Nicholas Phillips - American Vernacular: New Music for Solo Piano (2014)

The spiritual sublime is surprisingly close at hand in these pieces, the way that a motel room off the interstate keeps a Bible in the bedside table. Occidental Psalmody by Ethan Wickman and On the Drawing of Constellations by Ben Hjertmann both gaze heavenward for inspiration, while Luke Gullickson's Back Porch Requiem for John Fahey, a standout track, translates the titular guitarist's legendary fingerpicking style of American guitar playing into virtuosic pianism.But if Gullickson transforms Fahey's loping and amiable arpeggios into something a little showier, Phillips achieves the opposite with these endearingly modest interpretations. Some of the pieces in this program must be devilishly hard to play, but he'd much rather we notice the charm of the studies on "American Vernacular" than their difficulty.