By Eric Kwiatkowski

"Who's that Guitarist?," I instantly asked upon hearing a worn tape at a friend's house more years ago than I care to proverbially remember (alright - it was the early '70s!). "Oh, I don't know... just some Guitarist..." said my banjoist friend, vaguely and (I think!) jokingly. So it was that Dan Crary entered my musical life, to inspire and amaze over the years. I looked forward with relish to the Taylor Guitars promotion to be put on by Sheehan's Music of Leicester. Heeding a friend's advice to arrive at the venue early, we managed to get good seats at this tiny pub. I was delighted to hear the Monroe Brothers' Long Journey Home, which is a long-time favourite of mine. Beppe played a very catchy muted crosspicking accompaniment throughout this number, on a DADGAD-tuned guitar (if I remember correctly). The 'brother duet' theme was echoed later with the Delmore Brothers' Nashville Blues, with a nod to the original in the opening guitar solo, before being given the Crary-Gambetta treatment. It was nice to hear Jimmy Brown the Newsboy performed with some nice Carter-based picking. This formed the basis of some childhood reminiscences bv Dan - for example his entertaining recollection of sneaking downstairs "while America was bathed in moonlight" to listen to country music at low volume on the radio. Similarly only being able to record the last third of a song because the recorder valves were so long in warming up.

Dan played his original Taylor Signature-model guitar, while Beppe played a smaller bodied cutaway. This gave a very effective contrast in sounds; Dan's rounded, mellow, powerful tone combined with the drier, 'snappier' sound of Beppe's guitar made a perfect match for a guitar duo.

Later in the evening, Beppe announced a number entirely in Italian. Expectant audience - what could this be? Roll in My Sweet Babv's Arms! New life was injected into this old warhorse. And just when you thought they were improvising, bang! In came some knockout harmonised runs. Beppe sang on this one, in Enalish; his voice reminds me very much of Roland or Clarence White. I enjoyed hearing some of Dan's numbers of of years gone by - the evergreen Huckleberry Hornpipe, Ain't No California, mixed with newer material such as Thunderation and the delightful Spanish-influenced Banderilla. Black Mountain Rag was introduced as setting new boundaries in lack of taste. This was basically a tongue-in-cheek, accelerating, speed picking 'work out'.

Well, I can't even play this one at the speed they began, so I must play it very tastefully! I hadn't heard much of Beppe's playing before this evening; I was floored by his playing on an Italian Mazurka called L'Iride. There were stunning cascading plectral triplets, and above all melodic - the effect was similar to that of Django Reinhardt or Fapy Lafertin playing 'Gipsy Jazz' style waltzes. Needless to say, all the noise form the bar was stopped by this duo's playing after about two numbers into the evening - a sure sign of the impact they were making. Their CD Synérgia contains most of the songs they played in this live performance, so if you want to know what they sound like together, buy immediately; I can recommend it without reservation!

Eric Kwiatkowski, Nottingham.

18th June 2002