Chicago born guitarist Bill MacKay has been part of many projects and bands throughout his career. Although his musical roots lie in American folk styles, he looks at the musical landscape with a broad view: experimental and avant-garde influences can be heard in his playing as well. He himself uses the word ragaesque to describe some of his work. The duo album Keys, which he made with banjo player
… Nathan Bowles, has little to do with Indian classical music. The tranquility that the album breathes could be seen as a resemblance though. The 10 tracks are - for the most part instrumental - musical explorations. Partly due to the presence of the banjo, Keys sounds like a mixture of bluegrass and country during the first few minutes. The low tempos, the sober instrumentation and the modest vocals make everything sound thoughtful. The two musicians don't play a note on automatic pilot. That's why the album rises above the genres mentioned before. (JV)more
