Jan Akkerman (born 24 December 1946) is a Dutch guitarist. Akkerman is a distinctive guitarist, constantly experimenting with new equipment and guitars. Akkerman's distinctive guitar sound is characterised by his pioneering use of volume swells which produce a smooth, fluty, sustained tone, and other complex techniques such as sweep picking, tapping, and high-speed alternate picking. He also pioneered the use of the lute in a rock band, reflecting his interest in medieval and Renaissance music and culture. He first reached world acclaim in the 1970s when he was seen as the core of the Dutch rock band, Focus, together with Thijs van Leer.
Akkerman was born near Waterlooplein, in the center of Amsterdam, the son of a scrap iron trader. At age five he took guitar lessons and his first single was released when he was thirteen years old in 1960. He was a member of Johnny and his Cellar Rockers, The Hunters (with whom he scored the 1966 Dutch pop hit "Russian Spy and I") and Brainbox (which also garnered several Dutch hit singles, including a cover of Tim Hardin's "Reason to Believe"). Akkerman joined the Thijs van Leer Trio in late 1969 which, as the nascent Focus was the pit band for the Dutch theatrical production of "Hair" (recorded as an album in 1969). Continuing under the name Focus, the band explored the progressive rock genre (an amalgam of classical, jazz, and rock music in short and extended instrumentals) and scored a few worldwide hits in the seventies (the singles "Hocus Pocus" and "Sylvia" and the certified Gold albums "Moving Waves" and "Focus 3"). In 1973 Akkerman was chosen 'Best Guitarist in The World' by the readers of the UK magazine, Melody Maker. His standing was such that he teamed up with manufacturer Framus to produce one of the first 'signature' guitar models.
Herbert "Bert" Jansch (3 November 1943 – 5 October 2011) was a Scottish folk musician and founding member of the band Pentangle. He was born in Glasgow and came to prominence in London in the 1960s, as an acoustic guitarist, as well as a singer-songwriter. He recorded at least 25 albums and toured extensively from the 1960s to the 21st century.
Jansch was a leading figure in the British folk music revival of the 1960s, touring folk clubs and recording several solo albums, as well as collaborating with other musicians such as John Renbourn and Anne Briggs. In 1968, he joined the band Pentangle, touring and recording with them until their break-up in 1972. He then took a few years' break from music, returning in the late 1970s to work on a series of projects with other musicians. He joined a reformed Pentangle in the early 1980s and remained with them as they evolved through various changes of personnel until 1995. Until his death, Jansch continued to work as a solo artist.
Jansch's work influenced such artists as Al Stewart, Paul Simon, Johnny Marr, Elton John, Bernie Taupin, Bernard Butler, Jimmy Page, Nick Drake, Graham Coxon, Donovan, Neil Young, Fleet Foxes, Devendra Banhart and Neil Halstead.
Stefan Grossman (born 16 April 1945) is an American acoustic fingerstyle guitarist and singer, music producer and educator, and co-founder of Kicking Mule records.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, to Herbert and Ruth Grossman. Grossman described his upbringing, in Queens, New York, as "lower middle-class", and his parents as "very leftist", valuing education and the arts. He began playing guitar at the age of nine, when his father bought him a Harmony f-hole acoustic guitar. Later he moved on to an archtop Gibson guitar which he played between the ages of nine and eleven, taking lessons and learning to read music. For a few years, he gave up playing but resumed again at the age of 15.
Grossman's interest in the Folk revival was sparked by attending the Washington Square Park "Hoots", and he started listening to old recordings of artists such as Elizabeth Cotten, Big Bill Broonzy, Leadbelly, Josh White, Lightnin' Hopkins, Rev. Gary Davis, Blind Willie Johnson, Blind Boy Fuller, Son House, Charlie Patton, Skip James, Blind Blake, Blind Lemon Jefferson and Woody Guthrie.
Ralph McTell (born Ralph May in Farnborough, Kent, England, 3 December 1944 and raised in Croydon) is an English singer-songwriter and acoustic guitar player who has been an influential figure on the UK folk music scene since the 1960s.
Ralph McTell is best known for the song "Streets of London", which has been covered by over two hundred artists around the world. In the 1980s he wrote and played songs for two TV children's programmes, Alphabet Zoo, which also featured Nerys Hughes, followed by Tickle On The Tum, featuring Jacqueline Reddin. Albums were also released from both series. He also recorded the theme song to Cosgrove Hall's adaptation of The Wind in the Willows with Keith Hopwood, and this was released as a single in 1984 after the series was aired on ITV.
McTell's guitar playing has been modelled on the style of the US's country blues guitar players of the early 20th century, including Blind Blake, Robert Johnson and Blind Willie McTell. These influences led a friend to suggest that he change his professional name to McTell as his career was beginning to take shape.
Eelco Gelling (born 12 June 1946) is a Dutch blues guitarist. He and Jan Akkerman are stated as the two top notch guitar players from the Netherlands. Gelling played with Cuby + Blizzards (which he co-founded together with Harry Muskee) till 1976. In 1973, he joined Golden Earring where he played for several years. He first appeared as a full fledged member on "Contraband" (released in the U.S. under the title "Mad Love"). Eelco's haunting slide work is highlighted on the tracks "Sueleen" and "Bombay". While out on tour the grouped recorded it first live album "Golden Earring Live". Eelco helps the group deliver many of there classics including an extended version of the groups smash hit "Radar Love". Gelling also plays on the groups "Grab It For A second" album. During a tour in the United States he left the band, after discussions about the music style and after his favorite guitar (a Gibson Les Paul Custom) was stolen from a cab in New York, he quit Golden Earring and went back to the Netherlands. He played in several bands and after a few years started his own, the Eelco Gelling Band. On 25 June 2010 the Eelco Gelling Band performed for the last time, since then the band continued as Kroppo's Blues Band, without Gelling.
There must be some way out of here," said the joker to
the thief,
"There's too much confusion, I can't get no relief.
Businessmen, they drink my wine, plowmen dig my earth,
None of them along the line know what any of it is
worth."
"No reason to get excited," the thief, he kindly spoke,
"There are many here among us who feel that life is but a
joke.
But you and I, we've been through that, and this is not
our fate,
So let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting
late."
All along the watchtower, princes kept the view
While all the women came and went, barefoot servants,
too.
Outside in the distance a wildcat did growl,