Masterful Musicianship Inspired by Trad Bluegrass
Ricky Mier
Posted On December 8, 2015
The Jon Stickley Trio is an instrumental band that showcases great musicianship through high-level improvisation and tight arrangements. Stickley’s guitar playing on his latest effort, Lost at Last (self-released Oct. 8, 2015) employs world class chops with a taste that makes technical playing accessible to the ear.
As a bluegrass banjo player, what really draws me to music is driving 16th notes, and Stickley is a guitar player who can really drive the groove with those solid 16th notes. That effect gives great rhythmic satisfaction.
By his use of this open strings, G runs, and fluid fiddle tune performance, he’s obviously got a background in trad bluegrass. But by his command of dissonant harmony and complex melody, one can tell he’s fighting the good fight by carving a path for his own sound.
The drummer grooves deep and uses a rhythmic simplicity, which provides a strong platform for the violin and guitar to play on. For my taste, the full drum kit is a little heavy in tone and sometimes takes up too much sonic space, covering up the guitar and violin. The violinist, meanwhile, matches Stickley’s masterful musicianship. She does lots of pizzicato, which adds lots of nice texture to this acoustic group.
Strength In Numbers is a revolutionary group in the acoustic music world and I couldn’t believe when I saw the Jon Stickley Trio covered my favorite track of theirs, “Slopes.” What a treat it is to hear some young hot shots play their interpretation of this timeless acoustic masterpiece.
I can tell by the improvisation that this is a group you have to see live plenty of times before you can really understand the musicianship of these guys. Jon Stickley has what it takes to inspire the next generation of acoustic guitarists and this album is a great place to start exploring this group.
