The Guitar Tree has been a long journey in the making. So to understand the scope of that journey and all the re-growth from 1993 to 2005, let me start at the beginning.
I started playing acoustic music in 1993 when I jumped from the heavy metal / rock band Mata Hari to the acoustic/ classical duo Watson & Company. It may seem like quite a shift but I had a couple of things in my favor. First, I have a Bachelor’s Degree in music. As part of that degree, I studied and practiced all forms of music and guitar playing. Those included not only rock and jazz, but also classical. So I had the technical skills to make the jump. Secondly is my love of music as an art form to express emotions. When you play rock, you express certain emotions. When you play classical or jazz, you express other emotions. Mostly it is getting in touch with those emotions and having the technical skill to evoke them.
So upon joining Watson & Company, I started exploring this whole new realm of music and emotions. Watson & Company was a guitar and violin duo that did a combination of classical and acoustic music. If you happen to have some of my other music, then you will be familiar with my classical side. The classical side of Watson & company is where I started that exploration (you can find out about all my classical recordings at www.darrencurtisskanson.com). This particular collection of music, however, is from the other side, the acoustic side. It contains material that I did with Watson the violinist as well as material that I wrote later.
In 1995, I left the duo. At that time, we had recorded one CD together, Catharsis Infinity, so I eagerly set out to do my own solo work. As I said, I had 2 separate styles that I was exploring with Watson: one classical and one acoustic. The first CD I did was the original all acoustic “The Guitar Tree” followed very closely by its classical sister, “Peace, Earth, and Guitars” followed later that year by a rough collection called “The Guitar Tree 2.” I did not even release a CD version of “The Guitar Tree Volume 2” because by the time I finished it, “Peace, Earth, and Guitars” was doing so well that it took me on a 10-year detour from acoustic as I explored the classical side exclusively. That exploration has yielded 5 all classical CD’s and 2 Christmas discs (check the website).
However, I never abandon the acoustic side entirely. All this time, I have been recording and exploring acoustic stuff, but was never real serious about it. Then in 2004, I decided to pull some of that acoustic stuff out and started thinking about re-doing some of my old pieces that I had done with Watson. As I sifted thru material, I discovered not only rare live recordings that I had done with Watson but that I had enough to release not only one disc, but two with one disc all of my 12 string guitar work and one disc of all 6 string guitar work! So I released a double CD called The Guitar Tree Revisited for sale only at my live shows. If you have one of those, I only made 1000, so hang on to it. Over the last year I have been working on adding string parts to the songs on that release, re-recording the Watson stuff, remixing, sifting thru more older recordings of other pieces and even recording a new song!
So the music on this CD is a combination of 12 years of writing and recording. Some of the pieces are as old as early 1993 and are the ones that I wrote for the violin guitar duo. Some are as new as 2005. Some recordings were done in 1995 some in 2005. Where does the time go?
Anyway, I hope that helps give some background as to where this music comes from. Each song has a little story so read on. If you are a guitarist, check out the guitar and the tuning that each song used as it is eclectic to say the least. But most of all, enjoy the whole as it is an extraordinary set of 12 years of work!
I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to be in touch with comments, critiques, questions, or simply to chat. Thanks for your kindness and support. Darren Curtis Skanson Thanks and Credits:
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