Matt Thorpe
		In all guitar music and especially Blues music, for me, the Electric Guitar is played from the heart. Every nuance from the moment a note is picked or even how it is picked, to how it decays, is important. The expression of emotion and feel is vital.
		When I first started playing the guitar, in the early seventies, I was listening to mainly rock music. There was an underlying theme to much of this music which fascinated me. It was Blues. I discovered where it came from but the rough sounding old recordings were off-putting and hard to listen to when you are young and new music seemed to sound better! What I really liked was the more fluid derivative produced by the contemporaries inspired by the older music. Since the Seventies that heavier rock music has turned into heavy metal/grunge/thrash and it has lost its way. Thankfully there are many blues artists of the contemporary period now producing music which re-discovers it's roots and at the same time transforms itself into a newer art form. Other musicians from the period have merged into Jazz or film.
		Over the 35+ Years I have been playing the guitar I have worked with many other musicians. I have played with many and varied live bands and playing mostly original material although some more recently were cover bands. I have spent many hours in the recording studio. Apart from one or two performances that will always remain special to me my latest venture has found a new world wide audience on the net. The response from the MP3.COM website has been tremendous. Tens of thousands of people, per month, download the free songs from my page. More people have heard my music and playing than ever before. Please buy one (if not all six!) of the CD's they are cheap compared to record store prices and you can't get this music anywhere else! The proceeds from CD sales will go back into feeding the music habit. So look out for more new songs/recordings/CDs in the near future. Sadly the Mp3.com website for independent artists closed down Dec 2004. This was taken over by CNet who have created a new independent artist website though they now use Mp3.com to sell mainstream music. Keep listening in ! Matt Thorpe.
		I have been influenced by all guitar players who have conveyed the special qualities 'feel' and 'tone'. Early Eric Clapton recordings, from the Cream era and onwards, have been inspirational. A memorable moment from Eric Clapton, for me, is the track "Have You Ever Loved a Woman" from the Derek and The Dominoes Live double set. I particularly liked the unparalleled power and feel of the Led Zeppelin blues tracks such as "Since I've Been Loving You", "I Can't Quit You", "The Lemon Song" and "You Shook Me". In fact after seeing Zeppelin on the Fourth album tour aged 15 I decided I would have to get a guitar ! I think it was the Heartbreaker solo that did it ! I saw Robin Trower support Nazereth before he became bigger than they ever were. The first time I heard "Bridge Of Sighs" on the radio I went out and got the album it is still a favorite. Check out "Little Bit Of Sympathy" and "Too Rolling Stoned". I saw Bad Company on their first UK tour. The PA still had Free painted on it. Paul Rodgers has to be one of the greatest male vocalists of all time. My regrets are that I never saw Paul Kossoff, Jimi Hendrix, Lowell George, Duanne Allman. The biggest regret though is not seeing Rory Gallagher. I have most of his albums but of all of them I particularly like his first solo album after he split The Taste. It is quite simply titled Rory Gallagher. From the power of "Laundromat" through the bluesy "Wave Myself Goodbye" to the slightly jazzy "Can't Believe Its True" this album had an extra something that didn't reappear with Gallagher until 'Against The Grain'. There were so many great bands and individual musicians in the early seventies, particulaly guitar players. What about the Allman Brothers "Black Hearted Woman" and the "Fillmore East" Live album! 'Stormy Monday' yeh! Later came the "Pronounced" album by Lynyrd Skynyrd some great southern rock and boogie. All of the Little Feat albums with Lowell George were gems listen to "Willin'" or "Dixie Chicken" or "Long Distance Love" the "Time Loves a Hero" album has an extra something special also. Not forgetting Santana! I have always had a fascination with anything the Pink Floyd do. I'm a massive fan of Dave Gilmour. he always gets an amazing tone and always finds such lyrical and memorable guitar parts whatever the moment. I have all the Floyd albums on both Vinyl and CD ! "Echoes" from the Meddle album is a favorite. Not forgetting Ten Years After and Alvin Lee. The remainder of Back Street Crawler following the death of Paul Kossoff hired Geoff Whitehorn to play guitar and their first album as Crawler had some superb guitar parts. Take a listen to "Stone Cold Sober". Geoff Whitehorn later appears with Paul Rodgers on his recent "Now" album and also with Roger Waters on the "Amused to Death" album also featuring Jeff Beck. During the punk era I stopped listening to the radio but when I returned to it again I was amazed to hear "Texas Flood" by Stevie Ray Vaughan the style excited me. It was like guitar players had returned to normality tuned their instruments and set of on a crusade of re-invention. I liked the early Robert Cray stuff but I don't really like Blues to be that clean and soulish. Then Jeff Healey came on the scene and again the raw power of the three piece group format re-kindled the Cream, Hendrix, Rory Gallagher/Taste trio format in my mind. I have always liked Gary Moore's playing from his time with Colosseum through his heavy rock era but especially the G Force album but when the "Still Got The Blues", "After Hours" and "Blues for Greeny" CDs came out they became instant must haves ! I have been listening to Robben Ford more recently and also even jazzier stuff like Lee Ritenour and Larry Carlton. I have to say that whilst Joe Satriani and Steve Vai are technically brilliant they leave me cold. The feel is not there somehow - but they don't play Blues do they ? I have found enjoyable some 'folkier' blues material from Taj Mahal, Keb' Mo' and Eric Bibb this is wonderful stuff. Of course all Blues purists will listen to the greats like BB King, Freddie King, Albert Collins, Elmore James, T-Bone Walker etc. and of course so have I. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A favorite guitar player of the moment is Walter Trout who I saw for the third time recently. His new album "Livin' Every Day" is excellent. I met Walter after the gig at The Robin 2 RnB Club, Bilston, UK. Also Jeff Beck has been a truly inspirational player over the years. His albums are so infrequent but when they do appear for me they always break new ground. The latest one "Who Else" contains a superb live blues track called "Brush with The Blues" where he proves that the blues can be played differently again. If you haven't heard it check out "Guitar Shop" also. I am impressed by the spirit and talent of the emerging young blues players Jonny Lang and Kenny Wayne Shepherd they each now have two albums out - buy them all they're brilliant !