Steve Tibbetts Archives · Page 3 of 8

Chö–Rykodisc Press Release

Chö by Chöying Drolma and Steve Tibbetts

“If the pairing of a guitarist from Wisconsin and a Tibetan expatriate nun seems rather extraordinary, Tibbetts’ narrative makes the encounter seem very predictable, even predestined.”

The Fall of Us All–Atlantic Monthly

“Tibbetts’s guitar-from-beyond-the-solar-system will take you to realms hitherto glimpsed only by the Hubble space telescope and will offer several plausible explanations of dark matter.”

Natural Causes–Downbeat Review

“To call Natural Causes exotic would be to deny the labor of love that went into making it. You might say Steve Tibbetts has, in a sense, redefined the word ‘natural’ for all to hear.”

“…it’s Tibbetts’ resonant 12-string—imbued in phrasing and serpentine linearity by the guitarist’s longstanding Far East interests in general, and the work, here, of Sultan Khan in particular—that’s Natural Causes’ defining voice.” -The Guardian

Natural Causes–ECM Bio

It has been eight years since Steve Tibbetts gave us the fiery electric guitar album “A Man About A Horse” (ECM 1814). Now he returns with a different kind of recording: an album of, primarily, acoustic sounds. The making of “Natural Causes” took place in a period when Tibbetts was reconsidering some fundamental aspects of his art and craft – in parallel with daily studies of Bach, Bartók, and music theory.

Å–Rykodisc / Hannibal Bio

In 1976 I had a job in a record store in St. Paul. One of my co-workers was a guy named Morrey Nellis. He became director of intramural athletics at Macalester College where I used to go for a run every now and then. In 1990 or ’91 he gave me a tape of Hardingfele music saying, “Listen to this.” He got it from his wife who was director of the Hardingfele Society of America.

A Man About A Horse–ECM bio pt. 1

Every piece in this new album is rich in color and landscape. There’s a plot, intention and meaning. Do I want anybody to know the specifics of plot, intention, and meaning? Definitely not.

A Man About A Horse–ECM bio pt. 2

“When someone opened up a guitar case and pulled out a guitar they may as well have been pulling a sword out of a stone. The room was magnetized. This was not lost on me, the smallest and most sports-challenged kid in school.”

First Album–Cuneiform Bio

By late summer of 1976 I had enough music for an album but little chance of getting a label to put it out. I did have something I could use for a cover from my work as an art major and a little money saved from my night shift job at Minnesota Public Radio, so I found a pressing plant in Arizona that would manufacture 200 albums for $600 and I sent them my stuff.

The Fall of Us All–ECM Bio

“Most reviews of Steve Tibbetts’s music describe it in the context of what it’s not; what it is, plain and simple, is Tibbettsian.”