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Aside from Phil Keaggy, the Christian music industry has been largely devoid of any acoustic guitar master who can rock. Well, make way for Joel Sprayberry of Bedford, Texas, who blasts onto the scene with a self-described “folkadelic free for all” in his silly-titled album, _Everybody Needs A Tuba_.

Sprayberry intersperses controlled acoustic mayhem with intimate, coffeehouse confessionals to create an album that runs the gamut from solo acoustic softness (“Sitting Inside You”) to acoustic arena rock (“Get Movin’”). Fans of acoustic guitar mavens Dave Matthews, John Mayer and the lesser known (but equally as impressive) Willy Porter will find a warm, fulfilling home inside the “House of Sprayberry.” 

Unlike many guitar-intensive artists, Sprayberry has put as much thought and care into crafting his lyrics as he has into creating his finger-flying licks. With the skill of an engaging storyteller/poet, Sprayberry opens up worlds with his words. Consider the rapid-fire phrasing and Biblical lyrics of the acousti-funk “Back To You” (”I have struggled up Masada / Seen Jerusalem’s sons and daughters and / Looked over Galilee where He healed the blind and lame”) or the complexities of “All Things I Ponder” (“How big is the universe? A thousand Milky Ways / Or an empty purse / Constellations in the palm of my hand / Is it astrophysics or a grain of sand?”).

Sprayberry equally impresses when he lays aside his lyrics and uses mind-bending guitar mastery to take his self-proclaimed “Acoustic Progressive Psychedelic Folk Rock” to another level on instrumentals like “Into the Air,” “Farmer’s Tan,” and “Acoustic Chaos.” (Liner notes indicate he uses a Phrase Recording/Sampling pedal and a whole lotta scratching, slapping, and pounding to create these layered, whirlwind acoustic sketches.)

On his own or with his outstanding rhythm section, Joel Sprayberry is an acoustic wild man who could hold his own playing “dueling guitars” with any of the current top-selling acoustic artists.

Greg Adams 6/15/03