John Renbourn

Long acknowledged as one of the greatest and most influential acoustic guitarists to emerge from the British folk scene, the late John Renbourn is best known to the wider world for his membership of Pentangle, the genre-busting band that he was instrumental in bringing together in 1967. Pentangle’s recordings are widely available, most recently with Cherry Red’s 2017 highly-acclaimed box set Pentangle: The Albums. in 1966. Housed in a clamshell box that boasts replica album sleeves, some very rare photos and a new essay on the man, the 6-CD set Unpentangled anthologises that essential but often overlooked body of early work.Bert Jansch, his joint album with Bert And John as well as Dorris HendersonHowever, Renbourn recorded extensively both before and during the band’s early genesis, with a trio of solo albums joined by two vital collaborations with American-born folk singer. The set also contains a clutch of bonus tracks from the same period (including amarvellous psychedelic folk rendition of the Love song Message To Pretty) to shine the solo spotlight on a man that folk club organiser and future ZigZag founder Pete Frame once dubbed “the stoned Julian Bream of folk guitar”