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Plein Aire

When roots blues acoustic guitarist Joshua Blatchley plays shows around town, he usually leaves his acoustic at home, stuffs some picks in his pockets, and borrows an electric guitar and amp from a friend.

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Once onstage, Blatchley’s electric gigs are much different than the “pre-war” finger-picked acoustic songs he plays on his EPs and home recordings.

“The electric thing is totally improvisational,” wrote Blatchley in an email. “In fact, I don’t actually own an electric guitar. If I want to do an electric set, I just borrow stuff and see what happens, call it ‘plein aire.’ The electric thing is different each time; usually it’s one tune or note that sustains for a while.”

But after recording a solo instrumental guitar album last December with Pall Jenkins (Black Heart, Three Mile Pilot, Mr. Tube) at Jenkins’s studio, Stereo Disguise Recording Laboratory, Blatchley decided to ditch the electric shows and go back to acoustic sets to gear up for the album’s release and coinciding tour this coming May.

For Blatchley, whether he plays acoustic or electric sets, his live performances always have an improvisational, unscripted quality to them that keeps it interesting — for the audience and himself. “I don’t want my music to come across as too rigid. I know where [the songs] start and what should be in them, but there is no real structure. I like to actively participate in the composition while I’m playing, that way I’m more invested in the performance. Ultimately, I’d like the audience to feel like friends watching me play at home, and I get bored easily if I make them too rigid.”

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When roots blues acoustic guitarist Joshua Blatchley plays shows around town, he usually leaves his acoustic at home, stuffs some picks in his pockets, and borrows an electric guitar and amp from a friend.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Once onstage, Blatchley’s electric gigs are much different than the “pre-war” finger-picked acoustic songs he plays on his EPs and home recordings.

“The electric thing is totally improvisational,” wrote Blatchley in an email. “In fact, I don’t actually own an electric guitar. If I want to do an electric set, I just borrow stuff and see what happens, call it ‘plein aire.’ The electric thing is different each time; usually it’s one tune or note that sustains for a while.”

But after recording a solo instrumental guitar album last December with Pall Jenkins (Black Heart, Three Mile Pilot, Mr. Tube) at Jenkins’s studio, Stereo Disguise Recording Laboratory, Blatchley decided to ditch the electric shows and go back to acoustic sets to gear up for the album’s release and coinciding tour this coming May.

For Blatchley, whether he plays acoustic or electric sets, his live performances always have an improvisational, unscripted quality to them that keeps it interesting — for the audience and himself. “I don’t want my music to come across as too rigid. I know where [the songs] start and what should be in them, but there is no real structure. I like to actively participate in the composition while I’m playing, that way I’m more invested in the performance. Ultimately, I’d like the audience to feel like friends watching me play at home, and I get bored easily if I make them too rigid.”

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The latest copy of the Reader

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Jazz guitarist Alex Ciavarelli pays tribute to pianist Oscar Peterson

“I had to extract the elements that spoke to me and realize them on my instrument”
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4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
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