Thurston Moore's Top 5 Acoustic Guitarists

"He's so significant, such an amazing personality, such a character, and you really heard it in his approach to his music. He was taking this traditional form of blues and folk and putting an intellectual spin on it without being an egghead. He was kind of academic, but... almost as much a freak as some of these old blues guys."

From The Best of John Fahey 1959-1977.

"She was a folk singer from the U.K. who was involved with Bert Jansch and his whole gang there in the '60s, playing at folk festivals and busking on streets. They took the English traditional form of folk music and gave it a young, contemporary edge. I started finding out a lot about British folk music firstly through Fairport Convention and Pentangle and all its associated players. There's a fantastic history, the deeper and deeper you get.

"She is one of the singers that transcended the traditional songs just by her voice. I know this is about acoustic guitar, but it was that marriage between her playing and her voice that was just astounding."

Originally appeared on Anne Briggs (1971).

"I've never met the man, but reading stories about him, he seems like he's really that hard-playing acoustic-guitar guy, and he doesn't take any BS from anybody. He sounds like a swell dude."

From Jack Orion (1966).

"We're gonna go to the outer realms here. Derek Bailey, who people know primarily as an electric guitar player with a jazz guitar and volume pedal, playing completely improvised music. His whole idea was, 'Why wouldn't people not only want to play this way or would want to listen to this music?' It's way more referential to the human condition. He had a real humor about what he did, as well. He was a serious practitioner, but he liked to have a pint and a laugh."

From Ballads (2002).

"There are a lot of contemporary people really devoted to playing acoustic guitar in a really forward-thinking and challenging way without completely divorcing itself from tradition. One of the most magnificent players in the last few years is certainly Jack Rose, whom I've known for many, many years. He's always been around the Philadelphia underground music scene playing avant-garde and noise music. He was somebody that really got turned on to the whole lineage of acoustic guitar playing, really put his head down and became a really great acoustic guitar player."

From Kensington Blues (2005).