Reviews for Don Rooke

A record of purity.

Don Rooke, atypical guitar player, true artist, is the leader of Henrys, a band often described on this magazine.

A mostly instrumental ensemble, sometimes using the voice of MMOH as an instrument, they gave us strange records, merging in a peculiar way the distant worlds of melody and improvisation, pure experimentation and dissonance.

Sublime.

It might have been called Astral Travel, because that's where it takes you. This man is top 5, acoustic slide, on the planet. As a slide composer, he's in a class by himself. And though he's played in some illustrious concert halls, festivals, and TV shows globally, his gifts are not yet widely known. Not widely enough for this reviewer, at any rate.

GUITARIST'S BRAVE NEW WORLD MUSIC

BEST of the BEST 2003
Sublimely beautiful melodies and crystalline arrangements feature heavily on Don Rooke's first solo CD, with pump organ, steel drums, and nyckelharpa backing the Henrys bandleader's elegant and unhurried acoustic steel guitars. Otherworldly, intimate, and familiar, all at the same time.

- Alex Varty