Steve Gunn

Nowadays, there are so many great solo guitar players mining a vein started by John Fahey and extended by everyone from Loren Connors to Jim O’Rourke. There are so many, in fact, that standing out is almost impossible. Yet Steve Gunn has somehow managed that trick. That’s not strictly due to his ability as a player—though he is eminently skilled—but more to his knack for discovering varied styles and settings in which to couch that string-stretching talent.

His 2009 solo masterpiece, Boerum Palace, saw him exploring slow ballads, simply-strummed ditties, lengthy raga/ psych hybrids, twangy country meditations and sprightly bluegrass-inflected jaunts. It helps that he knows how to mesh with strong collaborators—in this case, pedal steel master Marc Orleans—which is something he surely honed as a member of GHQ, his project with Double Leopards/ Zaimph magician Marcia Bassett.

Gunn’s deft diversity continues on Sand City, his 2010 duo record with drummer John Trucsinski. Over the course of four tracks, the pair revels in jams that all have a searching, mountain-climbing quality. It’s as if when each track starts, they have a summit in their sights and the knowledge that all it takes to get there is the right chords and rhythms. Gunn hits the target every time, from his winding, snake-charming acoustic plucks that weave around Truscinki’s beat on “Takism II” to the cascading electric circles he runs during the dizzying “Wythe Raag.” This means it’s anyone’s guess what he’ll play when he performs, but you can bet it will still sound like Steve Gunn. —Marc Masters