Ed Gerhard
There and Gone
Virtue Records
Producer: Ed Gerhard
Score: 10 out of 10
Gerhard is a Grammy-winner who has always been respected by musicians as a guitarist’s guitarist. On this, his ninth album in nearly 30 years, he secures that storied reputation with a cache of charming acoustic-based instrumental gems. This is ideally a headphone disc, as his nuanced string bends and tasteful chord passages envelope one’s ears with a velvet touch. The song selection is a hefty mix of originals and nods to influences such as Hank Williams, Leo Kottke and the Beatles. Over his illustrious career the guitar master has run the gamut from trad blues and country to new age, folk, classic pop and jazz. He draws from that bountiful well here and the evidence finds a man at one with his instrument. –Eric A. Harabadian
