(Self Released / Mississippi Records, 2011)
Bloody gorgeous, muddy, bluesy solo guitar improvisations from this Pacific Northwest guitar-neck strangler. And occupying a well-fitting place with Mississippi Records (even as one the very few contemporary artists they've put out). Anderson's certainly in touch with old-age blues. On The Golden Hour, the blues/delta/ragtime lineage is immediately apparent, but with a new-style corrosiveness and grit, grandeur, and most importantly, soul. Did I mention how gorgeous this record is? Nowadays, if you are releasing a solo guitar record, there's some obligatory sense in the critic of name dropping Fahey and everyone else. Marisa Anderson (and I apologize for having mentioned the name already) stands outside that obligation as a guitarist whose work holds up singularly and boldly on its own merits. Strong, timeless music here with the strength to rebuild a wobbling nation by harnessing what grace that helped build that nation in the first place. The Golden Hour is one of those kinds of albums.
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