Terraplane is a strong acoustic blues album in every way. Ainslie is not just unplugged, but almost entirely unaccompanied here. He is completely exposed as a fine solo guitarist on acoustic, resophonic, and electric guitar, as well as in his amazingly complex and vibrant diddley bow versions of "Parchmans Farm Blues," "If I Had Possession Over Judgment Day," and his own original "You Gotta Get Up." His great singing throughout reaches amazing intensity in Rev. Gary Davis' classic dark gospel tune, "Death Don't Have No Mercy." This is a stunning collection of blues and originals (all of which feel like traditional blues. They'll be hard to pick out without looking at the album notes). Ainslie's work as an acoustic blues performer has a different spin from most. In addition to good chops on slide and ragtime blues guitar and strong vocals; he's bringing twenty years of scholarship, and fieldwork with older blues and gospel musicians. His live shows include enough of the stories and background on the tunes to allow the songs to take their full-size in the experience of the audience. People go home slyly better educated about the history and genesis of the music, and I believe--knowing something of their origins--are moved more deeply by the tunes. In addition to his performing life, Ainslie wrote 'the book' on Mississippi Blues legend Robert Johnson, "Robert Johnson/At The Crossroads" which contained complete transcriptions of his recordings, complete annotated lyrics with all the black idioms explained, a biography and historical notes introducing each song. It lasted a decade in the fickle music press and he's hoping to have it back in a second edition in 2005. Ainslie also has a teaching video, "Robert Johnson's Guitar Techniques," on Starlicks 'Master Sessions' series and three blues CDs ["Jealous of the Moon", "Terraplane", and "You Better Lie Down". He tours widely playing festivals, clubs, community concert series, and works in educational settings as a visiting artist with programs on the African roots of American music, using live performances of Delta and Ragtime blues, gospel, and jazz to illustrate the history of American roots and pop music. Web resources are below, including two archived performances at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage from October, 2002 and July, 2003 at the kennedy-center.org site, and archived editions of his BluesNotes emailings, as well as a cut from his upcoming CD, "The Feral Crow" (October, 2004) are at http://cattailmusic.com. Thanks for your time, Scott Ainslie Cattail Music, Ltd. ainslie@musician.org Websites with reviews, bio, et cetera: http://CattailMusic.com http://www.loydartists.com/ Archived live performances at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage: http://www.kennedy-center.org/ programs/millennium/search_results.cfm? w=500