It’s a familiar story, in some ways, of boy-meets-
instrument. A young man sits in his room,
practicing guitar. His parents are gone for the
day, so nobody reminds him to stop what he’s doing
and eat. “Before I knew it in those days, 12 or
16 hours had gone by,” says Josh Buskirk. “I’m
sure my parents thought I’d lost my mind.” The
slight, quiet and sometimes self-effacing Buskirk
is the kind of guy who grabs your attention with
his playing, not his manner. Spend any amount of
time with the 25-year-old resident of Parkersburg
and it becomes clear that his instrument is his
life. “They say there are two types of musicians,
”he said. “There are those that like music, and
there’s people like me who are less cool about it
and love their instrument. I love the guitar.”
Sparkle and structure are two words that come to
mind when hearing some of Buskirk’s original
work from his debut CD “It Always Rains on Sunday.”
Engaging melodic ideas combine with the distinctive
twangy propulsion of the 12-string guitar on tracks
like “A Thing” and “Waltz?” The disc features nine
other original tunes, including “L.T.D.,” a piece
that Buskirk says is the first music he ever heard
in his head. “Everybody has a beat, and that tune
is mine,” he said. “I carried that idea in my head
for as long as I can remember. One day, it finally
made its way out to the guitar.”
-Laura Harbert Allen
Allen is the music director for West Virginia Public
Broadcasting, where she hosts and produces
“Music in the Afternoon” and “In Touch with the Arts.”
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