Gavin Lurssen

Biography

Gavin Lurssen is a guitarist whose South African heritage clearly informs his original compositions. The rhythms of his homeland, such as Cape folk songs, infuse his music with a unique, percussive quality mixed with a world music-based melodic structure. Exploring a wide range of styles, Lurssen’s work focuses on acoustic steel string guitar and is characterized by a winning combination of experimentation and precise technique. Alternate tunings and various effects are combined to give the music a big, natural sound, much like his varied influences, including Michael Hedges, Leo Kottke, Daniel Lanois and Ry Cooder.

In addition to being an accomplished musician, Los Angeles-based Lurssen is a two-time Grammy Award-winning mastering engineer for his work on the soundtrack to "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" and the highly acclaimed box set for "Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues.” He also holds a degree in film scoring from Boston’s Berklee College Of Music.

Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.