David Rawlings shares a close-up look at his singular guitar style

Ever since I first heard Gillian Welch and David Rawlings back in the ’90s, Rawlings has been one of my favorite players. I love his sense of harmonic adventure, his unpredictable phrasing, his use of dynamics, the seamless blend with Welch’s rock-steady rhythm. He is one of the players whose spirit helps guide me when I’m improvising—I’ll think, what would DR do?

So I was thrilled to have the chance to sit down with Rawlings backstage in 2017 for a long conversation, guitar in hand. And then I was ecstatic when I saw the videos he made for my article when he was back in Nashville, demonstrating a group of songs that I’d suggested, including several from his then-new album Poor David’s Almanack. Namely:

• The Way It Goes

• Airplane

• Yup

• Red Clay Halo

Watch his videos above. Find the full text and transcriptions on the Acoustic Guitar site.