Alastair Ian Stewart
Perhaps you know him as the man behind "Year of the Cat" though he is indeed so much more. Proving old folkies never die (finish that as a joke any way you like), he is touring. And he will be in Reno, NV on May 10. Having made 2006 the Year Of Traveling To See Mike Cross, I need to go more extreme for the seventh year of the decade. Perhaps the Enigmatic Misanthrope would like to join me on a trip to the west to see a show? I'd like to see him in concert before he dies or I die. You never know.
I'd also like to note with no small degree of admiration that his website posts a full page of fan-generated tabs for his songs. In an era where guitar tab pages are being shut down by copyright threats, here is a man who provides them for his fans. Fantastic. Not to mention that his website provides "alumni" links to artists who've played with him. That, in my estimation, is a mark of greatness that a man can share a spotlight.
Plus, I finally realized that Peter White, one of those "alumni" who played guitar with Al in that period where I discovered his music (and thus my favorite period) is also the Peter White who played with the great Polish jazz singer Basia. That would be a Polish singer who sings jazz, not a singer who sings Polish jazz. I'm sort of doubtful that there is such a category of music. Or if there is, it's got a pretty limited repertoire.