
"The guitar is a whole lot more than a guitar...
there's a whole attitude towards life wrapped up in it" (Charles Fox)
SB Acoustic ~ an Ongoing Series of Live
International Acoustic Music Concerts
& Annual Handmade Guitar Exhibition
Fingerstyle & Jazz
Gypsy & Flamenco
Americana & Blues
Slack Key & more
12 Sunday Nights per year @ 7:30pm
at SOhO 1221 State St. in Beautiful Downtown Santa Barbara
Spring '22 Concerts
Thank you Acoustic Club members for renewing your season tix!
You keep this series of world class acoustic music alive, and all the of concerts listed here are included with your season tix.
Seats are available for individual concerts for the winter/spring season of 8 concerts in 7 nights @ 7:30pm at www.sohosb.com:
5/29 Kaki King
6/12 Joe Robinson
Kaki King (USA) 5/29/22 $25
Composer and musician Kaki King is considered one of the world’s greatest living guitarists, known both for her technical mastery and for her constant quest to push the boundaries of the instrument.
Hailed by Rolling Stone as “a genre unto herself,” Kaki has released 9 albums and toured extensively, presenting in such prestigious arts centers as the Kennedy Center, MoMA, LACMA, The Met and Smithsonian Design Museum. She has created music for numerous film and TV soundtracks, including “August Rush” and “Into the Wild”, for which received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Score. She has performed with symphonies and chamber ensembles, and recorded an album in collaboration with the Porta Girevole Chamber Orchestra.
In 2015 Kaki launched "The Neck is a Bridge to the Body", a groundbreaking multimedia performance that toured extensively throughout the world, marking her first foray into multimedia theater. Kaki’s next multimedia project, DATA NOT FOUND, marked her first foray into experimental theater as she continued to redefine her guitar as a tool for storytelling, exploring contemporary issues like A.I., the natural world, “big data” and personal empowerment.
Kaki's tour is in support of her new album, Modern Yesterdays, released in October, 2020.

Kaki King performs at TEDWomen2015 - Momentum, Session 6, May 29, 2015, Monterey Conference Center, Monterey, California, USA. Photo: Marla Aufmuth/TED
Joe Robinson (Australia/USA) 6/12/22 $25
Joe Robinson is a true force in the pantheon of exceptional artists in modern music, and he has joined an exclusive group of lite performers whose impact continues to shape our unique American musical culture.
Joe began playing guitar in the bush country of Temagog, Australia when he was nine years old; at the age of 13 he won the Australian National Songwriting Competition and then won first place on the “Australia's Got Talent” television show. By his eighteenth birthday Robinson had played more than 1,000 shows, and by the time he celebrated his twenty-fourth he had played over 2,000, an incredible total number of performances logged in a comparatively brief professional career. Robinson was invited to come to Nashville by his mentor and inspirational savant Tommy Emmanuel. In 2009 Joe was awarded the Senior Grand Champion Performer of the World award at the World Championship of Performing Arts in Hollywood, where 70,000 contestants vied for the top prize. He continues to perform with Robben Ford, Lee Roy Parnell, John Jorgenson, Rodney Crowell and Emmylou Harris.
The Australian native continues to awe and delight with soulful and utterly brilliant, finely crafted songs on both acoustic and electric guitar, and has come into his own as a lyricist. Joe is at the top of his game, boldly stepping up with mind-bending chord work, solos that literally redefine what can be milked from a guitar, and inspired, melodic singing in his signature tenor voice.
Joe canceled all of his 2021 and 2022 touring dates due to Covid and his teaching and recording work. However, he will return to play for us to close out our season, for which we are deeply honored and indebted.
“I am enamored with the Taoist worldview... Through this lens, one is exposed to the polarizing elements of our world—the whole world views the beautiful as the beautiful, yet this is only the ugly. The whole world recognizes the good as the good, yet this is only the bad. Thus, something and nothing produce each other. The difficult and the easy complement each other—note and sound harmonize with one another. It seems everything in our world can be deconstructed in this way. Everything has an undertone.
The more I play music, the less I need to think about it. The less I need to think about it, the more I feel that I can dedicate myself to experiencing the undertones of harmony, rhythm, melody, rhyme and narrative.” – Joe Robinson
“One in a great while a young guitarist captures the attention of music lovers early in his career and manages to sustain this interest as he matures creatively and shed the prodigy label. Joe Robinson is one of those rare talents.” – Premier Guitar
Fall '22 Season
The Guitar Show TBA
"It’s one the most beautiful experiences I know. Someone has spent a lifetime learning how to get the most beautiful sound possible out of an instrument that someone else has spent a lifetime learning how to build those sounds into…and we come together to play what a similar human has done with writing music. And finally, the whole thing merges when fellow music lovers come to hear and see it all. Many good things happen in this life, but none better than this." (Michael Chapdelaine)
Details to be Announced Soon
"The Celebration was one of the all around most meaningful and entertaining experiences I have ever had and I thank you from the bottom of my heart..." (SBAIC'16 attendee)
Please come and support live music while it's here - don't take it for granted!
Eat, drink, listen and smile at SOhO.
SBAcoustic is the best bargain for live acoustic music, anywhere, anytime.
TBA 9/18/22
Brooks Robertson (USA) 10/9/22 $25
Django Cats (USA) 10/23/22 $25
Twanguero (Spain/USA) 11/13/22 $25
Winter '23 Season
John Jorgenson Gypsy Jazz Quintet
John Jorgenson (manouche guitar, bouzouki and clarinet) and Rory Hoffman (guitar, accordion and piano) are the two of the most versatile musicians that I know of; they can play just about anything on any instrument, and in his outrageously hot Gypsy Jazz Quintet will be accompanied by guitar, violin and percussion.
Jorgenson’s dynamic Quintet and its authentic gypsy jazz - the string-driven swing created by “Django” Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli in 1930s Paris - has been hailed the “U.S. ambassadors of gypsy jazz.” His Quintet is the only American act to ever headline the prestigious Django Reinhardt Memorial Festival in France, and has been featured at “Djangofests” in the US, UK, Germany and Canada. Jorgenson’s compositions for the Quintet additionally draw in elements from Latin, Romanian, Classical, Rock and Greek music. One of the elite gypsy jazz players in the world, he portrayed Django Reinhardt in the film “Head in the Clouds”.
John is music virtuoso across multiple genres, known for his exquisite licks and world-class musicianship on acoustic guitar, bouzouki, clarinet and vocals for this show as well as mandolin, saxophone and pedal steel. He has contributed to numerous GRAMMY®-winning and platinum-selling albums. The Quintet includes four additional distinguished musicians: Casey Driscoll on violin; Rory Hoffman on guitar, piano and accordion; Simon Planting on bass and Rick Reed on percussion.
“A mix of soulful romance and rollicking celebration, with Jorgenson’s fingers a blur that created avalanches of notes and chords, his dazzling prowess often caused listeners to gasp at the speed and sound…” - All About Jazz
“Jorgenson’s dexterity, speed, and beauty on acoustic guitar were astonishing, and one could only watch in awe…I struggle to think of a more accomplished guitarist I have seen on stage.” - No Depression
“John Jorgenson has insanely fast fingers – they’re nothing but a blur when he’s notes-deep into a song.” – NPR
Calum Graham (Canada) 1/22/23 $25
Becca Stevens (USA) 2/5/23 $25
Clive Carroll (UK/USA) 3/5/23 $25
Spring '23 Season
Peppino D'Augostino (Italy/USA) 3/26/23 $25
Badi Assad (Brazil) 5/7/23 $25
and finally, SBAcoustic wraps up with
The Carl Verheyen Acoustic Band (USA) 6/4/23 $30
Past Concerts
It's been an honor & privilege to host over 100 concerts of live music
by many of the world’s great string (and more) players since 2016.
We are so fortunate to have such talent amongst us who have the
freedom of expression to do what they do.
Don't take it for granted ~ get out and enjoy it while you can;
the musicians and venues need your support now more than ever.
A Call 2 Peace
Don Alder
Muriel Anderson
Paul Asbell
Tom Ball
Adrian Bellue
PIerre Bensusan
Claude Bourbon
Trace Bundy
Clive Carroll
Michael Chapdelaine
Nick Charles
Chucumite
Craig D’Andrea
Alex DeGrassi
Jerry Douglas
Antoine Dufour
Ken Emerson & Kimo West
Tommy Emmanuel
Vicki Genfan
Nina Gerber & Chris Webster
Teja Gerken
Goh
Trevor Gordon Hall
Mark Hanson
Rory Hoffman
The Hot Club of Nashville
The Idiomatiques
Claude LaFlamme
Michael Lorimer
Nick Johnson
John Jorgenson
J2B2
Laurence Juber
Justin King
Alberto Lombardi
Marley's Ghost
Sean McGowan
Tony McManus
Maria Muldaur
Kai Narezo
Kinloch Nelson
George Quirin
Donovan Raitt
Del Rey
Joe Robinson
Sam ’n’ Ash
Richard Smith
Tim Sparks
Joscho Stephan
Walter Strauss
Kenny Sultan
Luca Stricagnoli
Taimane
Sofia Talvik
The Transatlantic Trio
Hiroya Tsukamoto
Andres Vadin
Dani Vargas & Jenna Columbet
Carl Verheyen Acoustic Band
Willie Watson
Doug Young
Andrew York
Contact
If you would like to be added to our e-blast list
Acoustic Music & the Guitar

"Acoustic music is the timeless sound of nature and resonating materials – wood, bone, gourd, gut and skin. It predates the spoken language of modern culture, crossing all borders and barriers. It speaks to great, universal truths of very personal, yet familiar stories. Those stories keep legacies alive, allow them to be shared, and create new ones going forward".
(Derek Johnson aka Musicalist)
Music is unparalleled in its impact across civilization; it is infinite and evolving across time, place, religion and culture. It is the door to our souls, the balm for our spirit, an inspiration to feel deeply, our common language, and the heart of community.
The humble guitar is known for its enormous musical versatility across all cultures and genres. It has been the voice of people to tell their stories, and attainable to everyone regardless of wealth or social status.
"The guitar can truly change the world...we've seen that in ministry and education;
it has affected international borders. It's a very dangerous tool." (Richard Hoover, with a smile)
Background image: Benedetto Guitars