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Jim Earp is an energetic and distinctive musician/guitarist currently based in San Diego, California (USA) who denotes his playing style as noveau-celtic-classical-folk, as one might want to hear on his most recent recording, "Smiles To Go".  His workhorse guitars include a Custom Rosewood 6-String Cutaway and a Steinberger GM. Earp has been playing guitar since 1973, and truthfully shares his career objective, "To be an established guitarist in the professional fingerstyle guitar community."
When the attempt was made to uncover his definitive or preferred effect for the guitar, Earp purposefully responded with, "Compression. When used on two-handed "tapping" compositions, it helps even out the guitar's signal," and then volunteered his musicial goals, "Best offered in a quote from San Diego's SLAMM Magazine (5/15/96), "...The central vibe of (Rosewood) has a healthy, spiritual quality...Earp suceeds in giving his pieces unique identities...(his) lovely melodies and his gifted guitar playing meld into a sweet, finely crafted sound..." That quote reflects every goal I intend to reach with my music, both now and in the future." He keeps open the possibility to, at some point, study the Uilleann pipes ("Davy Spillane is king!"), and is at the moment listening to San Diego indie singer/songwriter and producer of his CD, Joe Mersch, Billy Mclaughlin, Bruce Cockburn and Riverdance . His most important gratification? "Honoring God," he muses emphatically.
Earp winds up by detailing long-term and forthcoming endeavors insightfully, by saying, "Released August 1999, my newest project is a solo instrumental follow-up to Rosewood entitled "Smiles To Go", which is available through Solid Air Records. Also available from Solid Air is a sampler entitled "Acoustic Guitar Highlights Volume II", where a track from Rosewood was included alongside cuts from, among others, Elton John's bandleader Davey Johnstone, The Hellecaster's John Jorgenson, and ex-Wings guitarist Laurence Juber."
Guitar Nine Records visitors have compared the playing style and/or musical approach of Jim Earp to guitarists such as Phil Keaggy and others.
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Vol. 17, No. 2: Feb.-Mar. 2012
