Biography

"The Wine Country: a Pairing of Music and Art" is an innovative series of original songs and ten innovative videos with artist Bill Russell, featuring animations, illustrations, and original songs, each telling a unique story about the region. Each song in the series will be released digitally as a single as it becomes available. The project will culminate in a published release including a map for self-guided tours highlighting landmarks, wineries, breweries and restaurants, alongside the CD recording, recipes, postcards and booklet. The stage show includes illustration, animation and live digital drawing, in tandem with instrumental music.

This is part of a series of releases intended to musically tell the story of the wine country and California coast. Tunesmith and fingerstyle guitarist Brian Gore's first release in this series is a melodic solo guitar romp inspired by Santa Cruz, California. The compositions on this album evoke ocean sunsets, forests, waterfalls and pastoral settings.

A unique voice is a rare and special thing in the world of solo guitar.
To possess this requires luck, struggle and tenacity. Like wine, even for the most ingenious – a unique voice requires decades of fermentation to achieve perfection. Where this quality is concerned, it's safe to say there's not another vintage finer than Brian Gore; nor is there a player more unique and deserving.

To be sure, Brian’s technical prowess and pioneering work in use of multiple capos, slapping, tapping and percussion ranks him as a top technician in his field. But virtuosity, over-abundant in guitar, is more rarely called upon for the kind of true artistry found in Brian’s music. His approach to guitar is in the service of song over showmanship, and he connects emotively to his performances in a pure, yet evocative way.

After showing an intuitive knack for music at an early age, Brian slowly developed a one of a kind craft for guitar that allows him to connect with a wide range of sensiblity through sound. A creative process that involves using poetry and writing in tandem with instrumentality allows him to produce compositions with haunting, memorable melodies. His songs tell a story with, or without words, transporting the listener into his unique emotional landscape.

If there’s anyone who’s “paid his dues” to his field and craft, it’s Brian. His effort to expose audiences to the best in world guitar though “International Guitar Night” has been painstaking, and involved considerable sacrifice. But in the process of over 20 tours he’s matured artistically, by co-writing material and performing with the best players on the planet. And in the process, he’s achieved the kind of legendary status in his own right no other player can claim.

Ron Forbes-Roberts of Acoustic Guitar Magazine says, "Gore's finely crafted poetic 'songs without words' take the listener on a spellbinding, emotional ride.He has great facility as a player, but it's the depth and range of moods his pieces evoke that makes his music such a pleasure."

A musical romantic, who draws inspiration from literature and philosophy, he employs his virtuosity in the service of the heart. He is a self-taught guitarist who's developed "one of the most unique new acoustic guitar styles on the scene today" (News and Review). He has "emerged in the past decade as a leading figure in the new acoustic music movement pioneered by the late Michael Hedges." (Contra Costa Times).

"Absolutely beautiful. Great work... It's so nice to see and hear this."- Steve Vai