPRING SALE ! NOW THRU JUNE 1 **

FOR US CUSTOMERS : ALL SINGLE-DISC CATALOG CDs AND LPs ARE $9.99 ! (KAREN DALTON CD/LP NOT INCLUDED. BUY WHATEVER YOU LIKE, WE'LL PAYPAL BACK YOUR DISCOUNT)

FOR INT'L CUSTOMERS : BUY ANY FOUR OR MORE ITEMS ON THE SITE, GET $10 BACK VIA PAYPAL
(INCLUDES THE NEW KAREN DALTON CD/LP, IF YOU WANT IT)

GRAB LP's & CD's from Daniel Bachman, Tim Buckley, Ryley Walker, Peter Walker, Dino Valente, Charlie Louvin, Polk Miller, Hiss Golden Messenger, Max Ochs, Grammy-nominated Alice Gerrard, Imaginational Anthem guitar comps, more . . .

The tribute album is the more cohesive for the occasional startling turn, which always quickly turns out (or in) to be appropriate: there are ancient quests, clues, disturbances now as landmarks, back there---but mainly: long gone lovers over troubles, recalled and still savored. Avidly, baby. Which makes some of those (still) startling sounds in the Julia Holtzer track work, building and not disturbing the vibe. Must check out some more Holtzer. Some of it seems too obvious a folkie approach at first, but think it all works (maybe/maybe not the last two cuts, but they are the last two, in any case). Dang, Rainy Day Raga Walker done good! Wonder if he got any turn-downs or no-shows, as surely can happen on these things.

speaking of^ recently discovered that walker put out a small dalton memoir/collection of her writings & songs a few years ago, excerpts here:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/KAREN-DALTON-Songs-Poems-Writings/dp/1939374006/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1434482425&sr=1-1

it's Holter, not Holtzer

Yep, Julia Shammas Holter, will check out more of her stuff. Lime, the CD booklet excerpts material from Walker's round-up of Dalton's writing, incl. his own intro: a memoir of their friendship, which lasted from 1961 'til 1993, the year of her death.

No Lime, that is (so bad with names today).

JOHN HULBURT - OPUS III - Out On Tompkins Square August 28, 2015

https://soundcloud.com/tompkinssquare/the-freak-on-the-black-harley

Guitarist and singer-songwriter Ryley Walker discovered the 1972 private press LP in a Chicago record store, loved what he heard, and teamed with Tompkins Square to produce the reissue.

John Hulburt (1947-2012) was a member of legendary mid-60's Chicago garage rock band The Knaves, whose records were recently reissued by Sundazed. Opus III showcases his exceptional talent on the acoustic guitar, proving somewhat of an anomaly in a city not known for its solo guitar recordings during this era.

Walker writes in his liner notes, "Solo acoustic guitar music was adopted by several in the Berkeley school and the ever expansive roots fanatics in the South, but here in the middle of the country with harsh winters and the landlocked prison of corn fields, it was almost destiny that the amplifier assault of electric blues and controlled chaos of dance music came from the South Side."

Opus III has another notable Chicago connection : It's one of the earliest studio credits for Styx and Ohio Players engineer / producer Barry Mraz. Styx's debut album would also be released in 1972.

The reissue of Opus III includes illuminating liner notes by John Hulburt's sister, Cynthia Fritz; The Knaves' Gene Lubin; and Ryley Walker, as well as vintage photographs.

'Opus III' Originally Released as Clarence Records CR-003, 1972
Recorded at Plynth Studios, Chicago February/March 1972
Engineer : Barry Mraz

PRODUCED FOR REISSUE BY RYLEY WALKER & JOSH ROSENTHAL

Available AUGUST 28, 2015
CD : TSQ 5159 / LP : TSQ 5166
INgrooves in NA, Cargo UK for Europe

tonight:

Tompkins Square ‏@tsq2 27m27 minutes ago

I'm live on @kzsu 6-9pm PST. Stream it :http://kzsu.stanford.edu/live/"> http://kzsu.stanford.edu/live/

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CJrDSQlUAAQxx4y.jpg

MICHAEL CHAPMAN RELEASES NEW ALBUM 'FISH'
AVAILABLE WORLDWIDE SEPTEMBER 25 ON TOMPKINS SQUARE LP/CD/DIG
CELEBRATING HIS 75th BIRTHDAY JAN 24, 2016
U.S. TOUR DATES WITH RYLEY WALKER
In recent years, the revered British guitarist and songwriter has seen his classic Harvest records from the 70's reissued by Light In the Attic, and he's toured with Bill Callahan, Kurt Vile, Thurston Moore and Bonnie "Prince" Billy. On the eve of the Fully Qualified Survivor's 75th birthday, 'Fish' finds Chapman vital as ever. Tompkins Square also released Chapman's 2010 double CD 'Trainsong : Guitar Compositions 1967-2010' and a tribute album, 'Oh Michael, Look What You've Done : Friends Play Michael Chapman' featuring Hiss Golden Messenger, William Tyler, Lucinda Williams and Thurston Moore among others.

"The footnotes and legends that line Chapman's 40-year career are the stuff of thick biographies and fireside storytelling sessions." - PITCHFORK

Chapman will appear at Tompkins Square label's 10th Anniversary Show
at Rough Trade in Brooklyn, NY on October 9th along with Peter Walker, Bob Brown and Ryley Walker. He will also play select dates on the East Coast with Ryley Walker:

10/08/15 North Bethesda, MD (USA) AMP
10/09/15 Brooklyn, NY (USA) Rough Trade
10/10/15 Portland, ME (USA) Waking Windows Music And Arts
10/11/15 Providence, RI (USA) Columbus Theater
10/13/15 Albany, NY (USA) The Low Beat
10/14/15 Northampton, MA (USA) Iron Horse Music Hall

MICHAEL CHAPMAN - FISH - CD: TSQ 5197 / LP : TSQ 5203

Speaking of that 10th Anniversary Show:
http://www.roughtradenyc.com/event/861695-tompkins-square-label-10th-brooklyn

http://cdn.ticketfly.com/i/00/01/62/04/17-elg.jpg

as announced upthread, garage rocker John Hurlburt made a solo acoustic LP, rediscovered/discovered by Ryley Walker, out now on TS; Stereogum compares the vibe to Nick Drake--I haven't had time to check it yet, but here tis, for the moment, on The Fretboard Journal's site:
http://www.fretboardjournal.com/audio/stream-john-hulburts-opus-iii

The Record Store of the Mind
A BOOK BY GRAMMY-NOMINATED PRODUCER AND TOMPKINS SQUARE LABEL FOUNDER JOSH ROSENTHAL
AVAILABLE EVERYWHERE OCTOBER 27th

"Josh Rosenthal is a record man's record man. He is also a musician's record man. He is in the line of Samuel Charters and Harry Smith. In this age where we have access to everything and know the value of nothing, musicians need people like Josh to hear them when no one else can."
- T Bone Burnett

Grammy-nominated producer and Tompkins Square label founder Josh Rosenthal presents his first book, The Record Store of the Mind. Part memoir, part "music criticism," the author ruminates over unsung musical heroes, reflects on thirty years of toil and fandom in the music business, and shamelessly lists some of the LPs in his record collection. Crackling with insightful untold stories, The Record Store of the Mind will surely delight and inspire passionate music lovers ... especially those who have spent way too many hours in record stores.

Celebrating ten years in 2015, Rosenthal's San Francisco-based independent record label Tompkins Square has received seven Grammy nominations and wide acclaim for its diverse catalog of new and archival recordings.

Digital pre-orders:
Kobo
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
iBooks

Paperback pre-order
http://www.tompkinssquare.com/therecordstoreofthemind.html
Book release events :
October 7 - WORD Books, Jersey City NJ (Q&A w/ Amanda Petrusich, author of Do Not Sell At Any Price)
October 17 - Aquarius Records, SF (Litquake Lit Crawl. Also Ann Magnuson)
November 15 - Book Soup, Los Angeles (Q&A w/ Pat Thomas, author of
Listen, Whitey !)
December 5 - Folk Arts Records, San Diego (plus Roscoe Holcomb record release)
(More events to come, check therecordstoreofthemind.com for updates)

Tompkins Square will celebrate its 10th Anniversary with a concert at Rough Trade in Brooklyn on October 9th with Ryley Walker, Peter Walker, Michael Chapman and Bob Brown. Tickets and info:
http://www.roughtradenyc.com/event/861695-tompkins-square-label-10th-brooklyn

'LEGENDS OF OLD -TIME MUSIC : FIFTY YEARS OF COUNTY RECORDS' - A 4-CD BOX SET AVAILABLE NOVEMBER 6, 2015
* Essential Traditional Americana
* 113 tracks. 30 Previously Unreleased.
* Co - produced by multiple Grammy-winner Christopher King

Tompkins Square invites you to check out the new box set from our friends at County Records. County has long been one of our favorite labels, so we are sharing their information with the press community in the hope that you will want to cover this monumental set. This treasure belongs in every traditional music fan's collection, right next to Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music.

'Legends of Old-Time Music' is a deluxe 4-CD box set containing one hundred thirteen old-time performances recorded for County Records from the 1960s to the 1990s.

Originally issued primarily on LP, most of these tracks have never been released on CD. Thirty of the tracks are previously unissued and heard for their very first time in this edition. Collected and recorded by Charlie Faurot, Bobby Fulcher, Rich Nevins, Barry Poss and others, these performances are among the very best old-time recordings made by "true-vine" musicians. Legendary performers include: John Ashby, E.C. Ball, Fred Cockerham, Kyle Creed, Tommy Jarrell, Clark Kessinger, Steve Ledford, Hiram Stamper, Wade Ward, Melvin Wine and many others.

This set contains a 28-page booklet with notes by Kinney Rorrer, annotations by the late Charlie Faurot and Kinney Rorrer, several
unpublished photos of musicians, and essays.

Ten Years of Tompkin Square---they've posted a playlist:
https://play.spotify.com/album/62O6ew7v2Z3qL2nK5SJCTn?play=true&utm_source=open.spotify.com&utm_medium=open

and a listening companion to the book Playground of the Mind:

https://play.spotify.com/user/tompkinssquare/playlist/6MNJ5c9qZb0ScEOcsQtXA5?play=true&utm_source=open.spotify.com&utm_medium=open

Such a great label wish I didn't hear so many bad things abt the dude that runs it

??

ROSCOE HOLCOMB
SAN DIEGO FOLK FESTIVAL 1972
LIMITED EDITION VINYL LP NOVEMBER 27th, 2015
CD & DIGITAL DECEMBER 4th, 2015

POST / SHARE A TRACK : "SINGLE GIRL"
https://soundcloud.com/tompkinssquare/single-girl-roscoe-holcomb

Tompkins Square label is proud to announce the release of the first commercially available full live concert recording of old-time legend Roscoe Holcomb. The vinyl LP will be released in limited quantity on Black Friday via independent record stores. The CD and digital versions will be available widely on December 4th.

Discovered by folklorist John Cohen in 1959 in East Kentucky, Roscoe Holcomb is among the most revered traditional musicians to emerge during the folk boom of the 60's. A favorite of Bob Dylan (who name-checked him in his 2014 MusiCares speech), Eric Clapton, and many others, Holcomb's high lonesome singing and driving banjo style can be heard on several classic Folkways recordings.

San Diego Folk Festival 1972 was recorded at the annual event produced by Lou Curtiss, who provides insightful notes on how the concert came together. John Cohen, author of 'The High Lonesome Sound' (Steidl) also contributes new notes to the set. Previously unseen photographs from the event were shot by Virginia Curtiss. Jean Ritchie duets with Holcomb on a beautiful eight-minute version of 'Wandering Boy'.

CD : TSQ 5210 / LP : TSQ 5227
Tompkins Square is distributed by INgrooves and REVOLVER in NA, Cargo UK for Europe

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5a/Roscoeholcomb.JPG

Quite a good album, posted about it on the Roscoe Holcombe thread. Re the xpost rediscovered Hurlbert LP, here's a follow-up:

SUNRISE : BILL MACKAY PLAYS THE SONGS OF JOHN HULBURT
Available now on Tompkins Square via every digital service, worldwide (also LP & CD)


Hear / Post "Sunrise" performed by Bill MacKay
https://soundcloud.com/tompkinssquare/sunrise-bill-mackay

Tompkins Square and Ryley Walker teamed up to produce a reissue of guitarist John Hulburt's 1972 private press LP, Opus III, released in 2015. Ryley and Bill MacKay released their duo LP, Land of Plenty, this year as well. And now Bill MacKay releases his own album of John Hulburt tunes !

Through his extensive work in creative folk, experimental rock, and improvised jazz, Bill MacKay has emerged as a highly inventive composer-songwriter and versatile, unpredictable guitarist. MacKay's recent releases include a duo record with Ryley Walker entitled 'Land of Plenty', and 'Altamira', the third recording by his band Darts & Arrows. MacKay is now featured on Tompkins Square in a unique setting playing music by Chicago folk legend John Hulburt.

'Sunrise: Bill MacKay plays the songs of John Hulburt' features MacKay's intimate takes on a handful of songs from Hulburt's 'Opus III' LP. 'Opus III' demonstrates Hulburt's incisive and melodic songwriting and sure command of fingerstyle guitar.

Rather than radically reinterpret the material, MacKay chose to largely follow the contours and melodic structures of Hulburt's originals while imparting his own unique phrasing and colors to the arrangements. His very personal interpretations on Sunrise should lead listeners not only to 'Opus III', but also to MacKay's own impressive and diverse catalog of songs and sounds.

** This release is dedicated to the memory of Gene Lubin, John Hulburt's dear friend and bandmate in The Knaves, who passed away on December 10th, age 71. Gene graciously gave us notes and photographs for the Opus III reissue, and was an inspiration to Bill, Ryley, and so many other musicians **

The Record Store of the Mind
Book Tour 2016
17 Cities. 17 Special Guests.

"One of the most thoroughly enjoyable, informative, wise and good-hearted books ever written about music and the industry"
-- MOJO * * * * 4 STARS

"What pulls its disparate elements together is the accommodating warmth and wit of his writing and the wealth of great stories he has to tell"
-- UNCUT 8/10

Tompkins Square label's Josh Rosenthal will read from his new book, 'The Record Store of the Mind', w/ Special Guests :

April 2 - Deep Thoughts, Jamaica Plain MA w/ Sam Moss
April 3 - Feeding Tube Records, Northampton MA w/ Trevor Healy
April 4 - Albany Public Library, Albany NY w/ Mike Eck
April 5 - Rocket 99, Kingston NY w/ Peter Walker
April 6 - Secret Project Robot, Brooklyn NY w/ Kid Millions, Harry Taussig
April 7 - Brickbat Books, Philadelphia PA w/ Chris Forsyth
April 8 - Red Onion Records & Books, Washington DC w/ Bob Brown
April 9 - Atomic Books, Baltimore MD w/ Max Ochs
April 10 - Steady Sounds, Richmond VA w/ Diane Cluck, Mark Fosson
April 12 - Flyleaf Books, Chapel Hill NC w/ Steven Weiss (UNC)
April 13 - Horizon Records, Greenville SC w/ Wes Tirey
April 14 - Downtown Books, Asheville NC w/ Wes Tirey
April 15 - A Cappella Books, Atlanta GA w/ Tyler Higgins
April 16 - Grimey's, Nashville TN - Record Store Day DJ set & signing
April 17 - Carmichael's Bookstore, Louisville KY w/ Nathan Salsburg
April 18 - Boxcar Books, Bloomington IN - A Bill Wilson tribute
April 20 - CityLit Books, Chicago IL w/ Mike Vallera

Media Inquiries

'The Record Store of the Mind' by Josh Rosenthal
Praised by The Believer, Oxford American, Boing Boing, Record Collector (5/5)......
ISBN : 9781625179135
Retailers : Available via Ingram, Baker & Taylor, Think Indie, Revolver

'THE RECORD STORE OF THE MIND' SPOTIFY PLAYLIST
https://player.spotify.com/user/tompkinssquare/playlist/6MNJ5c9qZb0ScEOcsQtXA5

"Josh Rosenthal is a record man's record man. He is also a musician's record man. He is in the line of Samuel Charters and Harry Smith. In this age where we have access to everything and know the value of nothing, musicians need people like Josh to hear them when no one else can."
- T Bone Burnett

Grammy-nominated producer and Tompkins Square label founder Josh Rosenthal presents his first book, The Record Store of the Mind. Part memoir, part "music criticism," the author ruminates over unsung musical heroes, reflects on thirty years of toil and fandom in the music business, and shamelessly lists some of the LPs in his record collection. Crackling with insightful untold stories, The Record Store of the Mind will surely delight and inspire passionate music lovers ... especially those who have spent way too many hours in record stores.

Celebrating ten years in 2015, Rosenthal's San Francisco-based independent record label Tompkins Square has received seven Grammy nominations and wide acclaim for its diverse catalog of new and archival recordings.

ALSO :

> Check out the new Tompkins Square model guitar, built by Trevor Healy ! Video (linked in article) features William Tyler, Ryler Walker, Chris Forsyth and more. https://www.fretboardjournal.com/video/tompkins-squares-10th-anniversary-guitar

> Roscoe Holcomb 'Live at San Diego State Folk Festival 1972' recently
featured in The New Yorker http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-discovery-of-roscoe-holcomb-and-the-high-lonesome-sound?intcid=mod-latest

2016 post about Crandell, with his own comments:

Eugene-based guitarist Richard Crandell's 1980 private-press LP
In The Flower of Our Youth is one of our favorite rainy day / road trippin' solo guitar records. Reissued on Tompkins Square in 2008, it captures the aura of the Pacific Northwest in unique and powerful ways.

Crandell's struggle with Essential Tremor moved him toward the mbira (African thumb piano), and he recorded on the instrument for John Zorn's Tzadik label. But Richard has returned to the guitar at times. Then And Now is comprised of material recorded over the past 25 years, some recorded this year, all previously unreleased.
https://soundcloud.com/tompkinssquare/swallowtails-by-richard-crandell

Here is Richard's own take on the new album, Then And Now :

"Most of these recordings were discovered about five years ago. They were recorded on a DAT recorder in the '90s. "Road Trip" was in standard guitar tuning, capo on the 2nd fret, inspired by my 50-state 'American Friends' tour. "Funk Dat" (love the blues), "Haley Suite" (love Bach) and "Route 22" (love Tennessee) were tuned in DADEAD, capo on the 2nd fret. "Over/Under" (love John Fahey) was in dropped D tuning with the capo on the 2nd fret. "V-Blues" (love Scott Joplin) was in DADGAD, capo 2. It was the only tune which I've written that has a modulation by "brute force." "American Friends" was my 12-string rendition of a Bill Bartels' classic, reflecting his Virginia roots. "Swallowtails" was a solo 12-string version of a duet which I wrote in the early '80's. I like my foot-tapping on this one. The duet was originally on Oregon Hill with Bill Bartels. "Unknown Lament" was a 12-string piece from the same album. This solo version has a unique coda. "Down to Earth" was recorded 3 years ago. and was written in CGDGBE, a tuning which Tim Danforth showed me. The last tune, "Cinema Verité", was recorded a couple of weeks ago, on Kyle Lindros' ukulele. It is my only uke composition. Kyle's dad Billy, named it, as well as In The Flower Of Our Youth and many of my other tunes. English is my second language. Music is my first. Especially rhythm. Enjoy!"

Then And Now is now available via every digital service, worldwide.

Dorothy Moskowitz & The United States of Alchemy - Under an Endless Sky - Available via Tompkins Square - March 17, 2023

Under An Endless Sky represents the interchange that took place between electronic composer Francesco Paolo Paladino, composer and writer Luca Chino Ferrari, and the legendary Dorothy Moskowitz, an icon of underground culture who broke all kinds of new ground as a member of The United States of America. Led by the charismatic composer Joseph Byrd, the band released their lone eponymous album on Columbia Records in 1968. It has taken on a mythic status that has grown through the years, sampled by Diplo and Mac Miller and widely acknowledged as a visionary psychedelic classic.
Francesco Paolo Paladino, an avant-garde Italian composer contacted Dorothy, inviting her to sing on some of his compositions. When she heard his 2021 CD release of Barene & Other Works, she recognized that they shared a similarly experimental point of view and she accepted his invitation. Paladino is known for his collaborations with Martyn Bates, Allison O'Donnell, Simon Fisher Turner, and other world-renowned contemporary composers, as well as his own sought-after 1985 debut LP Doublings and Silences Volume 1.

Francesco has long collaborated with Italian writer Luca Chino Ferrari, author of biographies of Nick Drake, Third Ear Band, Captain Beefheart, Tim Buckley and Syd Barrett. He submitted lyrics to Dorothy and together they began a profound and unique collaboration on the adaptation of lyrics to music, delving into words and meanings, phonetic properties and their singability. “Lyrics that have the audacity to deal with complex themes of human existence, real philosophical cutaways that look at reality and question it, often without offering answers,” says Ferrari.

Moskowitz's extraordinary voice and modal melodies float over Paladino's magical musical textures. There are no guitars, bass, drums or other technological devilry, but only virtual sounds (sometimes without even keyboards) upon which are grafted some acoustic interventions: violins and violas, woodwinds and percussion entrusted to excellent musicians such as Italians Riccardo Sinigaglia, Angelo Contini, Stefano Scala, Trio Cavallazzi and Gino Ape, and English folker Sean Breadin.

Recommended If You Like : Late-stage Marianne Faithfull, Mercury Rev, Terry Riley, Flaming Lips, Italian electronic music, The United States of America.

American Primitive OG Harry Taussig releases '80' on his 82nd birthday, March 31st, 2023

Released as a short-run private press LP in 1965, Fate Is Only Once has long been a coveted collectible among American Primitive guitar enthusiasts. The album presages the broader movement. Acoustic musicians were still largely stuck in a rigid "folk" mindset in 1965, and there are just not that many other examples of the exploratory guitar sounds found on Fate from this time period. Alternating between haunting originals and jaunty blues-based traditional numbers, the private press LP was reissued by Tompkins Square in 2006. Taussig's only other recorded works appeared on the long out-of-print Takoma compilation Contemporary Guitar Spring '67 alongside John Fahey, Robbie Basho, Max Ochs and Bukka White. Taussig spent years as an educator, published instructional guitar books, and traveled extensively to photograph weird museums.

Taussig returned to music in 2012 with his first album in 47 years, Fate Is Only Twice, and followed with Diamond of Lost Alphabets, Too Late To Die Young, a split album and tour with fellow Takoma pioneer Max Ochs, and a remix album by Kid Millions (Oneida).

Harry Taussig on '80' :

"With a perspective of about 60 years, I finally understand what I’ve been trying to do in my musical compositions over these six decades. I grew up with two musical streams – at home it was European classical music, at college it was American folk music. And I bathed in both streams.

Like several of my contemporary guitarists, I wanted to extend the American folk guitar tradition into previously unexplored territories. Each found their direction: blues, psychedelia, etc. Mine was using the theories of classical musical forms, both traditional and contemporary.

One of the delights of classical music is that the composer will constantly play with the listener, allowing him or her to guess where the music is going and then surprise them by not going there at all, but going to another place unexpected but equally logical. This seems to be the throughline in my musical heroes: Bach, Schoenberg, Glass, and many others. I have adopted many of their structural schemes, rhythmic devices, and harmonic stratagems to counter the comfort and predictability of folk (and popular) music. I delight in the response, “You can’t do that … oh, I guess you can.”


01 – Etude in G Major #7 (take 1)
02 – Etude in D Major #2
03 – Lullaby in D Modal
04 – Etude in G Major #9
05 – Recessional for Banjo in D Major
06 – Etude in D♭ Major (take 1)
07 – Etude in D♭ Major (take 2)
08 – Sugar Babe
09 – Etude in G Major #4
10 – Etude in G Minor #3
11 – Etude in G Major #7 (take 2)

SURPRISE LP DROP : SHEFFIELD UK-BASED MULTI-INSTRUMENTALIST BOBBY LEE REISSUES ORIGIN MYTHS via TOMPKINS SQUARE !

The 2021 black vinyl LP sold out in a flash.

"Milky Myths" off-white / clear vinyl version available NOW !

North America : Exclusively via bandcamp

x-NA : Shops, online stores, Bobby's bandcamp

(Note : The digital version has 8 songs ; the LP has 12 songs)

“Overdriven drum-machine low slung choogle" - MOJO (4 stars)

“The further Bobby unmoors himself from songs and heads towards long-form abstraction, the more engrossing it becomes” - UNCUT (8/10)

COMING SOON : Endless Skyways
Cassette available now for early adapters !
via Bandcamp:
Endless Skyways is Bobby Lee’s third full album and second release on Tompkins Square. Returning to the full band sound of his debut, the name “Endless Skyways” is borrowed from a line in Woody Guthrie’s This Land Is Your Land, one of the cornerstones of American music. That song’s mix of the terrestrial (“ribbons of highway”) and celestial consciousness encapsulates Lee’s brand of widescreen cosmic americana; a duality also evident in the album’s split between deep-fried rural rock and ambient country. Dusty boots but third eye open.

Opener and lead single “Reds For A Blue Planet” inhabits a geographically different realm to any of Lee’s previous work, equal parts Michael Chapman’s Anglo-Primitivism and Tinariwen’s desert-choogle. Slowdive/Mojave 3’s Ian McCutcheon turns in a muscular drum performance, with just a hint of sleng-teng creeping into Mark Armstrong’s bassline. The title hints at an ecological frustration which radiates through the taut, spiraling, modal grooves.

Origin Myths’ “Impregnated by Drops of Rainbow” is revisited here in full band garb, shifting gear from the 117 seconds of skeletal krautrock into almost 7 minutes of soaring Kosmiche Country, complete with a glistening pedal steel solo from Joe Harvey-Whyte. Neu Riders of The Purple Sage, if you will.

“Thunder Travels To Loftier Mountain Heights” is a gradually evolving waking dream of gently chugging tremolo and delicate interplay between Piano (a rare foray away from the drums from Guy Whittaker) and Fender Rhodes, redolent of Brightblack Morning Light, or Spirit of Eden-era Talk Talk. Picture the scene; a gang of slow movin’ outlaws briefly glimpsing eternity after a rare downpour in the desert. McCutcheon’s drums echo through the canyons and out into space…

The woozy swamp rock of “Acid Grassland” is a return to more familiar territory for Bobby; an ancient drum machine moseys along with a loping groove and riff straight outta Cosmo’s Factory. Joe Harvey-Whyte appears again with the most fuzzed-out pedal steel this side of Sneaky Pete on “Christine’s Tune”.

Oh yeah, xpost Origin Myths is already out, except on the updated, tricked-out vinyl pimped above; here's the Bandcamp pitch (alb is streaming there too):

Digital out worldwide March 5th.
Ltd Ed (600) LP out May 7th with FOUR extra songs

“Overdriven drum-machine low slung choogle" - MOJO

“The further Bobby unmoors himself from songs and heads towards long-form abstraction, the more engrossing it becomes” - UNCUT

Bobby Lee trades in a wide screen brand of cosmic country-folk, full of space and pawn shop guitars. There are touches of JJ Cale's analogue Americana, the swampy groove of Tony Joe White and Richard Thompson's sinewy, modal guitar work. Amps hum in the warm afternoon sun, kids and dogs snooze on the grass and broken drum machines keep time with the universe... Open sky/scorched earth improvisations recorded to four track tape during the rare moments of solitude afforded by lockdown and early fatherhood. Bobby Lee's "worn-denim psych-country" remains, but the ancestral spirits of Ashra, Popol Vuh and Terry Riley are present here too. Time and technological limitations have been embraced. A song dreamt up, tracked and mixed in an afternoon, never to be tampered with again. Imperfections allowed to stand; knowing that nothing is ever truly finished. The Bob Ross school of philosophy.
credits
released March 5, 2021

Bobby Lee: Electric Guitar, Bass Guitar, Drum Machine, Organ, Acoustic Guitar, Dulcimer, Lap Steel, recording, mixing and artwork.

Tompkins Square is proud to announce a NEW 5CD BOX SET, OUT JUNE 16th !

Rick Deitrick - The Unguitarist : Complete Works, 1969-2022 (Ltd. ed. of 500)

Pre-order starts today via bandcamp

Listen to "Free and Easy", recorded in 2022, via every digital service, worldwide

The box set contains :

Disc 1: Gentle Wilderness - 1978 album. Tompkins Square LP reissue out of print. First time on CD
Disc 2 : River Sun River Moon - Recorded 1977-78. Tompkins Square LP out of print. First time on CD
Disc 3 : Coyote Canyon - Recorded 1972-75, except one song 1999. Tompkins Square LP almost out of print. First time on CD
Disc 4 : Homegrown : Recordings 1969 - 1979 - First time in a physical format
Disc 5 : Sage & Sand - Recorded 1969-2022 - CD of previously unreleased material

Plus :
- A litho card hand-signed by Rick
- Notes by Rick Deitrick and Acoustic Guitar Editor, Adam Perlmutter
- Transcription of Rick’s “Ballet La Jeunesse"
- Design by D. Norsen

Ohio-born Rick Deitrick took up the guitar at 16 and decided to approach his playing as if he was the only guy on an island and the instrument had just washed ashore one day. According to Rick, "I completely divorced my playing from any formal music knowledge, but it was very important to me to use original tuning. During those years, the ‘60s/70's, there was a lot of acoustic guitar playing, often using open tuning as a base. I wanted to create whole tones without de-tuning and keep access to the complex sounds stock tuning provided."

Rick pressed 500 LPs of his tranquil solo guitar record, Gentle Wilderness, in 1978. He gave copies to libraries and left a few in the middle of the wilderness, next to trails, "so people would find them." Rick sought inspiration in nature and in particular the various rivers scattered around the Western United States, often composing songs while seated beside them.

Now, Tompkins Square is proud to present a 5CD retrospective box set, Rick Deitrick - The Unguitarist : Complete Works, 1969 - 2022 , which makes a strong case for Rick as one of the most individual voices in acoustic guitar music over the past half century.

TSQ 5913
856225005913

Thanks for the heads up on that one!

Welcome---Tompkins' prev Rick releases are streaming on their very generous Bandcamp:
https://tompkinssquare.bandcamp.com/music

maginational Anthem vol. XII : I Thought I Told You - A Yorkshire Tribute to Michael Chapman. Available on Cassette, CD, LP and digital October 20th

Hear Henry Parker's cover of "In the Valley"
https://ingrv.es/in-the-valley-r98-7

Michael Chapman (1941-2021) released his debut album Rainmaker in 1969 on Harvest. He went on to release over fifty albums and influence many with his evocative songwriting and guitar prowess. From heady jams to expressive ballads to experimental noise, Chapman’s work continues to inspire. Tompkins Square recruited Henry Parker to curate a collection of covers by working musicians from Chapman’s home turf in Northern England. With stunning artwork by local artist Bunty Marshall mapping the important places in Michael’s life, and package design by D. Norsen, this 12th volume of Tompkins Square’s Imaginational Anthem series is the ultimate tribute to a very dearly missed artist.