Featured Olson Artists:
Al Petteway & Amy White
About Al & Amy
Each of them highly gifted musicians individually, Al Petteway and Amy
White together form a duo that could be taken as the prototype for
musical synergism. After meeting and falling in love at a St. Patrick's
Day concert—appropriate for musicians so enamored of the music of the
Emerald Isle—they played increasingly important roles in each other's
musical work both on stage and in the studio. The natural culmination
of their growing personal and musical relationship was their first
entirely collaborative recording, Racing Hearts, released
in 1999 on their independent record label, Fairewood Studios. Reflecting the
breadth of their live performances, the recording is impressively
diverse both in style and instrumentation, including guitar and vocal
work by both artists, and expert and tasteful piano, mandolin, and
percussion performances by Amy. The Washington Post wrote of the
recording, "Petteway's guitar and White's piano twist and climb with a
sharp, deep playfulness through essentially bittersweet territory.... I
felt as if I had been escorted over the hard edge by angels."
It was an impressive debut for the duo, so much so that James Jensen, executive producer for the Solid Air Records "Groovemaster" series of acoustic guitar instrumental CDs, chose Al & Amy as the artists for Volume 3 of the Groovemasters series, Gratitude. (Visit Acoustic Music Resource to learn more about the prestigious Groovemasters series.) Nearly every track on this recording features both artists on guitar (Al moves to bouzouki for one cut), often in different tunings, with an emphasis on groove-based arrangements but still plenty of the melodicism that characterizes their solo efforts and Racing Hearts. This recording recently won the Association for Independent Music (AFIM) Indie Award for the Acoustic Instrumental Category—quite an honor!
Al's and Amy's "Loaner" Olsons
Al Petteway has built a reputation as a guitarist's guitarist through
his critically acclaimed solo recordings, his instructional videos, his live
performances, and his work supporting other musicians, particularly his
colleagues in the Washington, DC area where he and Amy live. He has
played many fine guitars over the years, but there have been some standouts.
He writes, "My favorite guitars are made by Larry Sifel, Jim Olson and
Kevin Ryan. In my opinion, there are no others that even come close.
These instruments inspire me more than any others." Olson guitars in
particular were favored for the duo recordings, which Al describes as
"almost like showcases for Olson guitars."
Amy has similarly strong feelings about Olson guitars. In fact, the title track for the Gratitude recording was inspired by her first encounter with an Olson. The liner notes describe her experience: "David Wilcox and Nance Petit were kind enough to loan us two of their Olson guitars. Amy was moved to tears the first time she played one of these." This Olson-inspired tune closes the duo's Groovemaster's project.
The Olsons used on Al's solo projects and on the two duo recordings have impressive pedigrees. Al's first Olson was the first one that Jim Olson built for singer-songwriter Cheryl Wheeler, whose recordings feature many Petteway performances (Jim later built another guitar for Cheryl with a narrower neck to better suit her hands). This Olson, on an extended loan to Al, is the one pictured on the cover of Gratitude. Al and Amy were also blessed by another extended loan of two Olsons from their singer-songwriter friends David Wilcox and Nance Petit, as already mentioned. It is these instruments that are featured on their duo recordings. On Racing Hearts, the two artists took turns with Wilcox's cedar-top SJ with Brazilian sides and back. On Gratitude, in general, Amy played a Brazilian rosewood SJ with an Adirondack spruce top and rosewood neck, and Al played the cedar/Brazilian SJ.
Of the process of recording the duo projects, Al writes, "The engineers that worked on these two recordings were very impressed with the sound of these guitars. And we were inspired to play at a much higher level by having these guitars in our hands. We can't thank David Wilcox, Nance Petit and James Olson enough for opening our eyes to whole new worlds of music." And we listeners can't thank Al and Amy enough for sharing those worlds with us!
Soundbites
We offer here a few soundbites from each of Al's and Amy's two recordings, in MP3 format. These are high bitrate files (to keep the sound near CD quality); to hear them you'll have to download the files to your hard drive and play them with your favorite MP3 file player. Free and low-cost players are available for all major platforms; we provide some pointers at the beginning of our Soundbites page. The text appearing in quotes below is drawn from the album liner notes; other comments are from the webmaster. Enjoy!
- "Polly Vaughn" (from Racing Hearts; 01:10 - 1.1 MB)
- A traditional tune from the British Isles, this track features Al on Wilcox's
cedar/Brazillian Olson SJ,
and Amy on Mandolin and vocals.
- "Playground" (from Racing Hearts; 00:45 - 700 KB)
- "Can Al come out to play?" writes Amy in the liner notes. On this
track Amy sets the groove with a harmonically and rhythmically
rich accompaniment on the cedar/Brazillian SJ; Al ads some strong, bluesy lead work on top.
- "Wallflower Waltz" (from Racing Hearts; 00:59 - 900 KB)
- "The whispered counting and the first solo guitar are the sounds of a lonely
wallflower who is resigned to watch alone while others dance together. But when
the harmony guitar enters, she is no longer alone. 'May I have this dance?'"
A lovely, lyrical duet with Amy on the cedar/Brazilian SJ. This excerpt
starts just where Al joins in with the harmony guitar part.
- "The Gaudy Bauble/The Giddy Gauntlet" (from Racing Hearts; 00:52 - 800 KB)
- "We enjoy those silly traditional tune titles and decided to follow suit with
a couple of our own." Al sets a rhythmic foundation on this one for Amy's mandolin
and fiddle playing; Paddy League adds bodhran. This tune showcases how nicely
an Olson SJ works for strummed accompaniment. It's the cedar/Brazilian SJ again.
- "Pocket Change" (from Gratitude; 00:48 - 1 MB)
- "Playing 'in the pocket' is the goal of any musician that
is seeking to 'groove.' The repeating bass line pattern throughout this
tune has been in Amy's head for years. At last we've found a good use
for it." Amy plays the spruce-top SJ and Al plays lead on the cedar-top SJ,
both in DADGAD tuning.
- "Baker's Dozen" (from Gratitude; 00:31 - 0.5 MB)
- "It is quite an experience, playing in 13 all the way through, with
and against Al's changing rhythmic patterns." Amy plays the spruce-top SJ
in DADGAD tuning percussively in 13/8 time; Al plays lead in DADGAD
tuning on the cedar-top SJ.
- "Pickin' Flowers" (from Gratitude; 01:22 - 1.3 MB)
- "Another hopelessly happy tune, with a couple of 'fragrant' quotes."
Features Amy on the spruce-top SJ and Al on a Sifel cutaway, both
in DADGAD tuning.
- "Gratitude" (from Gratitude; 00:54 - 1 MB)
- "David Wilcox and Nance Petit were kind enough to loan us two of their Olson guitars. Amy was moved to tears the first time she played one of these. This tune is a result of that emotion: a profound sense of gratitude for all our countless blessings." Amy is again on the spruce-top SJ, in BGDGBD tuning with a partial capo at the 4th fret; Al is on the cedar-top SJ in DADGAD tuning, capo 9.
All tracks were recorded by Al & Amy at Fairewood Studios in Takoma Park, Maryland. If you like what you hear, drop by Fairewood Studios or Acoustic Music Resource (the online home of Solid Air Records) and order an Al & Amy CD for yourself!
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