By NEIL TESSER
Published: October 6, 2000

Twelve-string guitar master Richard Leo Johnson sounds like the unlikely offspring of Leo Kottke and Django Reinhardt, but he was virtually unknown until last year, when he released on album of unaccompanied guitar called Fingertip Ship (Metro Blue). And even after the disc came out, Johnson could've been a candidate for one of those old "do you know who I am?" American Express commercials: his music fits into neither the guitar's conventional niches nor the hybrid categories-jazz bluegrass, for instance-of recent years. Almost entirely self-taught, he uses an unusual double-neck guitar, a raft of alternate tunings (reportedly more than two dozen), and a battery of percussive effects. Johnson's newly released follow-up, Language (Blue Note), demonstrates even better his idiosyncratic, eclectic outlook: he collaborates with a variety of musicians, from Brazilian percussionist Cyro Baptista to oboist Paul McCandless to downtown New York drum demon Matt Wilson.
More Review >>>