Two weeks ago on December 12th I went to a concert from British guitarist (I hope I don't insult him with this, he's actually from Wales) Gareth Pearson. He’s a recording artist for the record label Candyrat Records on which I posted before here.
Candyrat Records is surely one of the best musical discoveries I did the past two years. Through their YouTube Channel I discovered artist as Andy McKee, which concert I visited last May, Don Ross, Antoine Dufour, Pino Forastiere and many more great guitarists. And a half year ago I also discovered Gareth Pearson, or as the other great Australian guitarist Tommy Emmanuel calls Gareth, “The Welsh Tornado”.
I discovered Gareth Pearson not through CandyRat Records but through a Youtube video from Gareth playing with one of my Dutch guitar heroes Jan Akkerman, the legendary guitarist of the Dutch seventies ProgRock group Focus. In this video they were playing an acoustic instrumental version of Michael Jackson’s “Billy Jean”, an arrangement that Gareth also plays solo. You can check the video here. Image quality is not the best, but sound is okay.
A bit later when I checked out for possible other videos of Gareth I found out that he was also a recording artist for CandyRat Records and that he just had his debut album out, “Urban Echoes Vol. 1”. On this album you’ll find original compositions from Gareth, but also a few of his (instrumental) interpretations of well known classics as Michael Jackson’s “Billy Jean” and “Thriller”, Radiohead’s “Paranoid Android” and Weezer’s “Buddy Holly”. If you’re into acoustic guitar music this album is recommended.
