Posted on July 5, 2021
Not The First Time: Previously Unreleased and Rare Recordings, 1977-1989
Fulica Records is pleased to announce a new release of archival recordings by fingerstyle guitarist Duck Baker. Not The First Time gives a fuller picture of Baker’s development during a period that has been poorly documented, but more importantly, it includes unreleased recordings that rank among Baker’s best performances on record. Among the five titles that Baker never recorded elsewhere are two recently unearthed swing tunes from his early association with Kicking Mule Records, as well as a striking arrangement of “The Minstrel Boy” that recasts this patriotic song as an antiwar anthem, and a piece dedicated to Baker’s friend John Renbourn, which bridges the gap between Renbourn’s “folk baroque” style and modal jazz. There are also definitive remakes of several of Baker’s notable successes from the ’70s (“Plymouth Rock”, “Allegheny County”, “Southern Cross”) as well as solo versions of tunes later released in duo or trio settings (“Lefty and Me”, “Waltz on Sunday”), and a fascinating duo with Italian maestro Peppino D’Agostino. The music on this collection is drawn from recordings made in seven studios in four different countries over a span of a dozen years, but it paints a coherent picture of Duck Baker’s development from a hotshot young fingerpicker to an polished master who, along with a handful of contemporaries like Woody Mann, Tim Sparks, and Eric Lugosch, were aiming to elevate American fingerstyle guitar music towards a more serious level.
For a track listing more information about Not The First Time, click here
Not The First Time is now available as a digital release, and the release date for CD copies is July 12th, 2021. To order the digital release click here, or to preorder the CD, click here
Please also note that Duck Baker has transcribed all the basic arrangements for the 16 solos, and even some of the improvisations, all available in a 50-page PDF file that can be ordered either with the MP3 download or CD of the record, or on its own. These options are seen on the pages linked above.