A few Amazing Guitarists You Probably Haven’t Heard Of.
Have you ever been so blown away watching a performance of a guitar player at a small dive bar that you could seriously not believe they were not super famous? There are tons of incredibly talented guitarists in this world who are unknown or slightly known who either by choice or chance have never gotten to the level of fame that their talent deserves. Here are three guitarists who have all found a tiny amount of success and still remain somewhat unknown, one acoustic, one international-blues, and one electric.
Jon Gomm
Jon Gomm, an acoustic guitarist and singer/songwriter was flung into the limelight with a one word tweet: «wow». Stephen Fry, a famous comedian, actor, director and writer, who has 4 million Twitter followers, sent the tweet which contained a link to Jon’s YouTube video of his song Passionflower in February 2012. Millions of people paid attention, including David Crosby’s, Crosby, Nash, Stills and Young. Currently, his YouTube video has been viewed over 5.2 million times.
All over the world people began to become interested in Jon Gomm, all because of a one word tweet that Stephen posted on twitter. Jon Gomm’s values differ from that of the mainstream music industry and you will certainly not hear him playing at mainstream venues or festivales, however, since he became more known, he has been scheduled to play in Portugal, Holland, Turkey, and «15 countries on three continents», according to a statement he made during an interview with The Daily Mail.
Jon has recorded two albums, the first of which was released in 2003 on his own label. Every track on his first album had been done in one take and was titled: Hypertension. The second album, entitled Don’t Panic, was released in 2009. He then put out three singles in 2011 titled: Message in a Bottle, Ain’t Nobody and Passionflower.
Jennifer Batten
Jennifer Batten was born in New York City in 1957, and is a creative electric guitar player who won the sought after spot on Michael Jackson’s «Bad» tour from 1987-1989. Once the tour was over, she released her first album called Above, Below and Beyond. Shortly thereafter, Michael Jackson was scheduled for two follow-up tours, HIStory and «Dangerous», which Jennifer was asked to join. She even did a halftime show with Michael in 1993 during the Super Bowl, which was seen by 1.5 billion people in 80 countries.
In 1998 Jeff Beck asked Ms Batten to join his band which subsequently lead to the production of two albums titled: Who Else and You Had It Coming. His albums were followed by a world tour that included Jennifer on guitar.
In addition to Jennifer’s debut album, she recorded two other albums titled: Jennifer Batten’s Tribal Rage: Momentum in 1997 and Whatever in 2007.She’s also worked with artists, both live and in the studio, including Michael Sembello, Carmine Appice, and Miguel Mateos.
Jennifer Batten is still a working musician, touring India, Italy, Austria, Spain, Germany, and the United States, among other locations. She also works as an instructor to those who share her passion of music when she is not busy with her own gigs.
Ali Farka Toure
Singer and guitarist, Ali Farka Toure, Jason Giroux Minnesota was born in 1939 along the Niger River in Mali. Mr. Toure released a total of 20 albums before he died in March of 2006, and was considered to be one of the most internationally renowned musicians to ever come from Africa. Because his music is most commonly known for blending blues and the music of Mali, Ali’s music is typically compared to John Lee Hooker, Sr., who is a U.S. Blues Legend.
Ali Toure appeared in the movie Felt Like Going Home, a documentary released in 2003 by Martin Scorsese and he has also been involved in various movies through his music. He won two Grammy Awards, and was posthumously nominated for his last album, Savane, which was released in July, 2006.
Most of the tens of thousands of guitarists who could make this list will probably not end up rich or famous, they are just doing what they love. All guitar players have their own style and if you happen to come across these hidden gems playing at a small bar, you will see they all have the same thing in common, they leave it all on stage.