New West Guitar Group December 2, 2011

Since their earliest days as music students at the University of Southern California, the trio known as New West Guitar Group has tapped into its straight ahead jazz roots to develop a sound that embraces various shades of folk, country, rock and pop. The newest chapter in the New West saga opens in October 2011 with the release of Round-Trip Ticket, an album that explores the idea of forward movement, the beauty and mystery of the natural world and the homecoming that awaits the traveler at the end of the journey.

In the years since New West’s debut, the music press has raved. Acoustic Guitar Magazine praised the range of their music “from chamber-like elegance and fragile introspection to exhilarating swing and gritty blues,” while All About Jazz called the group “…a fine showcase for the musicians, as well as a tribute to the endlessly fascinating and mutable instrument they play.” The Seattle Times has declared that “the group’s sense of time and their ability to interact are sharp and refined.”

New West Guitar Group began as a quartet – Perry Smith, John Storie, Matt Roberts and Brady Cohan, who met when they were students at the University of Southern California just as the millennium was getting under way. “We were this group of high school all-stars with the electric guitar, and we had come to USC to take it to the next level,” Smith recalls. “The school had an entire department dedicated to guitar. It had a great faculty and it attracted some wonderful guitar players, so it was a special time for all of us.”

Official Website: http://www.142throckmortontheatre.org