Local guitar masters (from left) Craig Young, Duane Andrews, Sandy Morris and Gordon Quinton have released their debut CD as Fretboard Journey, blending their various styles into a recording that ranges from jazz to bluegrass to traditional music.
But if you want a clear, authentic recording of four of the province’s guitar masters bringing their individual styles together for 12 tracks, Fretboard Journey’s CD is it.
RELATED STORY:
Sandy Morris, Duane Andrews, Gordon Quinton and Craig Young have nothing to prove — they’re all longtime established musicians with individual followings and multiple albums and awards between them. They first got together a couple years ago through Morris, who had been asked by bookers around the province to get a guitar group on the go. Their first official gig as Fretboard Journey was at last year’s Newfoundland and Labrador Folk Festival.
Andrews is the local king of gypsy jazz, while Young (who often performs and has released a CD with Andrews as a duo) is known for his country and bluegrass. Quinton is the finger style master while Morris is, well, accomplished at a bit of everything.
On their new self-titled album, each musician is immediately distinguishable. The quartet has started off huge, choosing some iconic tunes: Eric Clapton’s “Layla” is on the CD, as is Mark Knopfler’s “Why Worry,” the “Land and Sea” theme and Ron Hynes’ “St. John’s Waltz.”
The arrangements — which instantly stand out as beautiful — came naturally, through jamming the songs and talking it out.
“The guitar gave us enough common ground,” Young explains. “There are some tunes that just show our own way and our own appreciation and take on them. For example, ‘Layla.’ It’s a song that anybody who’s ever played a guitar knows about, and in all styles of music, that song is still pretty big.”
The only original tune on the album in “Wild Fields,” written by Quinton.
“All my music is just sort of impressionistic, and there are a lot of tunes about nature,” he says. “I was just walking by a farm one day and the wind was blowing the grass and it almost sounded like the grass was making music. I just came home and tried to interpret what the grass was doing. It’s fun to compose things in a visual way.”
Apart from “The Tennessee Stud,” on which Young lends his baritone voice, the tracks are instrumental, the musicians preferring to let their guitars be the stars. The musicians even make their guitars the focus in their album liner notes, describing them as members of the band, and give them centre stage in their promotional photos, displaying their detail down to the wood grain (thanks to photographer and fellow guitarist Chris Ledrew).
Instrumental music can be a hard sell when it comes to live shows, but not for Fretboard Journey, who tell stories, talk about their guitars and share jokes on stage between tunes.
“I think the audiences have been spellbound more than any other shows, because you can see the focus that we have, and the distinctive styles really draw people in,” Morris says.
Although the new album has been available since August, Fretboard Journey will be officially launching (“celebrating,” they say) it Oct. 15 with a show at the LSPU Hall in St. John’s. Tickets are available at the Hall box office, by calling 753-4531 and online at rca.nf.ca.
They’ll hold a similar CD release party at The Stone Jug in Carbonear Oct. 28, and are considering touring the Atlantic provinces, although they’re not in a rush.
They’re happy to have found each other and formed the group, sharing a love for guitar.
“The ability to get together with three other guys and talk about guitar and play guitar and music that’s guitar-focused — as a guy who plays with lots of different groups myself, nobody’s going to give you the leeway to play a 10-minute guitar song,” Young says. “In this group, that’s exactly what we want. It’s like going to dinner somewhere and having all cheesecake. This is all the caramel cheesecake, thank-you very much.”
See video:
