Album Notes

Barb Barton's percussive folk style and two-handed guitar work has mesmerized audiences throughout the Midwest and East Coast. Barton began playing the guitar at the age of 6 and quickly formed a neighborhood rock band. She appeared at local fairgrounds and talent shows and soon started writing songs. It was during those early years that Barton learned how to play finger-style guitar by watching a weekly program on her local PBS television station. In high school, she acquired a 12-string guitar, which was her instrument of choice until the mid-1980s. It was at that time she discovered the incredible two-handed guitar playing techniques of the late Michael Hedges and switched back to the 6 string guitar. Barton began exploring the world of alternate tunings and began composing and performing instrumental songs. The River is comprised of six of Barton’s original compositions and three cover tunes including Little Martha (Duane Allman), Ritual Dance (Michael Hedges), and Spanish Flang Dang (Elizabeth Cotten). Stylistically, this recording is as diverse as the artist herself. Songs flow from traditional finger-style into two-handed “new age” melodies, then get ramped up with some seriously percussive, hard driving, jazz flavored pieces. This CD will surely bring Barton into the light as an extraordinary and diverse guitarist.