Programs

Bennett Harris Horowitz presents a lively cross section of traditional American blues guitar music and songs. Bennett sings, fingerpicks, plays harmonica and slide guitar style on vintage 1930s instruments. Most of his pre-WWII repertoire is drawn from down south, including tunes popularized by Robert Johnson, Bessie Smith, Blind Blake, as well as a handful of original songs. In addition to an old Gibson, Bennett also employs a 1934 National Steel Resonator Guitar for slide tunes, using a brass slide for the authentic Mississippi delta drawl which that guitar imparts. Much of the fingerpicking is rendered in a ragtime-blues style which derives from the renowned guitarist Rev. Gary Davis; Bennett was tutored in this method by Ian Buchanan, a protégé of Davis. The tunes cover a range of human emotions: they are playful, poignant, humorous. Bennett’s performance is engaging and his technique is masterful.