Welcome back to JamBase’s baker’s dozen to the bright lights of the music world. Last time we heard from Soulive.

Solo guitar performance is one of the oldest, grandest traditions in the blues and jazz fields. It’s a brave, exposed display of talent that works as an intimate conversation between the musician and listeners. It’s been 10 years since Charlie Hunter stripped down to his 7 & 8-string skivvies, and Public Domain (released September 14 on Reapandsow) finds the fleet-fingered picker tackling copyright free chestnuts like “Danny Boy,” “Ain’t We Got Fun” and “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” alongside more obscure offerings like “Low Bridge Song (15 Miles On The Erie Canal)” and “Cielito Lindo.” The dedication to “Blind Blake, Joseph Spence, Joe Pass, Ted Greene and Tuck Andress” goes a long way in capturing the vibe of Public Domain, with Andress’ feel coming through the strongest in the atmosphere and mercurial arrangements. “This album,” says Hunter, “is really about the songs and how rhythms work together. It’s not about anything flashy.” In the end, Public Domain is a modernist take on the music that folks once “enjoyed listening to on crank-up Victrolas and on tube radios many decades ago” (as per the intro inscription from Hunter’s grandfather Sidney Greenman). (Dennis Cook)

Here’s what Hunter had to say to our inquiries.

Charlie Hunter by Susan J. Weiand

1. Great music rarely happens withoutÂ…
Un component sociale

2. The first album I bought wasÂ…
Original Dixieland Jazz Band

3. The last song or album to really flip my wig wasÂ…
Blind Blake

4. When I was a kid I wanted to grow up to beÂ…
A woman

5. My favorite sort of gig isÂ…
One with people!

6. One thing I wish people knew about me isÂ…
I collect glass animals

7. I love the sound ofÂ…
Cat fights

8. One day I hope to make an album as fantastic asÂ…
Why Is There Air?

9. The best meal I ever had on tour was atÂ…
Some grandma’s home in Kiev

10. I always find the coolest audiences inÂ…
Everywhere

11. The worst habit I’ve picked up being on the road all the time isÂ…
Reading

12. The Beatles or the Stones? Por que?
Beatles…duh?!?!

13. The craziest thing I ever saw wasÂ…
Little Richard

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