FEATURE: JOAN BAEZ
On the Day After Tomorrow, folk icon Joan Baez comes full circle with her strongest recording in years. [More]

FEATURE: BUILDING TO PLAY
Five prominent guitarists who build their own instruments. With links to video. [More]

PRIVATE LESSON: AL PETTEWAY
The fingerstylist discusses the relationship between Celtic and Appalachian music. With audio. [More]

FEATURE: DREADNOUGHT DIEHARDS
Five luthiers are giving traditionally minded dreadnought players a custom-shop experience. With links to video. [More]

NEW GEAR REVIEW: SANTA CRUZ MODEL F MAPLE
Maple-bodied mini-jumbo is a remarkable evolution of an influential Santa Cruz design. With video. [More]

NEW GEAR REVIEW: RECORDING KING ROS-626
Music Link pays homage to turn-of-the-century 000’s with this 12-fret guitar. With video. [More]

NEW GEAR REVIEW: LOWDEN BARITONE
A low-tuned steel-string from Northern Ireland’s guitar guru. With audio. [More]

CADILLAC SKY, Gravity's Our Enemy
Though anchored solidly in bluegrass tradition, Cadillac Sky nevertheless soars with innovative verve on its second release. Hallmarks of the group, comprised of Bryan Simpson (mandolin), Matt Menefee (banjo), Ross Holmes (fiddle), Andy Moritz (bass), and Mike Jump (guitar), are the tight vocal harmonies, stand-up songwriting, and virtuoso picking one would expect of a Skaggs Family Records release produced by mandolin great Mike Marshall. While Simpson’s lyrics tackle stalwart country themes (bars, cars, love and regret, domestic violence) in new and sometimes humorous ways, the intricate and surprising musical arrangements are what really give the group propulsion. In deference to stunning string interplay, solo turns are brief, and few are by the guitar, which stays busy fueling the rhythm. When the group deviates most from tight bluegrass form, particularly on the instrumentals (like on the marvelous closing track, “2 Good 2 Last”), Cadillac Sky handily defies gravity “like a firecracker.” (Skaggs Family Records, skaggsfamilyrecords.com)
—CÉLINE KEATING

JOLIE HOLLAND, The Living and the Dead
The Living and the Dead is destined to be noted as the record on which Jolie Holland inched toward the center of the dial, but don’t assume the Brooklyn-based mood conjurer has made any ill-advised deals with the devil. She’s far too much of a quirky individualist for that. Although still steeped in the spectral, time-defying blend of roots idioms that characterizes her work to date, Holland’s third studio release adds a backbeat and evokes the mid-1960s dawn of electrified folk with modern wit, grit, and personality. Predictably, Holland’s new, understated rock attitude is most strikingly conveyed by her singing voice, a matchless blend of impossibly liquid Texas drawl and otherworldly vibrato that delivers hefty emotional cargo with a simple, nuanced swoop. Leanly arranged, melodic rockers such as “Mexico City,” “Corrido Por Buddy” and “Palmyra” stand shoulder-to-shoulder with their Greenwich Village antecedents, and “Your Big Hands” even adds a bit of Stones-y intro guitar, courtesy of guest M. Ward. On more familiar turf, “Fox in Its Hole,” “Sweet Loving Man,” and the traditional “Love Henry” explore the ghostly realms of vintage Americana where Holland has for several years stood alone in a crowded and often less-than-original singer-songwriter field. (Anti- Records, anti.com)
—MIKE THOMAS

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

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.”

JUNE 2009: Ernie Hawkins explores the style of blues master Rev. Gary Davis; our editors give the lowdown on the highlights of the NAMM show; reviews of the PRS Acoustic grand concert and Acoustic Image Corus amp; and music to Paul Simon’s “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard” and Sheryl Crow’s “Picture.”

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