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J. Russ Willoughby is a highly regarded, enthusiastic guitar player from Cincinnati, Ohio (USA) who expresses his style as melodic rock, on the edge of metal, as one can appreciate on his latest album, "Beyond The Velvet Rope".  His favorite guitars consist of a '81 Gibson Flying V and a Hamer double cutaway archtop. Willoughby has played guitar since 1975, and candidly acknowledges his career aspiration, "Continuing to write catchy tunes and recording CDs."
When requested to reveal his number one effect for the guitar, Willoughby answered back with, "Delay," and then brought up his musicial goals, "To have the listener feel the main guitar melody in a lyrical way. If I accomplish this then what they hear comes across as a complete song instead of a guitarist just rambling on at a hundred notes a second." He hopes to one day study with Gary Moore, and is at this time listening to Gary Moore, Barenaked Ladies ("great tunes!"), Joe Satriani and Michael Schenker. His utmost fulfillment? "To have someone hear one of my songs for the first time and say 'yeah, that's cool'," he affirms conclusively.
Willoughby concludes by mentioning continuing and future undertakings in his own words, "I am about three quarters finished with my next CD currently entitled "Pickup Lines"."
Guitar Nine Records visitors have compared the playing style and/or musical approach of J. Russ Willoughby to guitarists such as Joe Satriani and others.
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Vol. 17, No. 2: Feb.-Mar. 2012
