Bahaman Folk Guitar: Music from the Bahamas, Vol. 1

Recorded in 1958 and released on the Folkways label in 1959, this album introduced American listeners to Joseph Spences unique guitar and vocal styles. These field recordings by musicologist Sam Charters capture Spence in a relaxed, expansive moodonly one of the six selections in the set is under five minutes in length. Spences guitar style was due in part to the D tuning of his bass string, which produced a lower bass sound. Whereas many critics have called Spences vocal style unorthodox, they have found his guitar playing spontaneous and iconic. Some music critics have gone so far as to refer to him as the Thelonious Monk of folk guitar.