'Featuring eleven stories across 132 pages, from exploring the world of vintage beer can collecting in the 1970s to dragging a ball-pit all the way to Copenhagen to meet with our coverstar (a one-of-a-kind 1960 Fender Jazzmaster in Violet) we hope you’ll enjoy the many weird and wonderful tangents the guitar world has sent us on. Other adventures see us back in Nashville, where we head into the workshop to build a pink guitar, and to a studio in LA carpeted in green astroturf for an uplifting chat with LA session star and producer Mason Stoops, who reveals the quirky tools of his trade and the inspiration he draws from his motor-racing heritage. And it might surprise you that one of our photography contributors this issue is Leo Fender himself!
Also in this issue of Eleven, we follow a thread through the darker side of roots music; from the Southern Gothic lyricism of Kentucky singer-songwriter Ian Noe to former domestic abuse prosecutor turned Dark Americana star India Ramey, then across the pond to the more experimental side of folk with Jim Ghedi, who recently composed the score to the new Robin Hood film and gamely spent a few hours scrambling around the Peak District with us on a cold February afternoon. On a somewhat brighter day at the end of last summer we hopped over an ancient wall into the English countryside to explore myth, folklore and vintage Gibsons with Jake Kiszka and Chris Turpin of Mirador.
For a dose of nostalgia, Canadian illustrator Courtney Reader shares her take on the lost art of concert ticket stubs, while we close with a Mini Masterclass on creative songwriting from our favourite Nashville-based hitmaker, Steven Solomon.'
