The old man and the guitar. On Hillbilly Ragas, what you get is Sir Richard Bishop in his purest form: acoustic guitar, and nothing else. Which still means quite a lot. The self-proclaimed Sir more than lives up to the album’s title with densely strummed figures, often leaning into the American Primitivism of his idol John Fahey. At the same time, his high-speed fingerpicking, monumental in its repetition, echoes the ragas crafted by the other great »primitive« guitar sorcerer, Robbie Basho.
Bishop takes his hillbilly approach and turns it into something uniquely his own – seemingly even more primitive. But a closer listen reveals subtle variations, polyphonic interplay, the »Rhythm Methodist«, as one of the tracks is titled. Is »Methodist« meant in a religious sense, or simply as »the guy who works hard at it«? Possibly both. Either way, Bishop sees these nine pieces as a journey through »dark woods«, into uncharted territory. The result, however, doesn’t sound dark – it’s more like a wild meditation. A folk music of ecstasy. Playful seriousness, disciplined chaos, familiar strangeness. As said, quite a lot.
