New Orleans guitarist Phil DeGruy’s delightful fusing of creative energy, radical genius and impeccable craft has yielded much acclaim from contemporaries, not considered your usual guitarist. First of all, he considers himself to be a guitarpist, playing a unique custom-built instrument that combines a traditional electric guitar with an electric harp.

Not only is he a respected guitar (and guitarp) wizard who’s collaborated with other master guitarists in New Orleans (Cranston Clements, Jimmy Robinson, John Rankin), he’s got a crazy wit and a flair for entertaining his audience that also has bolstered his career as a solo player. Upon hearing Phil, late guitar phenom Danny Gatton opined, “I have never been more impressed with anybody’s playing, ever!” And the late jazz-rock influencer of the 1960s-70s, Larry Coryell described him as the “most original solo guitarist of the 90s.”