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Captain Nemoff Releases Classical Cigar Box Guitar Album

A review by Shane Speal

Cigar Box Guitar and classical music meet again after 150 years!

Legend has it, in the middle of 19th century, there were musicians who performed classical pieces on homemade instruments such as Cigar Box Guitar. Unfortunately, there are no records of these unique
performances.

So what does classical music of the Renaissance sound like on cigar box guitar?

Hailing from Moscow, Russia, Evgeny Nemov, aka "Captain Nemoff" released an album that answers that question...and it's one of the best albums I've ever listened to. Das Wohltemperirte Cigar Box Guitar (translated: The Well Tempered Cigar Box Guitar) is a download album available on CDBaby that mixes brilliant classical playing with the lo-fi ethos of the Cigar Box Guitar Revolution.

Nemoff starts off the album quietly, with a soft acoustic rendition of Albinoni's Adiago in G minor that eventually morphs into primal territory with an electric slide CBG (!) solo. Oh how I love to hear the unfiltered sounds of trashy cigar boxes playing classical! He covers a lot of the standards including Fur Elise and Greensleeves, mixing several homemade instruments together in beautifully layered pieces.

My brain nearly exploded Nemoff kicked in some massive foot stomping bass drum in the Celtic wedding song, Ev Chistr 'Ta, Laou! This is rock and roll from another era.

Nemoff deeply considers and arranges with a mindset that only a cigar box guitarist could possess.

Perfectly ending the album, Nemoff delivers Shubert's Ave Maria in acoustic majesty, at first picking out single note leads and then mandolin-style tremolo picking. It put tears in my eyes.

This is a masterpiece album.

Wait...I'll take it a step further. In my honest opinion, this is one of the greatest cigar box guitar albums in the history of the modern movement. Not only is Nemoff an incredible guitarist with one foot in the classical tradition, but he's also got one foot firmly in the cigar box guitar ethos... mixing lo-fi acoustic and electric tones brilliantly in each piece.

My heart is overjoyed as I listen to this album.

Buy the download of this album. Buy it today. Blast it in your woodshops. Play it in the house. This is one for the ages. 5 stars.

Das Wohltemperirte Cigar Box Guitar

by Captain Nemoff - $9.99 download at CDBaby

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Cpt. Nemoff on October 8, 2015 at 1:28pm

Welcome to Russia!

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Permalink Reply by Cpt. Nemoff on October 8, 2015 at 1:26pm

MANY Thanks , Shane!!!

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Permalink Reply by Jim Morris on October 8, 2015 at 4:01pm

I'm on my way to CDBaby quick as my one finger typing will take me!

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Permalink Reply by Jim Morris on October 8, 2015 at 5:11pm

Yup, just finished listening to most of the download. Inspiring and intimidating all at the same time!

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Permalink Reply by Ben "C. B. Gitty" Baker on October 8, 2015 at 7:22pm

I listened to it twice today, start to finish. Auld Lang Syne and Ave Maria got me all verklempt.

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Permalink Reply by the anonymous pick on October 8, 2015 at 7:35pm

indeed !

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Permalink Reply by Mark Bliss on October 10, 2015 at 8:46am

Well played and well produced. Kudos!

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Permalink Reply by RTZGUITARS on October 11, 2015 at 9:50pm

Great promotion Shane he deserves ever word you said. And don't forget he is an exceptional builder.

Good to see this site supporting other players

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Permalink Reply by James A OBrien on October 25, 2015 at 11:30am

I've been looking for something like this.

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Permalink Reply by James A OBrien on October 26, 2015 at 8:37am

This album if incredible. Thanks for giving it the attention it deserves; primitive and classical, the way it should be. Any chance you can get this guy over to PA for next year?