Here we have two acoustic guitar players that mostly play music they have written themselves. But there almost all similarities end.

On the back of Clarelynn Rose's CD you are informed that 10% of the profits from the album will be donated in support of environmental education. After listening to the record I must say I am not surprised. The cover shows three elegant terns, seabirds from the Californian coast, and there are also pictures showing Rose sitting on a stone on the beach, the guitar leaning towards that stone and of the ocean itself.

Nature is present in Rose's music. Among the titles she has given her music you find "Sunshower", "Song of Putuo Mountains" and "Pacific". The music in itself is like a gentle stroke over your hair. It is a soothing companion, perfect for an early morning when you do not feel like going back to sleep, or to help you settle down after a stressing day at work.

Rose plays a steel strung guitar, using eight different tunings on the eleven tracks. She states John Renbourn as her main influence, and I can see the point, especially if you think of the Renbourn that made "The Lady and the Unicorn". But she does not touch the jazzier or the bluesier sides of Renbourn, only the lute-like folky side. For instance, her bass line work is mostly limited to just striking the right bass note for the chord behind the melody line. There is no contra punctual work here, nor any driving bass lines.

Having said that I confess that Rose is good within the narrow field she has chosen for herself, and I do not mind listening to her. But I would have liked a little more variation and some more temperamental tunes. Maybe it is symbolic that the track I like most is a medley of two traditional tunes, "Monk's Gate" and "I Saw Three Ships". And clocking in at less than 38 minutes the CD is a bit on the short side.

Gilbert Isbin is from Germany. He plays a nylon strung guitar and is clearly trained in classical music, though his approach here is more jazzy with large parts feeling more improvised than composed. Over rhythmic but quite simple bass work he builds layers of complex harmonies, frequently performed in a flashy manor as to showcase his technique.

Eleven of the fourteen tracks are self-penned, bearing titles as "Fleur's Dance", "Rencounter" and "Close". He includes a very free interpretation of Jimi Hendrix's "Little Wing", a Django Reinhart-piece and a Flemish folk song as well, but he treats them in such a fashion you can hardly distinguish them from the other tracks.

In my mind Isbin has one major and two minor problems to cope with. The major one is that the approach he uses, with very little melody work, makes it hard to remember any of the tracks. It just floats in and out without leaving much of a trace.

The minor ones are to do with technique. At times he tries things he just barely masters, with the result you feel he almost stumbles over the strings. And a few times the guitar feels slightly out of tune, especially when he tries some heavy handed single note lines on the thinner strings, parts that sounds over dubbed (and I am not against over dubbing). Maybe it is just that he pulls the strings too hard.

Given the choice I would go for Clarelynn Rose, but honestly, neither of these records will make messieurs Renbourn, Bensusan nor Simpson lose any sleep.