Jim Earp
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Review of "Rosewood"
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By: Philip Dawdy
t might be really easy for Jim Earp to be happy about his accomplishments this past year. He won 'Guitar Wars', which is sponsored by Guitar Trader magazine, and features some of San Diego's best players. Last year, he finished second. Perhaps even more impressive is that a demo tape he sent to Guitar Player was chosen to be featured in their magazine--this out of thousands of demos the magazine receives from around the nation. In so doing, Guitar Player likened Earp's work to that of Adrian Legg, John Renborn, and Alex de Grassi, just your run-of-the-mill guitar gods! Most guitar players would do back flips over that.
But what really makes Jim Earp happy is that the acoustic music scene is starting to take off (again) in San Diego. he names artists like Gregory Page, John Katchur, D.R. Auten, Jewel, Mary Dolan and Joe Mersch as helping to make things happen. He is flattered to be included in their company.
And he should be included in their company, because, as guitarist Wayne Preis puts it, 'the guy can play his butt off.' In a recent write-up Guitar Player echoed those sentiments: Earp has 'driving rhythms, beautiful, crystalline tone, and deft...technique...you've got one fine player.'
So you can put Jim Earp amongst the truly fine acoustic players in San Diego. But making his upcoming performance at (SD venue) Java Joe's a greater treat is that he will be joined by both
guitarist/singer-songwriter Joe Mersch and singer Janet Curci. Earp is thrilled to be on stage with them. Mersch is something of a mentor to Earp and, as he says, 'it's the only time I ever get to see Joe play'.
The three of them draw from eclectic influences, Celtic, French and Brazilian among them, while guitarists like Michael Hedges, Leo Kottke, and Bruce Cockburn fuel their instrumental style. According to Earp, Mersch's lyrics are dense and imagistic, 'sort of like C.S. Lewis meets Gunter Grass.'
None of this should make these fine performers sound confusing. To go by Earp's earlier recordings, he is one of those people who can take disparate influences and fuse them into one consistent style. That's the beauty of modern acoustic guitar.
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Philip Dawdy / Good Times Magazine
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