By ERIC SCHELKOPF
Jim Green entertained Fox Valley audiences for years with his innovative guitar playing.
Green recently moved to Colorado, but is back in the area as part of his "Tethered To A Dream" tour. As part of the tour, he will perform at 2 p.m. Oct. 1 at the St. Charles Public Library, One South Sixth Ave.,
St. Charles.
I had the chance to talk to Green about the tour.
Q – Great to talk to you again. The upcoming show at the St. Charles Public Library is part of your "Tethered to a Dream" tour. You recently released the song “Tethered to a Dream.” What was the inspiration for the song?
Since I was in high school back in the '80s, I knew I wanted to play guitar as a career. 2003 is when I could finally say I was supporting myself with my music.
Fast forward to today, I’ve had some reasonable successes such as getting signed to a record label and opening for some well-known artists. Throughout that time, I had my fair share of doubts, but I’m happy to say it is all working out.
To engage in some other line of work would feel dispiriting to me. Hence the song title and inspiration, “Tethered to a Dream."
Q – Is there anything in particular you will be showcasing at the library show?
Located on the second floor of the library is the Carnegie Community Room, where I will be playing. My first thought is, I’m just excited to play that room again because of the great acoustics in there.
Unfortunately, I don’t think most people in and around St. Charles have even experienced a concert in that room and I hope if they are reading this they feel encourage to join me there that Sunday afternoon. Other than that, I’ll be playing a mix of moods and tempos, including what I am mostly known for, percussive guitar.
This style incorporates unusual and innovative guitar techniques that have been described as visually entertaining as well as musically.
Q – You recently moved out of the area and moved to Colorado. What made you want to do that and how has life in Colorado been so far?
I learned of a CO transplant saying I like that goes like this, “I’m not from Colorado, but I got here as soon as I could.”
I’ve always wanted to live near mountains. I’m really into running, biking, just being outdoors, and the landscape there enhances all those activities.
After eight months, I’m still looking for my tribe and musically slowly building a name for myself. I think it’s going well overall.
I’ve been lucky enough to play a couple gigs at the legendary Broadmoor Hotel and Resort. I know the more I play out, the more chances to meet people and make friends.
Q – I know that you are on Sky Valley Records, which is a small, independent record label dedicated to instrumental guitar music. It makes sense to be on the label.
Is being on the label bringing even more exposure to your music?
I’ve been very fortunate in the beginning with being able to sell a good number of CDs at my shows. With the introduction of free streaming, that has seen a significant drop.
Last year, I finally started promoting and directing people to my music on those streaming platforms. My stream count had risen quite a bit verses doing nothing of course, but the record label has connections with a lot of different playlist curators and has brought that count higher than I ever could on my own.
Previously I was only reaching those who were at my gigs. The label has helped me reach a larger world-wide audience.
I admit many of them are passive listeners to a playlist but my growing follower count is good evidence that the songs are catching some ears.
Q – Of course, you are known for your finger-style approach to playing the guitar. How did you develop the style in the first place and how do you think it has changed over the years?
Some of my playing is very unorthodox, with my left fretting hand over the top of the guitar neck instead of underneath. So when asked that question my usual joking response is, “A year of trying to get my hands to work together and a lot of swearing.”
Mine and everyone else’s technique is built on the backs of past artists. I always admired the late great Michael Hedges for his innovative approach to fingerstyle guitar.
He was doing things on the guitar in the late '80s that are still mind blowing today. I wasn’t even playing fingerstyle then, but his influence was sort of baked in.
In the late '90s, I was thumbing through a catalog of guitar instructional videos. The one that caught my eye was Preston Reed’s, "Expanding the Realm of Acoustic Playing."
That sounded really interesting to me so, I ordered the VHS tape, watched it and his percussive way of playing really spoke to me. I learned a lot from him and also watching Flamenco guitarists and studying their techniques to apply to my music.
This style of playing started with Hedges and Reed, growing to a small band of us gigging around to morphing into the creation of a new genre of music called Math Rock.
Q – You also recently released the song "Phronesis," which you have said is one of your best written and recorded solo guitar songs. In sitting down and writing the song, what goals did you have?
I normally don’t have any goals or expectations in writing a song. It’s too much pressure.
What I do have is connected detachment. I just try to listen and act on a musical idea when it happens, while wearing two hats, explorer and scientist.
I tend to use a different guitar tuning for every new song. By retuning the pitch of some or all the guitar strings changes the musical landscape to something unfamiliar, something to explore.
When I find a musical idea I like, I put on my scientist hat and I test, listen, adjust and test again. The tune will eventually reveal itself and what it’s about. I just trust the process and build on the results.
Q – Your music evokes a lot of imagery. And it seems like your love for nature is just as great as your love for music. I just watched the video for your song "We Leave at Dawn," which I know you wrote and recorded a few days before moving from Illinois to Colorado. Is that love for nature strengthened by the fact that when you aren't making music, you are hiking or biking?
The closer we are to nature, the more we realize there is no separation from us and it. There’s certainly no lack of inspiration nature provides musically.
If I’m doing some outdoor activity, I sometimes hear music in my head. If I’m creating music sometimes I visualize something like tall grasses, the smell of autumn, or the rustling of leaves from a cottonwood tree.
It might be something else for someone else but, hiking, biking and being outdoors serves my spirit and in turn serves my artist output.
Q – What would you like people to get out of your music?
That’s a simple question but hard for me to answer somehow. Whenever music is heard by someone, it’s going through their personal filter of past experiences and how it’s perceived can be so different from maybe how I felt writing it.
That’s what makes us all so unique and it’s a beautiful thing.
I’ll answer this with two words – emotional depth.
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