There’s a world of guitar music pulsating brilliantly just beneath the surface of today’s most popular rock and folk tunes. It’s a place where original sounds and players from decades ago still sound as fresh and of the moment as a brash instrumentalist seeking to claim their voice today. That’s the zone where San Francisco-based label Tompkins Square Records often lives in and what brought label owner Josh Rosenthal to “re-discover” two American primitive guitar masters, Harry Taussig and Max Ochs, back in 2005.
Since that time, Tompkins Square Records has released new recordings from both artists. So it only seems fitting that on the 50th anniversary of the seminal Takoma Records sampler LP, Contemporary Guitar — Spring ’67, which also featured John Fahey, Robbie Basho, and Bukka White, the label is celebrating Taussig and Ochs with a new album.
The record, The Music of Harry Taussig & Max Ochs, which comes out today, also features new material and will be followed by a West Coast tour where the pair will meet for the very first time to perform in concert. The May 28 show in Berkeley also includes Tompkins Square recording artist Richard Osborn, a student of the late Robbie Basho. The album will be available on LP as a limited edition run of 500 copies. You can preview the song “Into The Veil of Years” by Harry Taussig below and see the reunion live in your neck of the woods over the coming days.
Upcoming shows with Harry Taussig and Max Ochs:
Harry Taussig, Max Ochs
Down Home Music Store, El Cerrito
May 28, 2017
2pm, FREE
Harry Taussig, Max Ochs, Richard Osborn
The Back Room
May 28, 2017
8pm, $15
Harry Taussig, Max Ochs
The Lost Church
May 30, 2017
8pm, $10
