Jack Rose born 16 February 1971

Jack Rose (February 16, 1971 – December 5, 2009) was an American guitarist originally from Virginia and later based in Philadelphia. Rose is best known for his solo acoustic guitar work. He was also a member of the noise/drone band Pelt. 

Rose was born in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Although there was no musical tradition in his family, he began playing while in high school. Exposed to classic blues and the art of finger-picking in his early teens, he formed a band called the Mice before moving to Richmond to study English at Virginia Commonwealth University. 

During the mid-1990s, Rose joined Pelt. In reaction to the period's produced "alternative" music, this Richmond group specialised in post-rock drones, on records such as Brown Cyclopedia (1995) and Pearls From the River (2003). They also "had a sideline in playing acoustic music for themselves," remembers Bill Kellum, who released Pelt and Rose on his label VHF Records: "Being from Virginia, it's pretty much ingrained in the culture." 

                                    

The turning point for Rose came when he heard John Fahey and Robbie Basho in the late 1990s, he said: "With the drone background that I already had, all of that came together and made sense. And I was listening to the composer Terry Riley, and I just made all these connections between different types of music." Realising that his technique did not match up to his ambitions, Rose did "some really intensive wood-shedding", says Kellum: "He got dramatically better in the course of a year. This would have been around 2001 or so." The following year, he released his first proper solo record, Red Horse, White Mule, followed in 2003 by Opium Musick. 

Rose's compositions were mostly for 6-string guitar, 12-string guitar, and Weissenborn-style lap steel guitar. He often employed open tunings when playing. He was compared to guitarists on the Takoma label from the 1960s, including American primitive guitarist John Fahey, Robbie Basho and former Vanguard recording artist and eventual touring partner Peter Walker. Rose cited Charley Patton, Blind Blake, John Fahey, Robbie Basho, Zia Mohiuddin Dagar and, in later years, Link Wray as influences.

It was on Kensington Blues that the Fahey influence came to the fore: "I noticed that on a song like the Great Santa Barbara Oil Slick, Fahey was accentuating the downbeat," Rose observed. "I realised that's where the jug is in jug-band music, that's where the rhythm is. So then I started playing on the downbeat – John Fahey, ragtime, the blues – all came into place." 

On recent records such as Dr Ragtime and his Pals, Rose began to mine that lost musical arcadia first mapped by Fahey, that period, in the 1900s, just before mass recording, when the oral tradition and localised, live performance still held sway. This was the moment when the great currents of 20th-century American culture began to flow together: Rose gave them new life and renewed vigour almost exactly a century later. The records were enhanced by the impact of Rose's many live performances. "Jack was hugely inspirational," recalls Rick Tomlinson (aka Voice of the Seven Woods), one of the new breed of British guitar-players to follow his example. "I've never been so transfixed by a solo guitar show as I was when Jack was playing." 

Rose left one final album, Luck in the Valley. He was interviewed by Arthur magazine during the recording: "I always think the last record I make is going to be the last one, but there is always something that comes along that piques my interest. Like the one I'm working on right now, I got back from the second session, and I was like, 'Wow, shit I've got a lot of work to do.'" 

Rose died of an apparent heart attack in Philadelphia, at the age of 38. He was buried at West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania. Luck In The Valley, Rose's final LP, was released posthumously on February 23, 2010, by Thrill Jockey Records. The record was the third installment of what Jack self-deprecatingly referred to as his "Ditch Trilogy." The album received an 8.2 on Pitchfork and featured Glenn Jones, Harmonica Dan, and pianist Hans Chew on most of the session. 

Rose's final recording, an electrified 4 song collaboration with D. Charles Speer & The Helix called Ragged and Right was released on June 15, 2010, as part of Thrill Jockey's singles club. The EP was recorded at Black Dirt Studios with Jason Meagher. 

(Edited from Jon Savage obit @ The Guardian & Wikipedia)