My new album released on May 20th 2021 featuring 12 solo acoustic fingerstyle tracks available now on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and many other streaming platforms across the globe.
For a limited time download the album at Bandcamp and receive a free 85 page pdf book of guitar tabs for all 12 tracks.
To purchase a physical CD click HERE
“Beautiful, deep, and soulful, The Boatman is a winner on every level.”
– Blair Jackson (Acoustic Guitar Magazine Nov/Dec 21)
“If there can be such a thing as the perfect solo fingerstyle guitar album, The Boatman is surely a candidate.”
– David Pedrick (Minor7th.com)
“The Boatman is a fingerstyle guitar masterpiece.”
– Jess Chuzik (The Ark of Music)
“That is wonderful! Your performance sounds amazing good!!! I like your guitar version very much.”
– Michael Korb (co-writer of Highland Cathedral)
“You made a lovely version and I really like your sound and playing.”
– Roger Tallroth (composer of Josefin’s Dopvals)
“A work of effortless Celtic Magic. This truly solo album marks Gibb out as a world class finger style player.
An absolute must for your collection. Listen to Gibb and be inspired, his examples here are truly exemplary”
– Seán Laffey (Irish Music Magazine)
About the Music…
River Falls (Steve Gibb) (Tuning: DADGAD)
River Falls is a picturesque city in Wisconsin, USA which I visited while on a national tour with the musical, BUDDY -The Buddy Holly Story. The tune had been floating around in my head for some time and I happened to finish it at River Falls hence the name. It was probably the first tune I wrote after relocating to the US.
Princeton Lament (Steve Gibb) (Tuning: DADGAD)
A few years ago I was asked to play guitar on the show ‘A Night with Janis Joplin’ which was being produced at The MacArthur Theater in Princeton, NJ. The show was a lot of fun but more importantly for me personally it was the first live performances I had done in several months after recovering from a back injury (I do seem to be accident prone as you will see if you read on!). It is about an hour’s drive each way to the theatre and this tune was written during those drives.
3 Irish Jigs (Trad. Irish / Gibb / Trad. Irish) (Tuning: DADGAD)
This set comprises 3 jigs – The Frieze Breeches, Totes Adorbs and Morgan Rattler. The first and third jigs I found in “O’Neill’s Music of Ireland”. ‘Totes Adorbs’ is one of my original tunes as I needed a Jig in G to compliment the other two which are in D mixolydian and D Major respectively. I didn’t have a title but my then 8 year old daughter said I could use her newly discovered phrase, ‘Totes Adorbs’!
Elegy for a Rainbow (Steve Gibb) (Tuning: DADGAD)
I was half way through working on this album when I received the very sad news that Timothy Walker, my classical guitar teacher from the Royal Academy of Music, had passed away after a short illness. In addition to being a great teacher he was a mentor and a friend. He was also a very colourful personality and had something of an obsession with rainbows. The inside of his flat in London was decorated in thick multi-coloured stripes and even his son’s middle name is ‘Rainbow’!
The guitar is capable of producing a variety of sounds (colours) and during lessons we would get into many a conversation about exploring the tonal possibilities of the instrument to enhance a performance. This piece uses a classical guitar tremolo technique to play the melody and I thought I would try it on a steel string acoustic guitar! I think it works rather well. If you have difficulty with tremolo the piece works fine as a single note melody.
Invisibility (Laurie Z.) (Tuning: DADGAD)
I write a lot of production music for TV & film etc and it was while doing some of that that I was contacted by Janet Cucinotti at Worldsound Productions who sent me some music by her client and friend, Laurie Z. Laurie was a wonderful pianist who recorded a few CD’s before sadly passing away far too early. Invisibility was a track which struck me as being a good fit for the guitar and after playing around with it for a while I discovered it worked quite nicely in DADGAD tuning. This may give it a kind of Celtic vibe but Laurie’s voice still shines through.
Fear a’ Bhata (Trad. Scots arr. Gibb) (Tuning: CGDGCD)
Gaelic for ‘The Boatman’ – This well known old Scottish Gaelic song was the very first tune I ever made an arrangement of for a chamber group in secondary school back in Inverness many moons ago. I was very young when I first heard it and the haunting melody has always stuck with me. I have played it many times in as many different versions over the years and my first solo guitar version was for classical guitar. Playing around with it again recently I tried out different tunings before settling on CGDGCD which offered new arranging possibilities.
The original song was written around the end of the 18th Century by Sìne NicFhionnlaigh of Tong and speaks of her love for a local fisherman who didn’t have the best of reputations it seems. However, apparently the two were eventually married so perhaps he mended his ways!
Josefins Dopvals (Roger Tallroth) (Tuning: CGDGCD)
This wonderful tune was written by the Swedish guitarist Roger Tallroth and recorded by his group Väsen. I was introduced to their music by a fiddler colleague of mine and was immediately taken by their unique combination of 12-string guitar, 5-string viola and nyckelharpa. Their repertoire comprises many original tunes alongside traditional Swedish folk melodies and even a few Celtic tunes. Roger has developed his own unique style using a 12-string guitar tuned ADADAD with special string gauges. This tune is dedicated to his niece.
Eileen Aroon (Trad. Irish arr. Gibb) (Tuning: DADGAD)
Literally meaning ‘Eileen, My Darling’, I found this tune in ‘The Dow Collection of Scottish Dance Music’. It is a very simple melody which lends itself to some nice chord changes. Now, when undertaking research into the origins of traditional tunes it is common to come across spelling differences or the same name but entirely different tune! This one was no different. In The Gow Collection it is called ‘Allen A Roon’ and I assumed it to be an old Scottish Dance tune of sorts. However, after further investigation I discovered it has its roots in Ireland and was called ‘Eileen Aroon’… or “Ailen A Roon’… or ‘Eibhlin a Ruin’… and so on. To make things even more interesting, there are several variants of the tune. See, back in the 18th century a number of folks ran about collecting fiddle tunes from various sources which they would publish in large volumes. So you have collections by the likes of William Marshall, Angus Fraser and Niel Gow etc. This does mean that today there is a rich bounty of music from which we humble musicians can plunder but often you will find different versions of the same tune. The origins of this tune possibly date back as far as the 15th century and the story is about Eilleen Kavanagh of Polmonty Castle, Co. Carlow, who on the eve of her betrothal to her intended, eloped with her other lover! Racy stuff.
Highland Cathedral (Uli Roever / Michael Korb) (Tuning: DAEEAE)
This great tune has been a staple for bagpipers the world over and I have long wanted to arrange it for solo guitar. While taking a short break from writing another tune which happened to be in DAEEAE tuning I began playing around with Highland Cathedral and discovered to my delight it fitted very well. The piece was originally written for a German Highland games back in 1982. Michael Korb had studied bagpipes with a Scottish pipe major while the latter was stationed in Germany and Korb would later would travel to Scotland to continue with his studies. Michael has a website dedicated to his famous tune www.highlandcathedral.com
Mackenzie’s Eyes (Steve Gibb) (Tuning: DADGAD)
Easily the best moment in my life was the birth of my daughter, Mackenzie. I have dedicated a few tunes to her over the years but this was the first one I wrote for her some 6 months after her birth. Rather than the usual ‘lullabies’ this piece is more about the excitement, joy and wonder of seeing the world through her eyes.
Oh Onochie O (Trad. Scots arr. Gibb) (Tuning: CGCGCD)
This lovely old Scots air is attributed to James Oswald and was published around 1740 in his ‘Curious Collection of Scots Tunes’. It is another old ‘trad’ tune which is difficult to find much information about. The melody was paired with the song ‘The Border Widow’s Lament’. I made this arrangement for the ‘Pipes of Christmas’ concert held annually in NJ & NYC.
Rachel Rae / The Bride’s Reel (Trad. Scots arr. Gibb) (Tuning: DADGAD)
As a serious student of classical guitar, I was often playing very difficult and complicated music by Bach, Maxwell Davies and Berio etc. and while I was very aware of and indeed was a fan of groups like Silly Wizard, Ossian and Pentangle, I hadn’t really heard that much solo Celtic guitar music so it wasn’t really on my radar. This changed on a visit back home to Inverness, Scotland, (where I come from) during a break from my studies. I wandered into my local music shop called ‘Record Rendevouz’ (sadly no longer in existence) and started browsing through their LP’s and CD’s. Suddenly over the shop speakers came some wonderful songs and solo guitar playing. I asked the guy at the till who it was and he said it was Tony Cuffe. I bought the disc and went to another music store in town to buy some Scottish fiddle sheet music. On returning to London to continue with my classical studies I began to arrange some tunes for classical guitar which I would play in concerts. As I eventually started playing more acoustic guitar in altered tunings I realized I could do a passable Tony Cuffe impression! It was quite a coincidence when I discovered Tony had also recorded a wonderful version of Rachel Rae which differed somewhat from my ‘classical version’. The version on this album is very much based on Tony’s and I wanted to record it as a tribute to him. I have paired it with the more sprightly Bride’s Reel which increases in speed as you go on. Turns out it makes a great left hand slur (hammer-ons and pull-offs) study. Now I recorded this set of tunes after recovering from a wrist fracture I sustained on Xmas day 2020. After 2 months of intense hand therapy my wrist is better than ever. See? told you I was accident prone.
Guitars used on this recording:
All but one track on this album was recorded on my 2012 Matthew Mustapick Arena Custom. This amazing instrument was hand crafted by Matt to my specifications and is a joy to play. Highland Cathedral was recorded on my Journey Instruments FF412C which is unique in itself as it can come apart! Click HERE for photos.