Nathan Salsburg, being both a solo acoustic guitar player and a champion of vernacular music (his Twos & Fews label, an imprint of Drag City, collects under-heard work by artists like Hamper McBee and Nimrod Workman), has already endured a slew of comparisons to the esteemed fingerpicker and noted record fiend John Fahey. But Affirmed, Salsburg’s solo debut, is more a counterpoint to Fahey’s rhythmic early work than an explicit homage: Bright and elastic, his songs are less concerned with pulses and scales than with the ripples they kick up in your gut.
