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Artist
Suni McGrath
12+ albums
folkguitaracousticinstrumentalamerican primitive
about
Harold James “Suni” McGrath (July 7, 1943 - January 11, 2017), was an innovative 12-string guitarist whose experimentation with exotic scales, modes and polyrhythms were captured on recordings in the late 60s and early 70s. McGrath’s distinctive style earned him a reputation among instrumental guitar aficionados alongside his contemporaries John Fahey, Robbie Basho, and Leo Kottke, despite having a small, long out-of-print discography and limited live performing career. Born and raised in Indiana, McGrath grew up in a musical family of Irish and French descent. His grandfather played Celtic music on the flute, he would hear traveling Appalachian fiddlers who came through town, and he listened to a gypsy music program on the radio. In 1960, Suni began hanging around the “Greenwich Village of the Midwest,” Antioch College in Yellow Springs, OH, playing at a local spot, The Bakery. He married an Antioch student named Janice, a classmate of fellow guitarists Ian Buchanan and John Hammond. McGrath signed to Maryland-based Adelphi Records in 1969 which produced three albums: Cornflower Suite (1969), The Call of the Mourning Dove (1971) and Childgrove (1972). Full of odd time signatures and wildly diverse musical cues, the albums feature Japanese, Flamenco, Mississippi blues, gypsy, and Celtic influences. Despite never having been reissued in any format (or perhaps because of it), the albums have taken on a hallowed reputation in guitar circles. Suni began playing guitar in 1956
