African Guitar
Matthew Lacques & Richard Linley

Matthew Lacques (aka Matt Lax) began playing bluegrass guitar at age nine, and spent his teen years between Los Angeles, Houston, and Austin playing electric blues, country and jazz . In '83 Matt moved to the Bay Area, was smitten by the sound of African guitar, and joined the South African world beat group Zulu Spear. After a decade of touring and recording (Matt penned the title track for Zulu Spear’s 1991 Capital Nashville release Welcome to the USA), Matt has released two albums of original music with Matt Lax and Nearly Beloved: the 1998 Wanderer's Dream, (reminiscent of Bob Dylan’s Nashville Skyline), and the 2003 release Hurricane and a Tumbleweed which explores the “Afro-Billy” side of Matt’s country jazz-meets-Soweto-jive guitar style. He is currently a guitarist and singer with The Palm Wine Boys and Nearly Beloved.

Richard Linley has been writing songs since he first picked up the guitar, influenced by such greats as Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie. In the late 80s he had the great honor of playing music with S.E. Rogie, the godfather of palm wine music. It was Rogie who inspired him to want to play more in this style. Richard is a student of world music, and has studied Indian music. He was an original member and co-director of Vukani Mawethu, a choir singing South African freedom songs. He is currently a guitarist and singer with The Palm Wine Boys.