Mark Fosson
Solo Guitar

Digging in the Dust, the reissued demo tapes by Mark Fosson that he sent to Takoma Records in the late 70s, was one of the first records of a rediscovered American Primitive guitarists I've ever heard. Sure, there was Robbie Basho, Peter Walker, but the forgotten recordings by Don Bikoff, Max Ochs or Mark Fosson were a bit more intriguing to me. And many more followed over the last years, with a growing interest into american steel string guitar solis.

Solo Guitar is now Fosson's 5th album, released again by Drag City where he debuted in 2006 with his original Takoma recordings.

Comparing his early demos to his current work shows what a highly skilled player he was from the beginning. The only thing I notice is, that he played much faster in his early days, but always very precise.

This is classic Takoma school American Primitivism, and if you love the shimmering sound of a 12-string guitar, you will love Mark Fosson's work.

You can order the album and listen to more snippets from the album on the Drag City website or you download Mark Fosson's music from his bandcamp page.

The cover artwork is a linocut from 1950 by printmaker and artist Jules Heller.

“Guitarist,” 1950, linocut

“Maurice,” 1950, woodcut

“Pablo O’Higgins,” 1947, linocut

“Escape,” 1939, drypoint

All images by Jules Heller