Jack Rose

An inventive and self-taught player on acoustic six-string, 12-string, and lap steel guitar, Jack Rose was considered part of the so-called Takoma revivalist movement that echoes the often Eastern-tinged acoustic guitar experiments of <a href="spotify:artist:4js8BDiQwnHLlDmT1shPH7">John Fahey</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:1bB0hKohfWkczaTMQLQdlR">Robbie Basho</a>, and others, although Rose got his start as a musician in an entirely different direction, first as a rock and punk-inspired electric guitarist in the Richmond, VA, drone trio <a href="spotify:artist:1smNHOqVA2rin6rBV9KKFw">Pelt</a>. <a href="spotify:artist:1smNHOqVA2rin6rBV9KKFw">Pelt</a> released a series of albums beginning in 1995, but while officially remaining a member of the band, Rose began a solo career as an acoustic guitarist with Hung Far Low (a self-released CD-R) in 2001, following it with Red Horse, White Mule on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Eclipse+Records%22">Eclipse Records</a> that same year; Dr. Ragtime (another CD-R issue) and Opium Musick (on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Eclipse%22">Eclipse</a>) in 2002; Raag Manifestos (the LP appeared from <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Eclipse%22">Eclipse</a> with the CD assigned to <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22VHF+Records%22">VHF Records</a>) in 2004; Kensington Blues (<a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Eclipse%22">Eclipse</a>/<a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22VHF%22">VHF</a>) in 2005; and Heraldic Beasts, the live Skullfuck/Bestio Tergum Degero, and Jack Rose & the Black Twig Pickers (all on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Eclipse%22">Eclipse</a>) in 2006. <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Beautiful+Happiness%22">Beautiful Happiness</a> reissued Red Horse, White Mule and Opium Musick together as Two Originals Of in 2004 and paired Dr. Ragtime & Pals and Jack Rose & the Black Twig Pickers -- the first two parts of what he humorously referred to as his "Ditch Trilogy" -- for another combined reissue in 2008. Rose's burgeoning career was cut short when died on Friday, December 4, 2009, of a heart attack. He was 38 years old. In February 2010, the last part of that trilogy, Luck in the Valley, was released by <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Thrill+Jockey%22">Thrill Jockey</a>. Scant weeks later, <a href="spotify:artist:1J4ACYB6yMqd79q3rjskqs">Thurston Moore</a> of <a href="spotify:artist:5UqTO8smerMvxHYA5xsXb6">Sonic Youth</a> released a Rose tribute album, 12 String Meditations for Jack Rose. ~ Steve Leggett, Rovi