Lawson Rollins - "Infinitia"
(Infinitia Records)

Lawson developed a love for the Spanish guitar in his mid-teens when he discovered the recordings of classical guitar maestro, Andrés Segovia. He put aside what had been his primary instrument since the age of 8 – the drums – and dedicated himself to learning the music of the great Spanish composers that Segovia popularized. Through private study and with encouragement and inspiration from guitar teachers and master class workshops, Lawson quickly developed his own expressive voice on the guitar and honed an uncommonly dexterous classical ‘finger picking’ technique that he exclusively uses to this day. By his early twenties, Lawson’s keen sense of rhythm, knack for composition, and love of improvisation led him away from the classical repertoire and in the direction of the rhythmically enticing Spanish folk guitar styles and the improvisational freedom of Latin jazz and South American music.

Embarking on his first outing as a solo artist, Lawson Rollins has widened his compositional palette with his 2008 album, Infinita. On the recording Lawson crafts a lush World Music tapestry, featuring an eclectic, all star ensemble of 18 musicians, singers, and producers from the Middle East, South America, Europe and the United States, with additional contributions from a string orchestra in Prague. Infinita features exotic instrumentation and prominent references to Persian, Arabic, and Indian music, as well as Latin and South American musical traditions. Weaving through this expansive soundscape is the distinctive guitar work and timeless compositional voice of Lawson Rollins. As the Portuguese title Infinita suggests, the music on the album is unconfined by genre restrictions and embraces a spirit of infinite creative possibility and wide-reaching artistic vision.

www.lawsonrollins.com