Geoff Achison & The Souldiggers
2008-08-02
Bethlehem, PA, USA
Musikfest: Banana Island

Zoom H-2 (internal mics) -> WAV -> Audacity (normalization, track splits) -> FLAC -> DAD

d1t01
d1t02 Apparatus
d1t03 Tell Me Something I Don't Know
d1t04 Crazy Horse
d1t05 Living In Fear
d1t06 Never Givin' Up
d1t07
d1t08 Jungle

d2t01
d2t02 Whipping Post
d2t03 Rule The World
d2t04 Sugar Sweet
d2t05 Be Careful What You Wish For
d2t06 Walking Blues
d2t07 Carrie Lou


Geoff Achison - Guitar / Vocals
Chris Pagano - Drums
Evan Wagner - Bass

Geoff may be the most unique guitarist I have ever heard. He started out doing some remarkable things on acoustic guitar, a bit like Michael Hedges, and then continued these crazy techniques on electric as well. I can remember seeing the following things: detuning the instrument while playing it, lots of harmonics, slapping and tapping, pushing down on the strings behind the nut, varying picking from right beside the bridge to over the fretboard, and picking while simultaneously and continuously adjusting the volume and tone knobs on his guitar. Apparently he came up with these techniques while trying to imitate sounds heard on records but without knowledge of effects. Some may say that his playing depends too much on gimmicks, but I found it all quite musical and entertaining.

It seems that Achison is old-school, and "The Souldiggers" consists of whatever session musicians he has hired to back him in the region where he is currently playing. In this case, he had previously played with Chris and Evan a few times 6 months earlier, but then did this gig after a brief rehearsal that afternoon. Given that, the two were consumate professionals. They kept firmly in the pocket through a set of unusual and challenging material that was practically unknown to them. At times, you can even hear Geoff yelling out the next chord to them as he is apparently improvising an ending. Unfortunately, the bass was mixed rather low.

The first two songs of the first set and the first song of the second set are solo acoustic, and may actually be the most interesting part of the show. The first track cuts in close to the beginning of the first song played. The bass is too low in the mix to be heard very well. Many of the songs start with very faint guitar playing, so it may not be clear that it has been tracked properly. At the end the recording cuts out in the middle of the second-to-last song. I remember turning off the recorder normally after the show, so I am not sure what happened.