Martin Simpson

Since appearing at the festival in 1996, Martin Simpson has garnered more accolades-the most significant being the selection of Cool & Unusual for the Number 10 slot on Folk Roots list of top albums of '97. Regardless of who finished where, Simpson is continuing his mission to provide a new perspective on the origins of a variety of types of folk music. "For years people would tell me, 'You should make up your mind what you want to play; you can't play all these kinds of music,'" he says. "The whole idea for this album was to explore the relationship between English, Irish, Scottish and African-American music, because where those all come together is the essence of American traditional, old-timey music." Given his well-documented guitar virtuosity, Simpson has the ability and the breadth of experience to shed a special kind of light on what has become so broadly-termed "folk music."

  -- SA