Asheville based guitarist/composer, David Stevenson announces the release of a new recording. May, Arise! is an "East meets West" collaboration with world beat percussionist extraordinaire, River Guerguerian. The recording features intricate interplay between the guitar and a huge variety of percussion instruments from around the globe including Tabla, African Talking Drum, Tibetan Bells and Middle Eastern Frame Drums.
Stevenson is a classically trained guitarist who has clearly left the purist's path to pursue a unique voice for his instrument - the nylon stringed guitar. When not writing genre-busting music he is detailing the purist's path to guitar students at UNCA where he has been an adjunct teacher for 20 years. Stevenson is also on the faculties of Mars Hill College and Clemson University and additionally maintains Western North Carolina’s only Suzuki Guitar Studio, leading the area’s youngest guitarists to the finer realms of classical expression. In fact, a couple of these young wunderkinds opened the debut concert of the new CD on August 6th at the Grey Eagle in Asheville, NC.
River Guerguerian is well known to the region's audiences, having worked as a studio musician on dozens of local productions and frequently performs live on a variety of local stages, most notably with Free Planet Radio the Asheville-based world fusion trio. Of their duo effort, May, Arise! River says: "Collaborating with David Stevenson is a truly rich musical experience. His thoughtful and creative compositions are underscored with a sensitive virtuosity; his is one of the most exciting projects I've had the pleasure to work on in since arriving in Asheville."
