Jack Rose - Kensington Blues (2005)

I was just reading a tribute to the recently departed Jack Rose in the most recent Signal To Noise magazine, and there's a touching story about his first encounter with German guitarist Steffen Basho-Junghans. "You have zee gut", remarking that Rose, like himself and John Fahey before them, had that chunky mid-section that shows years and years of devotion to the 6-and-12 string muse. Nobody stays in decent shape from sitting on their ass all day, but they sure can fingerpick some really nice tunes- so in a way the thing that Rose was living for was the thing that may have caused his heart attack at age 38.

This record, Kensington Blues, is named after the section of Philly that Rose called home for many years- if you've ever been then you know the sort of blues a place like that can instill in a man. Rose himself has said of this record that it's going to be the hardest to live up to; he really set the bar high with its eclectic mix of British folk, Indian ragas, ragtime and the blues.

So it's a shame that Jack Rose doesn't get the attention he deserves while he was alive, but here's my tribute to the man. Let's celebrate his life and his music; which probably is still a few years away from the world finally saying, "Holy shit, this man was a genius..."

Jack Rose - Kensington Blues (2005; VHF Records)