A double bill of one of America’s finest solo guitarists Chuck Johnson, and Red River Dialect.

Chuck Johnson is a composer and musician who approaches his work with an ear towards finding faults and instabilities that might reveal latent beauty, with a focus on guitar, experimental electronics, and Kosmische Americana. Recordings of his work have been published by Three Lobed, Merge, Trouble in Mind, Strange Attractors Audio House, Communion, and Amish, among others. Between 2011 and 2015 Johnson released a triptych of solo acoustic guitar LP’s – “A Struggle Not A Thought,” “Crows in the Basilica,” and “Blood Moon Boulder” that have become touchstones of post-Takoma solo guitar. His work has been acclaimed for a compositional style rooted in both a haunting melodic sensibility and a minimalist penchant for pure sonics.

On his new album “Velvet Arc” Johnson returns to territory he explored in bands like Idyll Swords and Spatula, utilizing an expanded lineup of like-minded musicians to augment his captivating guitar stylings including drummer Alex Vittum & bassist Ben Bracken on most tracks.

“On top of some great soundtrack work, Chuck Johnson has spent the last few years carving out his own corner of the solo acoustic guitar landscape. His work culminated in last year’s excellent and way underrated Blood Moon Boulder. Now he follows that up with Velvet Arc, a record that moves Johnson back into full-band mode. Velvet Arc plays like a master class in exploring a variety of guitar traditions” POPMATTERS

“The album’s seven songs offer shimmering electric guitar blending with gorgeous pedal steel and folky fiddles fading into mesmerizing minimalist pulses, backed up by a sturdy rhythm section… An album that just gets deeper the more you spin it” AQUARIUM DRUNKARD

NPR said that Red River Dialect’s 2015 LP Tender Gold and Gentle Blue ‘conjures that moment when British bands like Fairport Convention were just starting to play with the naturally psychedelic textures of their homeland’s traditional folk music’. Uncut magazine’s 8/10 review described this ‘set of acoustica driven by strummed and picked guitars shot through with cello and piano’ as ‘Brave and different.’ The band have shared bills with Steve Gunn, Six Organs of Admittance, Hiss Golden Messenger, William Tyler, Michael Chapman, Arbouretum and The Black Twig Pickers. This show will be the band’s first London show in almost a year, and they will be playing new material and old material in new shapes.

http://redriverdialect.bandcamp.com/album/tender-gold-and-gentle-blue