Folk /
Santa Barbara Honeymoon
The second of two albums that Bert wrote in America in the mid 70s, ‘Santa Barbara Honeymoon’ foregrounds some of Bert Jansch’s most charming and addictive melodies. Album highlights include ‘Baby Blue’, ‘Lost and Gone’ and a reworking of Jackson C. Frank’s ‘Blues Run The Game’. It was recorded in America over a two month period and is another departure for Bert Jansch, mixing his familiar style with a more produced sound – utilising backing singers and session players including horns, steel dru…
The Words in between
The story goes that Ian A. Anderson and Gef Lucena were walking
the streets of Clifton, trying to come up with a name for their new
record label. At the time (the early 70s) Greenwich Village was
naturally the mecca destination for any musician worth his 12-string, so
the pair had taken to referring to their slice of Bristol as ‘Clifton
Village’ (long before this was taken up by estate agents across the
land, albeit in a very different fashion). And so The Village Thing was
born; home to …
L.A. Turnaround
First of a diptych of albums recorded in and influenced by Bert Jansch’s time in America. As the title suggests, this album was something of a contrast to Jansch’s usual style – taking in swathes of Nashville-infused pedal steel to sparkling effect. Produced in part by the Monkees’ Mike Nesmith, whose guidance is much in evidence on this perfectly measured slice of British country-rock.
You Never Were Much of a Dancer
Tompkins Square is very proud to announce the signing of Welsh multi-instrumentalist, Gwenifer Raymond. Hailing from Cardiff and now residing in Brighton in the South of England, Raymond began playing guitar at the age of eight. Tompkins Square released her debut 7" on Record Store Day. Praise via The Wire, BBC, MOJO, UNCUT and more. In her own words .... When I was about eight years old a pretty formative thing happened to me ... my mum bought me a cassette tape of Nirvana’s Nevermind. Being so…
Morning Haikus, Afternoon Ragas
LP version. On Buck Curran's second solo album, Morning Haikus, Afternoon Ragas, the emphasis switches to acoustic guitar, as compared to his first solo album, Immortal Light
(ESPDISK 5014CD/LP, 2016). Side A, all solo acoustic instrumentals,
seems to have fallen out of a wormhole emanating from Takoma Records in
the 1970s. There's some of that on side B as well, but there are also
vocals and other instruments, sometimes overdubbed, and the dedication
of "Taurus" to Peter Green, guitarist e…
Immortal Light
160-gram DMM LP version. Limited edition of 350. Includes download code. Immortal Light is the debut solo album by psychedelic folk guitarist-singer-songwriter Buck Curran. Since 2005, Curran has recorded and performed as one half of the psych-folk duo Arborea. To date, Arborea has released five albums, including 2013's ESP-Disk' release Fortress of the Sun (ESPDISK 5002CD/LP). Curran's music has developed through a decade of playing with Arborea, and the experience of playing blues and folk thr…
Live in Kyoto 1978
An evening in a Kyoto coffee house from decades past that was living forever anyway, now captured as "vinyl". Formats of our contemporary time that have a long way to go before they outlast the music beneath John Renbourn's fingers.
Chris Thompson
**2025 stock. 180 gram vinyl LP + insert with obi-strip** Chris Thompson started out his career in Hamilton, New Zealand in 1965, then turned professional in 1968. In the early seventies he moved to England, where he played the guitar with Californian folk singer Julie Felix. While in England, Chris also played with British Folk-Blues legends Wizz Jones and Davey Graham and made his debut album in 1973. Originally issued on the Village Thing label, it has been claimed as one of the best acid fol…
Land of Our Fathers: Rarities 1967-1983
Land Of Our Fathers' is a stunningly beautiful compilation of never-before-released and hard-to-find recordings by America's great guitar mystic Robbie Basho. Spanning 16 years, this is 42 minutes of essential and extremely rare music from throughout Basho's multifaceted career. 'Land Of Our Fathers' provides further illumination of Basho's mysterious and incomparably poetic soul.
Ceremony of Dreams: Studio Sessions & Outtakes, 1972-1977
Ceremony of Dreams by Entourage. Available here on Triple CD. Sampled by Four Tet, their name whispered in reverence through the decades, Entourage forged bold musical ideas on their two rare '70s Folkways LPs. Now, collected for the first time, 30 previously unreleased tracks from their archives. Notes by J.D. Considine, and by sole surviving Entourage member, guitarist Wall Matthews. The Entourage Music & Theatre Ensemble (aka Entourage) were a genuine cult band -- with dancers -- formed by s…
Standing Waters
CD edition. The Italian guitarist Maurizio Abate is a rare breed - an experimental musician from Europe working within, and expanding the American tradition of Guitar Soli, an idiom first pioneered by John Fahey. Abate initially emerged within a diverse series of collaborative released over a decade ago, but, as the years passed, a love for his instrument, with inspiration provided by Fahey’s indication of its potential for application as a one man orchestra, prompted to him to embark on…
A Man I'd Rather Be (Part 1) - 4LP Book
Comprising Bert Jansch’s seminal 1960s output (alongside his only album as a duet with Pentangle bandmate John Renbourn) this four disc set covers an era that forged creative paths for everyone from Neil Young to Johnny Marr. New listening notes from Bill Leader, as well as unseen photographs from Brian Shuel complete this special collection. Where to start with a career as prolific as that of Bert Jansch? Why, the beginning of course. Bert’s first studio (though as Bill Leader rightly poin…
Passing Dream
Tompkins Square reissues two albums by Texas singer/songwriter Will Beeley - the self-released mega-rare (only 200 copies) private press LP 'Gallivantin' from 1971, and 'Passing Dream', originally released by Malaco Records in 1979.
Recorded in San Antonio, 'Gallivantin' shows Beeley's heartfelt, folky side - a wistful set of original tunes, plus a cover of Bob Dylan's "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" and a spaced-out, 10 minute+ Eastern-influenced psych take on Buffy Sainte-Marie's "Little Wheel…
Folk, Blues & Beyond
LP version. "One of the most influential figures in the 1960s British folk scene, Davy Graham inspired many practitioners of the fingerstyle acoustic guitar of the era, notably Bert Jansch, John Martyn and Jimmy Page. Graham is probably best known for his acoustic instrumental 'Anji' and for popularizing DADGAD tuning, later widely adopted by many acoustic guitarists. Not one to be categorised, Graham could be seen covering the genres of folk, blues and jazz. Graham was an entirely British pheno…
Large As Life and Twice As Natural
First released in 1968, Large As Life And Twice As Natural is a tremendous acoustic-folk-blues-jazz masterpiece. As always with Davy Graham, the music seems to defy categorization. Perhaps the simplest description would be "great." Davy is joined by the legendary Harold McNair on flute, Dick Heckstall-Smith on saxophone, Jon Hiseman on drums (both from Colosseum) and Danny Thompson (from Pentangle) on double bass. The album's three extended instrumentals two immersive ragas and a wickedly kno…
Of Rivers and Religion
A deeply innovative musician whose style is credited as the foundation for the minimalist style of American Primitive Guitar, the output of John Fahey is both illustrious, far-reaching in its influence, and difficult to categorize. From the 1960s through the 1990s, Fahey's music frequently leapt between the realms of jazz, folk, world music, blues, country, and avant garde in equal measure, while demonstrating the wide range of flavors to be found in traditional finger-picking guitar techniques…
Jackdaw
Larry Conklin bought his first guitar, a Gibson J-45, in 1970, after he got out of the army. "I taught myself to play. I wrote songs and instrumentals (at that time Bert Jansch was my guiding light). I listened to a lot of people - Leo Kottke, John Renbourn, Django Reinhardt, Lonnie Johnson, Robert Johnson - and especially Rev. Gary Davis, who played only with his thumb and index finger as I did." Larry's first record, Jackdaw was self-released in 1980 and includes beautiful solo 12 stri…
Gentle Wilderness
Gentle Wilderness was released as a private press LP in 1978. River Sun River Moon consists of previously unreleased recordings from the same time period. Deitrick came to our attention via Brooks Rice and Michael Klausman, who compiled Imaginational Anthem Vol 8 : The Private Press, which features Rick's "Missy Christa" from Gentle Wilderness.Ohio-born Rick Deitrick took up the guitar at 16 and decided to approach his playing as if he was the only guy on an island and the instrument had just wa…
River Sun River Moon
Tompkins Square is proud to release two solo acoustic guitar albums by Rick Deitrick. Gentle Wilderness was released as a private press LP in 1978. River Sun River Moon consists of previously unreleased recordings from the same time period. Deitrick came to our attention via Brooks Rice and Michael Klausman, who compiled Imaginational Anthem Vol 8 : The Private Press, which features Rick's "Missy Christa" from Gentle Wilderness.Ohio-born Rick Deitrick took up the guitar at 16 and decided to appr…
Gallivantin'
Texas Songwriter Will Beeley's Rare LPs from 1971 & 1979 Reissued by Tompkins Square. Tompkins Square reissues two albums by Texas singer/songwriter Will Beeley - the self-released mega-rare (only 200 copies) private press LP 'Gallivantin' from 1971, and 'Passing Dream', originally released by Malaco Records in 1979. Recorded in San Antonio, 'Gallivantin' shows Beeley's heartfelt, folky side - a wistful set of original tunes, plus a cover of Bob Dylan's "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" and a spaced-out…