William Tyler Modern Country (Southbound)

★★★★ Instrumental guitar music is a tricky beast to master and maintain over the length of a full album but Nashville guitarist and composer William Tyler is as good as it gets. Hiss Golden Messenger friend and touring mate MC Taylor describes Tyler as a guitarist ‘‘who connects the dots between Sandy Bull, Richard Thompson, Bruce Lanhorne and Reggie Young’’. You could throw in Leo Kotke and, ironically, Michael Brooks because Modern

Country’s spirit is cinematic, atmospheric and occasionally anthemic on Highway Anxiety. Tyler uses reverb, various loops and sublime hand-picking (I’m

Gonna Live Forever) to build on his reputation as one of the finest guitar-slingers around.