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Hailed by everyone from Dave Van Ronk to Doc Watson, from the Washington Post to downbeat, Dakota Dave Hull's guitar style spans a wide musical geography to create an infectious, uniquely personal blend of jazz, ragtime, folk, blues, Western swing, and vintage pop. Dakota Dave is a restlessly curious, adventurous traveler along the broad highway of America's music. In his playing the masters speak, but in a vocabulary that is Dave's alone: alternatively mirthful and moving, always melodic.
A gifted composer as well as a strikingly original interpreter of older tunes, Dakota Dave calls what he does "classic American guitar." Folk legend Van Ronk called Dave "one of the best guitarists in the world."
It's something of a well-kept secret that Phil Heywood is one of the premier acoustic guitarists working today. His list of achievements includes a stint with internationally renowned guitarist Leo Kottke, who, after hearing Heywood for the first time, promptly asked him to join his tour so the two could play duets. Heywood is a former National Fingerpicking Champion (1986) and winner of the American Fingerstyle Guitar Competition (1987), events judged by some of the genre's top players and performers. He has appeared on NPR's A Prairie Home Companion with guitar legend Chet Atkins, and shared the stage with a host of the best regional, national and international guitarists and songwriters, among them Norman Blake, John Renbourn, Greg Brown, Stephen Fearing, Tim Sparks, Peter Lang, Pat Donohue, Robin and Linda Williams, Dave Ray, and Spider John Koerner.
Listen with half an ear to a Heywood performance and you will soon be fully absorbed in his wide-ranging grooves and dynamic tone. His playing encompasses the rhythmic pulse of the early country bluesmen, the melodic flair of contemporary steel-string guitar, and the nuanced right hand attack of the classical guitarist. Lucid, lyrical, soul-grabbing guitar instrumentals are his stock-in-trade, yet he frequently fields requests to sing more. His warm, plainspoken voice blends seamlessly with his rock-solid guitar work and draws the listener in with equal allure. Playing or singing, his rootsy sources bubble to the surface in a way that is organic, eminently accessible, and, as one fan put it, bound to "make your ears smile."
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