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I'll tell you, it's not easy to get on stage in Nashville and impress the crowd with what a hot guitar player you are. I've seen quite a few try.
But I well remember a night some months back when an Aussie guitarist named Geoff Achison took the stage with a gold top Les Paul and turned the club right on its ear. It was a Tuesday night, at Billy Block's Western Beat Roots Revival. It's an unusual setting for a world class Blues Rocker to show up, so when he started rockin the joint with nothing but an Orange amp and the bone tone comin outta his hands, people shut the hell up, all right. He reminded me of Jeff Beck that night, such control and authority. No pedals, nothing.
He's famous in Australia, has half a dozen records out. He's also a friendly, good looking cat, he could really make a global bid as a guitar hero. This record might be a little light in terms of great songs, but his others may not be, it's the only one I've heard. But the guitar playing is undeniable, he's smokin up the joint. I did really like "Don't Play Guitar Boy," one of several great acoustic showpieces that warns that "That guitar that you play might wind up the spade that digs your grave."
He's a Gibson sponsored artist, and won the coveted Albert King Award. Geoff is also a featured instructor four years running at Jorma Kaukonen's Fur Peace Guitar Ranch. Although he has bands at home and in the UK, The Souldiggers on this particular disc are his excellent ensemble from Portland: Don Schultz on drums, Timmer Blakely on bass, and Alex Shakeri on keyboards and harmonica.
In Guitar World, Geoff Achison has what it takes for superstardom. He's all the way there, and he's working it. See for yourself on our Listen page, and pay a visit to the artist's website. • FG
