Marc van Vugt received widespread critical acclaim for his first collection of guitar songs on The Lonely Coyote. Being a storyteller at heart one album was not enough to contain all the guitar stories van Vugt wanted to tell. The Curious Badger delivers another set of 12 compositions in which van Vugt continues his string of acoustic guitar adventures and deepens our understanding of how rich the acoustic guitar realm is. Acoustic guitar music in the tradition of Bill Connors, Ralph Towners, Pat Metheny and Egberto Gismonti.

‘Ever since I first taught myself a song on the guitar, Paul Simon’s Cecilia, I realized that all I wanted was to use everything I learned to write and perform my own songs. Out of curiosity and always looking for the unexpected I took off to create my own musical world.
On The Curious Badger, I continue my search for what it would be like if I stripped down my music and just let the guitars speak to me, no large ensemble to orchestrate, no other musicians to work with, just me and my guitars. It is like a pact that I created with all these 9 guitars. A wondrous combination like that of the badger and the coyote who sometimes choose to form a pack to hunt together.’

Featured guitars

Guild F512 1978 twelve-string guitar (1, 7, 9, 11)
Lowden 2008 baritone steel string guitar (2, 6, 11)
Mariano Conde 2011 nylon string guitar (3, 8, 10, 11, 12)
Martin 000-21 1946 steel string guitar (4, 5, 7, 11)
Levin 325 1960 acoustic archtop guitar (3)
Lowden O32 1990 steel string (7, 11)
Tacoma P1 Papoose 1998 six-string alto guitar (7)
National Folkstar 1964 resonator guitar (7)
Guild acoustic bass guitar (7)
Prepared harp zither (11)
Percussion (11)

Recorded at Baixim Studios, Houten
Artistic mixing and mastering by Sander van Herk, Driebergen
Produced by Marc van Vugt and Ineke Vandoorn
Graphic design by Studio Derk Reneman
Cover photo by Cat Urbigkit
Photo Marc by Jiri Büller

Special thanks to
Ineke Vandoorn for your love, artistic inspiration and help in realizing this album. Sander van Herk for your artistic vision and the great afternoons we spent mixing and mastering.

Thanks to
Chris Teerlink – Luthier’s Gitaren, Derk Reneman, Jiri Büller, Co de Kloet, Cat Urbigkit, Ernst Fliek – Ernstamps, Mark Hamre – NeckUp Guitar Support, Teddy Randazzo – Dazzo Pickups, Danny Kok – TMA Benelux, Gianfranco Rizzi – Gr Guitar, Tom King – Atomic

The Curious Badger MP3 album download

The Curious Badger Hi-res album download

EPK The Curious Badger – Marc van Vugt

Marc van Vugt
Dutch Grammy winner Marc van Vugt is known as a musician and composer who constantly surprises with his own projects. These take place in the intimacy of smaller ensembles or in original cross-over projects such as with the Netherlands Chamber Choir and the Metropole Orchestra. Marc performs internationally with his own groups and projects and meets colleagues from the field in his long- running series Marc Meets. His compositions reflect Marc’s experience in jazz and improvised music and contemporary composed music. The music is characterized by long, associative lines that often have melancholic overtones. Reviewers praise his eye for detail and the colorful harmonic elaboration that give the compositions their unique signature. “Music that stays in your head for a long time”. His recent solo acoustic guitar album ‘The Lonely Coyote’ received high acclaim and got him elected in the top 10 acosutic guitarists in the Benelux.

PRESS on Marc’s previous solo acoustic guitar album ‘The Lonely Coyote’:

• ‘This sounds Unique’ Steve Vai
• ‘The Lonely Coyote has become a bleeding-heart album, …the result of his quest has nothing to do with modesty: this CD is magnificent.’ Rinus van Der Heijden JazzNU
• ‘…They also learn what feeling sounds like for a change, for example in Innocent Children.’ Coen de Jonge Jazzism
• ‘A very accessible and above all fascinating album … a combination of fine melody lines, sound challenges and clearly audible experience’ Eric De Boer Hifi.nl
• GuitarModern “Guitarist van Vugt offers up a beautiful bonanza of acoustic guitar textures and deft playing in the spirit of works by Bill Connors, Ralph Towner, Pat Metheny and Egberto Gismonti.
• A sampling of the ingenuity of a true guitarist…You could also say this is van Vugt’s dessert, …from pure demonstrations to highly empathetic work’. Jazz Bulletin
• NewNotes Ben Taffin ‘The Lonely Coyote – Guitar Tales has become a remarkably beautiful album. For this man definitely knows what he is doing and knows how to captivate the listener from the first to the last note with his eight(!) guitars.’
• ‘Jede “Geschichte” ist anders – alle sind wunderschön. Eine großartige im wahrsten Sinne des Wortes akustische Reise in Gefilde des Jazz, der brasilianischen Gitarrenmusik, der freien Improvisation…. und ja, auch des Rock. Sehr zu empfehlen! Norbert Mendel Er-em-online
• ‘The strengths of this album are superb playing which never tries too hard to be virtuosic and a feeling of improvisation, with excellent compositions throughout.’ – Stephen Godsall JazzHalo.be
• ‘A wealth of atmospheres passes by in sophisticated pieces with the average duration of a pop song. A versatile, virtuosic and accessible album’ Christel Meijer, Jazzenzo.nl
• ‘Lonely Coyote turns out to be a stealthily measured outing for baritone steel-string guitar reminiscent of Ralph Towner…. intimate and frequently crystalline music.’ – Jim Gilchrist, The Scotsman

Baixim records ℗ 2023
Houten, The Netherlands
BR F533
℗ & © 2023 van Vugt / van Doorn

Van Vugt/Vandoorn management
music@marcvanvugt.com
www.marcvanvugt.com
phone +31647328869