Bo’ Weavil Recordings

UK guitarist C Joynes is one of the most underrated figures to emerge from the new school of Takoma style finger picking. But the wholly unique way by which he approaches the intricacy of his instrument on his third release on Bo’ Weavil should definitely have admirers of such modern figures as James Blackshaw and the late, great Jack Rose talking about him as we move rapidly into 2012 while expanding his own creative palate as a musician. Congo finds Joynes utilizing a host of instruments donated to him by friends, rescued from the recycling bin and invented from the comfort of his own home to deliver a 12-track collection of dark, improvised arrangements. And by allowing this cache of strange devices to sing out in all of this “as-is” glory, he conjures a middle passage between the electrified worldliness of Sir Richard Bishop and the melodic ragtime variations of John Fahey at his most ear friendly. Congo is a wild and unruly guitar clinic as unpredictable as the African region from which it is named.