Bert Jansch
born in Scotland, he was steeped in American blues and jazz, North African music, and folk early in his career, and by the beginning of the ’60s he was playing the British folk clubs, extending his musical education. Artists like Martin Carthy and Anne Briggs turned him on to songs in the British folk tradition. By the mid-’60s Jansch had set up residence in London where he began and playing live shows, and by making the studio recordings that would come to influence a generation of songwriters, singers, and guitar players. Classic artists like Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, Neil Young, Paul Simon, Donovan, Elton John, and Nick Drake, all the way up to present artists like Fleet Foxes and Devendra Banhart, have acknowledged Jansch as a major influence and innovator of acoustic guitar playing. By his second album, Jansch was collaborating with John Renbourn, another seminal British folk guitar giant. Together in 1967, they formed The Pentangle, one of the most important British folk groups of the ’60s.

Bert Jansch is listed as one of Rolling Stone magazine’s “Top 100 Guitar Players Of All Time.”