A Festival of American Primitive Guitar, April 13-15
The Thousand Incarnations of the Rose, A Festival of American Primitive Guitar, is a 3-day music festival taking place in Takoma Park and will bring together for the first time more than 25 acoustic fingerstyle guitar and banjo players from every era of the American Primitive/Guitar Soli movement.
NEW DAY PASSES now available for the festival! Passes provide access to special performances and panel discussions. Full weekend passes are still being offered too. Schedule and Tickets
Local Takoma businesses will host American Primitive Guitar performances on Friday night, April 13 from 6:30pm-12:30am. There will be eight performances to choose from. There will also be two Saturday afternoon performances at the Gazebo and two on Sunday at the Takoma Park Farmers Market. Performances are free and open to the public and limited by venue capacity so arrive early. Schedule.
What is American Primitive Guitar?
When Takoma Park native, John Fahey sat down to record “The Takoma Park Pool Hall Blues” for Fonotone Records in 1958 he could not have imagined that he was starting an artistic movement or that generations of players would follow in his footsteps. The term has come to refer to a certain approach to playing the guitar (or banjo) that favors emotion and mood over virtuosity for its own sake It is only fitting that this festival is being staged in Takoma Park, Fahey’s boyhood home, and that 2018 marks the 60th anniversary of his very first recordings.
