Lena Hughes :: Queen Of The Flat Top Guitar

LENAAn exceedingly rare, private-press holy grail recorded in the early 1960s, Queen Of The Flat Top Guitar (now given 21st century life by the Tompkins Square label) is the lone recorded evidence of Lena Hughes. Though only clocking it at 23 minutes, you can hear a lifetime’s worth of music in these celestial fingerpicked guitar instrumentals. The 11 tracks gathered, either adapted fiddle tunes or parlor music from the 1900s, are concise, plaintive and uniformly beautiful, a glimpse into a bygone age that drifts further from living memory with each passing year. Pentangle guitarist John Renbourn, in the liner notes, hears “the musical sentiment of 19th century America — as iconic as quilting, shape-note singing and Tiffany glass.” Spiritual music of the highest level. words / t wilcox

MP3: Lena Hughes :: Pearly Dew

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