FEATURE: JACK JOHNSON
How the surfer/filmmaker/singer-songwriter mines his dreams for song ideas and finds the balance between Jimmy Buffett and Jimi Hendrix. With video. [More]

FEATURE: PLAYERS’ CHOICE AWARDS
Acoustic Guitar readers voted for their favorite gear, retailers, educational resources, and guitarists. And the winners are . . . [More]

PRIVATE LESSON: TIM SPARKS
The fingerstyle guitarist outlines several impressive, exotic-sounding scales. With audio. [More]

FEATURE: MID-SIZE GUITARS
We test six medium-size guitars to find out what you can expect from 000’s, grand concerts, and OM’s ranging from $250 to $5,000. With video. [More]

NEW GEAR REVIEW: EASTMAN AC320
Mid-price dreadnought shines with a versatile voice and precision craftsmanship. With video. [More]

NEW GEAR REVIEW: FISHMAN SOLOAMP
All-in-one system bridges the gap between amp and PA. With video. [More]

RICHIE HAVENS, Nobody Left to Crown
This icon of the Woodstock festival continues to age well, touring steadily and releasing solid collections of new music on his Stormy Forest label. Nobody Left to Crown follows 2004’s Grace of the Sun with a similar earthy feel and low-key production. At the center of Havens’s music, as always, is one of the acoustic guitar world’s most distinctive rhythm styles, based on tuning to open D and fretting primarily with his thumb. Havens’s strumming is quick and light, and he adds flourishes and fills like a good drummer—rhythmically forceful, yet soothing in overall effect. If ever an artist deserved the tag of soft rock, Havens does. Roughly half the tracks are Havens originals, which muse on matters both spiritual (“The Key”) and political (the title track). The disc’s variety comes more from his covers, including a version of Jackson Browne’s “Lives in the Balance” with Latin American–style nylon-string lead guitar. Havens’s gift for reinventing classic songs is especially evident on the album’s best track, the Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again.” This rock anthem proves an ideal vehicle for Havens’s potent acoustic rhythm and features a brilliant, smoldering vocal—proving that when it comes to musical intensity, loud amps are purely optional. (Stormy Forest, stormyforest.com)
—JEFFREY PEPPER RODGERS

PETE SEEGER, Pete Seeger at 89
On the cusp of the big 90 (wish him a happy birthday on May 3), Pete Seeger has the kind of creative and political energy that makes others half his age seem like complete cream puffs. This homey album, recorded at Seeger’s house and other informal locations around New York’s Hudson Valley, captures Seeger talking about and performing 25 songs—both old (“Waist Deep in the Big Muddy,” a Vietnam-era tale with much resonance for current wars) and relatively new (the wry “Arrange and Rearrange”). One of the few signs that age has caught up with the feisty folksinger is his voice, which has become, in his words, “unreliable”; so he and producer David Bernz enlisted local friends to sing lead and backup throughout. The effect is far different from Bruce Springsteen and Ani DiFranco performing on the Songs of Pete Seeger trilogy; the singers on Pete Seeger at 89 come across more like a good community chorus. The album’s strength comes from its instrumentals, including several short banjo pieces (“Nameless Banjo Riff,” “D Minor Flourish/Cindy”) that show Seeger’s still-fine touch on the five-string. On “The Water Is Wide,” he plays the melody on recorder and beautiful, free-flowing accompaniment on the 12-string—he’s still one of the few guitarists who knows how to harness the power of 12 strings by using them sparingly. Another treat is a little ragtime-like instrumental called “Spring Fever,” nimbly played on nylon-string guitar. With the addition of spoken introductions, Pete Seeger at 89 is a very true representation of Seeger in person—for whom every song has a story, and every story has a song. And as this album attests, he’s clearly got plenty more of both to share. (Appleseed, appleseedmusic.com)
—JEFFREY PEPPER RODGERS

For more CD reviews, go to acousticguitar.com/playlist.

MARCH 2009: Folk icon Joan Baez reveals the story behind her new record, which was produced by Steve Earle; custom dreadnought builders; reviews of the Santa Cruz F Maple Mini Jumbo and the Lowden Baritone; and music to Merle Haggard’s “Sing Me Back Home” and the White Stripes’ “Hotel Yorba.”

APRIL 2009: Take our guided tour of the Taylor factory; find the right guitar summer camp in the Summer Study Guide; learn how to play country/bluegrass rhythm guitar; reviews of the Martin Cherry OM and the Voyage-Air Travel Guitar; and music to “The Scientist” by Coldplay and the Allman Brothers’ “Little Martha.”

MAY 2009: Martin Simpson fingerstyle lesson; home recording tips and tricks; reviews of the Cole Clark dreadnought and a slew of rhythm stomp boxes; and music to the Kinks’ “Waterloo Sunset” and the late, great Jerry Reed’s “Jerry’s Breakdown.”

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