The New Guitar Storytellers: ‘Bringing Back the Instrumental’

By Jon Hersey

Can instrumental music tell stories? This was a hotly debated question in the 19th century, during the War of the Romantics, when notable composers and critics duked it out in the pages of music journals, but its cultural currency has receded with the ascendance of lyric-based songs.

We’ve never lost sight of the fact that instrumental music can enhance …