gibson sg

Sunny War’s sound is focused and personal but draws on a deep well of eclectic influences. “I don’t understand how some people only listen to specific genres” she says. “Sometimes I just want to hear music from India, and I don’t even know what I am listening to, but it can turn into an obsession and last for months.... Why be limited to anything?”

Photo by Joshua Black Wilkins

The eclectic singer-songwriter showcases her inimitable feel for folk composition and audacious approach to technique, tone, and song selection on her latest full-length release, Anarchist Gospel.

Sunny War cannot resist a great pawnshop find—even if the guitar’s not any good. “There’s always some pawnshop, and you think, ‘That’s an unbelievable deal,’” explains the guitarist and singer-songwriter. “But then the thing is kind of broken, and you think, ‘That’s nothing, that can be fixed.’ But it can’t be fixed, and in the end, you’re just adding to your collection of broken guitars.” Although the point, she stresses, is that each guitar, at least in theory, is a winner. “I’ve got a lot of broken guitars with potential.”

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Michael Gregory Jackson, putting his Superman into it, onstage with his Stratocaster Deluxe.

photo by Jon King

When the lifelong 6-string freedom fighter found himself burdened by the weight of systemic racism in an increasingly hostile climate, he found solace in the healing power of his git boxes—and a new solo album.

During the climax of the final piece of an ensemble concert held at a gallery in New Haven, Connecticut, guitarist Michael Gregory Jackson climbed up a stepladder so tall that an acrophobic would have a heart attack just looking at it. Once high up in the sky, Jackson let loose a bucket of ping-pong balls in the direction of the audience. “Kinetic motion, sonically beautiful, startling, if not shocking,” recalls Jackson, “The concept was to break and disturb the plane and formality—the distance between the performers and the audience. To add a little mayhem and surprise. It also sounded great.”

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(Originally published 4/2/2020)

Got a guitar with a Tune-o-matic-style bridge and three strings on each side of the headstock? Here's a fast, easy video demo of how to get it ready for stable-tuned action.

Sponsored by Strings by Mail.

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