Acoustic Guitarist #1: Phil Keaggy's "County Down"
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Maybe no Christian musician is more respected for instrumental prowess than Phil Keaggy. The legend goes that Eddie Van Halen himself, when once asked what it feels like to be the best guitarist in the world, responded by saying, "I don't know, you'll have to ask Phil Keaggy."
I sincerely doubt that story's true. I've heard it with other names substituted many times, so I guess my point is more that Phil is considered good enough to be put in that story, even if his name wasn't in it originally. Either way, Phil's playing demands respect. I have a couple albums by him, and on some of them he's all electric, with a band behind him. I find those to be quite boring. But other albums are instrumental and all-acoustic, and those albums, when you can find them, are outstanding.
This song is taken from the early 90s album Beyond Nature. It was one of my favorites, but I never had a CD copy and sadly lost my cassette years ago. I'm sure I could find one on ebay now, but haven't got around to it yet. I saw him perform this song live several times and it was always amazing
(I apologize--this video has a slight sync problem, but it's the best one I could find)
Incidentally, his live performances were ALWAYS amazing. I never saw him play with anyone else except once, and that was a special due with Michael Card. Otherwise it'd be him, his guitar, and a loop delay. He'd start laying down loops just layer after layer and they would start building up. Then, he'd put the guitar up to his mouth and start to sing. Phil didn't have a normal pick-up in his guitar, he just plugged a microphone in. So any audio noise he made would be looped in. Whole songs, complete with backing vocals, drums (courtesy of banging rhythms out on his guitar) and dozens of guitar parts would eventually arise out of one man and one guitar.
and the fact that, as a young boy, he lost a finger, so he did all this with only nine, even makes it more amazing to me.
This song lacks all that intensity and bravado, but it is heart-breakingly beautiful.
Locating MOG account...
Comments (8)
He has CD's that are only sold at hyis concerts and presentations. I've heard one of them, and it is amazing stuff that goes well beyond what the record label promotes.
Great post.
And it all looks so damn easy!
I like this Chuck.... definitely going to track down more.
cool! If you can track down Beyon Nature, trust me--it is well worth it.
I saw him when he first came out in the group Glass Harp in the early 70's. He was incredible then. great to see a midwestern boy make good doing his own thing.
Here ya go Chuck ... if you want anyways
cpeterson--I've only heard a slight bit of the Glass Harp stuff, but I like what I heard.
Nick, you are awesome! And I'm sure it wasn't hard to find, either. Just goes to show how lazy I can be!
pretty damn good player, very good and thanks for sharing