Buster B. Jones: “LE MACHINE GUN”

Buster B. Jones: Le Machine Gun

You need to watch this whole video because

it’s probably one of the most impressive displays of fingerpicking that you will ever see.

Is he as good as his mentors Merle Travis, Chet Atkins, Jerry Reed?

Well, you be the judge.

Buster has incorporated all of their styles into his-  the result is a hybrid style that additionally features much faster melodic runs and riffs than his mentors.

He says that the speed thing happened for two reasons: being hyper, and a cheap record player spinning too fast. He would listen to  Merle, Chet and Jerry thinking, that’s how fast they played.

But if you watch the whole video which also features a bunch of interesting talk, you will see that he can also play very pretty slower tempo songs.

Write up from YouTube:

“Buster B. Jones is one of the finest players we’ve heard in years… His technique is only a means to an end. His true gifts are his melodic sense, innate musicianship, unfailing human, and brilliant improvisational powers. He can drive a tune with fluid rhythmic force or stroke it with sensuous, loving touch.” — Guitar Player Magazine
In 1988, Brad Jones entered Guitar Player Magazine’s International Guitar Competition with his own composition Back Porch Boogie and a rendition of Limehouse Blues. He entered on a whim, at the last minute, using a $1.50 K-Mart cassette tape and a boom box. There were almost 900 entries, and he won on the first ballot. In 1990, he won the National Fingerpicking Championship at Winfield, Kansas. In the last years he has performed with Chet Atkins, Tommy Jones, Marcel Dadi, Thom Bresh and John Knowles. He is a regular at the annual conventions in Nashville and France of the Chet Atkins Appreciation Society. In France they have dubbed him LE MACHINE GUN.” see more