Album Notes

Hailing from central North Carolina - the home of the piedmont blues, Doctor Oakroot describes his music as "rough-edged songs from a dark place in the soul." Some folks would call it blues, but Oakroot believes that many people have too narrow a definition of blues... and his music is anything but narrow.

"A song should tell a story," says Oakroot, "and the guitar should support that story - not get in the way." And that's how his live music goes - he sings the story over a supporting guitar part... plain and simple.

Now Oakroot was born in a taxi with no brakes and he's been rolling ever since. Is that story true? Oakroot insists that it is... and, born into a musical family, he picked up the ukulele at the age of 3, switched to guitar when he got big enough to hold it and never looked back. In addition to his nylon-string electric/acoustic guitar, he regularly uses both a resophonic guitar and a 12-string Turkish banjo known as a cumbus.

The reason that Oakroot is so enamored of his resophonic guitar and his cumbus - both very loud acoustic instruments - becomes clear when you catch him at his favorite venue... out on the street. Oakroot began his career busking (playing on the street for tips) and still likes to do that from time to time. "I prefer to work close to my audience," he says. "making a personal connection to the people."