Buster B. Jones | |
|---|---|
 Buster B. Jones in Rietberg/Germany in 2005 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Bradley F. Jones |
| Also known as | Buster B. Jones |
| Born | August 24, 1959 |
| Origin | Ames, Iowa |
| Died | February 2, 2009 (aged 49) |
| Genres | Country |
| Occupation(s) | Guitarist Songwriter |
| Instrument(s) | Guitar |
| Years active | 1988–2009 |
Buster B. Jones (August 24, 1959 - February 2, 2009) was an American guitarist specializing in the fingerpicking style.
Born Bradley F. Jones in Ames, Iowa, on August 24, 1959, he is the son of Clarence Buster and Allene Whillour Jones and had three sisters and three brothers. He learned to play at a very young age, his talent coming from his parents and older brother, Ron. He graduated from Ames High School in 1978 and then served in the United States Air Force. [1] He first became known after entering Guitar Player Magazine's International Reader's Soundpage Competition in 1988 [2] on a whim. He submitted an original composition, titled Back Porch Boogie, as well as a cover of Salty Dog Blues, recorded using a reel-to-reel recorder and then transferred to cassette using a boombox. Jones came in first place out of nearly 900 entries. [3] He went on to win the National Fingerpicking Championship at Winfield, Kansas in 1990. He formed a duo with his friend Thom Bresh, the son of Merle Travis.[ citation needed ]
In 1995, Jones became a spokesman for Godin guitars, [4] [ better source needed ] playing a custom instrument he named "Pearl" for the mother of pearl inlay of his name on the neck. He toured often, earning the nicknames "Le Machine Gun" and "Pistola" for his fast playing style. That same style earned the notice of Chet Atkins, who described Buster by saying; "Buster B. Jones is the best fingerpicker I've heard since Jerry Reed… He plays like he's double parked." [4] [ better source needed ]
Jones was well known for his mentoring of young players and he appeared in 11 instructional videos demonstrating and explaining fingerstyle guitar technique.[ citation needed ]
He toured all over the United States and Canada and overseas, in France - where he played guitar with Marcel Dadi -, Germany, England, Ireland, Italy, Australia, Japan and more.[ citation needed ]
He died on February 2, 2009, in Eugene, Oregon, from liver failure. [5] [1] He was survived by his companion Nancy Writer, and had two daughters, Jennifer and Jessica. He was first married to Cindy Jones Thomas.
| Year | Album | Label |
|---|---|---|
| 1988 | Back Porch Boogie | Flat Five Press & Recording Co., FFP-1103 |
| 1988 | Stepping Out | Flat Five Press & Recording Co., FFP-1105 |
| 1991 | Live at 'Five | Flat Five Press & Recording Co., FFP-1111 |
| 1998 | Fingers in Flight | Recorded at Brian McConnal Studio, Quebec, Canada |
| 2002 | Just Us | Pazgunyak Music, PM040602 |
| 2005 | A Decade of Buster B. Jones | compilation CD (?) |
| Year | Album | Label |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Guts & Steel: Goovemasters vol. 5: Thom Bresh & Buster B. Jones | Solid Air Records |
| 2003 | Ron's Point of View (featuring Buster's song Jessica Sue and two duos with Ron Wise: Conceived in Alaska & Fireweed) | Ron's Point of View |
| Year | Name | Studio |
|---|---|---|
| 1998 (VHS Tape), 2006 (DVD) | Buster B. Jones In Concert (with special guest Thom Bresh) | Homespun, Hal Leonard, HL00641399 (VHS Tape), HL00642001 (DVD) |
| 1998 (VHS Tape), 2005 (DVD) | Thom Bresh In Concert (with special guest Buster B. Jones) | Homespun, Hal Leonard, HL00641893 (DVD) |
| +14 instructional DVDs released by Stefan Grossman's Guitar Workshop |
| Year | Name | Publisher |
|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Ballads and Barn Burners | Mel Bay Publication, Book & CD edition, MB98627BCD |
| 2001 | Remembering Marcel - 19 Fingerstyle Guitar Solos Celebrating the Life of Marcel Dadi (featuring one Buster's song Au revoir mon ami) | Mel Bay Publications, Book & CD edition, MB99759BCD |
| 2009 | Just Us - 14 Complete Notation and Tab Transcriptions | Mel Bay Publications, Book & CD edition, 20395M |
Geoffrey Arnold Beck was an English guitarist. He rose to prominence as a member of the rock band the Yardbirds, and afterwards founded and fronted the Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice. In 1975, he switched to an instrumental style with focus on an innovative sound, and his releases spanned genres and styles ranging from blues rock, hard rock, jazz fusion and a blend of guitar-rock and electronica.
Reel Big Fish is an American ska punk band from Huntington Beach, California. The band gained mainstream recognition in the mid-to-late 1990s during the third wave of ska with the release of the gold-certified album Turn the Radio Off. Soon after, the band lost mainstream recognition but gained an underground cult following. As of 2006, the band was no longer signed to a major record label and has since been independent. After numerous line-up changes, frontman Aaron Barrett is the last remaining founding member still performing in the band.
Big Bill Broonzy was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. His career began in the 1920s, when he played country music to mostly African-American audiences. In the 1930s and 1940s, he navigated a change in style to a more urban blues sound popular with working-class black audiences. In the 1950s, a return to his traditional folk-blues roots made him one of the leading figures of the emerging American folk music revival and an international star. His long and varied career marks him as one of the key figures in the development of blues music in the 20th century.
John McLaughlin, also known as Mahavishnu, is an English guitarist, bandleader, and composer. A pioneer of jazz fusion, his music combines elements of jazz with rock, world music, Western classical music, flamenco, and blues. After contributing to several key British groups of the early 1960s, McLaughlin made Extrapolation, his first album as a bandleader, in 1969. He then moved to the U.S., where he played with drummer Tony Williams's group Lifetime and then with Miles Davis on his electric jazz fusion albums In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew, Jack Johnson, Live-Evil, and On the Corner. His 1970s electric band, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, performed a technically virtuosic and complex style of music that fused electric jazz and rock with Indian influences.
Michael David McCready is an American musician known for being a founding member and lead guitarist of Pearl Jam. McCready was also a member of the side project bands Flight to Mars, Temple of the Dog, Mad Season, and The Rockfords. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a part of Pearl Jam in 2017 alongside the three other founding members, and former member Dave Krusen.
Robert John "Robin" Finck is an American guitarist. Finck is the longest-serving touring musician for Nine Inch Nails, performing with the band from 1994 to 2000, and returning in 2008. With Nine Inch Nails, Finck contributed studio performances on The Slip (2008).
Merle Robert Travis was an American country and western singer, songwriter, and guitarist born in Rosewood, Kentucky, United States. His songs' lyrics often discussed both the lives and the economic exploitation of American coal miners. Among his many well-known songs and recordings are "Sixteen Tons", "Re-Enlistment Blues", "I am a Pilgrim" and "Dark as a Dungeon". However, it is his unique guitar style, still called "Travis picking" by guitarists, as well as his interpretations of the rich musical traditions of his native Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, for which he is best known today. Travis picking is a syncopated style of guitar fingerpicking rooted in ragtime music in which alternating chords and bass notes are plucked by the thumb while melodies are simultaneously plucked by the index finger. He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970 and elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1977.
Daryl Mark Stuermer is an American musician, songwriter, singer, and record producer best known for playing the guitar and bass for Genesis during live shows, and lead guitar for Phil Collins during most solo tours and albums. He has also released nine solo albums, and tours with his Daryl Stuermer Band.
Fingerstyle guitar is the technique of playing the guitar or bass guitar by plucking the strings directly with the fingertips, fingernails, or picks attached to fingers, as opposed to flatpicking. The term "fingerstyle" is something of a misnomer, since it is present in several different genres and styles of music—but mostly, because it involves a completely different technique, not just a "style" of playing, especially for the guitarist's picking/plucking hand. The term is often used synonymously with fingerpicking except in classical guitar circles, although fingerpicking can also refer to a specific tradition of folk, blues and country guitar playing in the US. The terms "fingerstyle" and "fingerpicking" are also applied to similar string instruments such as the banjo.
Jan Vetter, better known as Farin Urlaub, is a German singer, guitarist and songwriter. He is best known as the guitarist/vocalist for punk rock band Die Ärzte. He has also been a solo artist since 2001, touring with his band, the Farin Urlaub Racing Team. His releases starting in 2006 are credited to the band.
Terence "Jet" Harris was an English rock and roll musician. He was an original member of Cliff Richard's backing band the Shadows, serving as the bass guitarist from the group's inception until April 1962, after which he had success as a soloist and as a duo with that band's drummer Tony Meehan.
William Thomas Emmanuel is an Australian guitarist. Originally a session player in many bands, he has released many award-winning recordings as a solo artist. In June 2010, Emmanuel was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM); in 2011, he was inducted into the Australian Roll of Renown. In 2019, he was listed by MusicRadar as the best acoustic guitarist in the world.
David Michael Gordon "Davey" Graham was a British guitarist and one of the most influential figures in the 1960s British folk revival. He inspired many famous practitioners of the fingerstyle acoustic guitar such as Bert Jansch, Wizz Jones, John Renbourn, Martin Carthy, John Martyn, Paul Simon and Jimmy Page, who based his solo "White Summer" on Graham's "She Moved Through the Fair". Graham is probably best known for his acoustic instrumental "Anji" and for popularizing DADGAD tuning, later widely adopted by acoustic guitarists.
Roy Ernest Nichols was an American country music guitarist best known as the lead guitarist for Merle Haggard's band The Strangers for more than two decades. He was known for his guitar technique, a mix of fingerpicking and pedal steel-like bends, usually played on a Fender Telecaster electric guitar. Nichols is considered one of the founders of the country music subgenre the “Bakersfield Sound”, which includes such notable country artists as Haggard, Buck Owens, and Don Rich.
Henry Franklin "Buster" Smith, also known as Professor Smith, was an American jazz alto saxophonist and mentor to Charlie Parker. Smith was instrumental in instituting the Texas Sax Sound with Count Basie and Lester Young in the 1930s.
Trace Bundy is an American acoustic guitar player who lives and performs in Boulder, Colorado. He is known to fans as "The Acoustic Ninja" for his legato and finger tapping skills. Bundy's guitar playing style is percussive and harmonic: he plays with both hands on the fretboard, intricate finger picking arpeggios and inventive use of multiple capos. He was showcased and eventually discovered on websites such as YouTube and Facebook.
Harold Ray Bradley was an American guitarist and entrepreneur, who played on many country, rock and pop recordings and produced numerous TV variety shows and movie soundtracks. Having started as a session musician in the 1940s, he was a part of the Nashville A-Team of session players, which included pianist Floyd Cramer and pedal steel guitarist Pete Drake. He is one of the most recorded guitarists in music history.
The Electric Revelators are a blues band, formed in Swansea 2004, Wales, added Jerry Donahue ex-member of Fairport Convention and Chris Rea Band to the line-up in 2011. Originally called The Revelators they added Electric to the name in 2009 when they toured with The Animals and David "Honeyboy" Edwards.
Bishop Dready Lewis Manning was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and harmonica player. He played gospel music infused with Piedmont blues elements. He was also the founder of St. Mark Holiness Church in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, and a North Carolina Arts Council Folk Heritage Award winner.
Homespun offers music instruction for many instruments and styles on CD, DVD and streaming media.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)| Authority control databases: Artists |
|---|
