{October 27th, 2013} Harry Taussig

"When Tompkins Square Records reissued Harry Taussig's 1965 album Fate Is Only Once back in 2006, it was, for fans of American Primitive guitar music, a genuine event. The album was Taussig's lone recorded offering outside of two cuts that appeared on a compilation which also included John Fahey (whose Takoma label released it), Max Ochs, [Bukka White,] and Robbie Basho. In other words, Taussig was among the most obscure talents the genre ever produced. . . . but he never recorded again. Until 2012, that is. After 47 years, Taussig's sophomore recording, Fate Is Only Twice, was issued by Tompkins Square. While his debut featured a few originals alongside blues and folk standards, this ten-tune set includes all originals. After all this time, Taussig's imagination remains rich and fertile, and his ambition to express it on his guitar is abundant. His darkly impressionistic playing style is full of nuance, expansive harmonic articulation, and a signature sense of lyric invention. . . . His compositions and his improvisations show a nearly limitless imagination that pushes at the boundaries of traditional forms without breaking them (not as easy as it seems). Fate Is Only Twice was a long time coming, but was certainly worth the wait." --Thom Jurek, AllMusic

The evening will comprise Harry Taussig's first ever public performance in his home state of California and second public performance since his Austin, TX debut in April.