Flatpicking Guitar Magazine is the force behind Flatpicking Favorites Hot and Spicy, but there's no reason this excellent music should be relegated to the limited domain of flatpicking aficionados. Many of us are not familiar with such award-winning flatpickers as David Grier, Bryan Sutton, Jim Hurst, Brad Davis, Tim May, and the many others who play on the disc, nor may we be particularly aware of flatpicking as a style, but we can hear the results of no-holds-barred jams that are quick and playful. This all-instrumental CD is a flat-out great listen.

Dirty Linen, June/July 2004

This sizzling CD of guitar duets is so riveting it should come with a warning: do not listen while driving. Sure to become the gold standard for flatpickers, who might be as intimidated as they are impressed, Flatpicking Favorites features 23 of the country's best pickers, many of them award winners, paired up by producer Dan Miller of Flatpicking Guitar Magazine. They used traditional standards as platforms for instrumental highwire acts, piling on variations and riffs with gymnastic abandon. Bryan Sutton and Brad Davis kick things off with "Wheel Hoss," alternating bass notes that sound like tremolo gone wild. Tim May and Cody Kilby similarly defy gravity in "Lonesome Fiddle Blues," and Jim Nunally and Acoustic Guitar Magazine editor Scott Nygaard perform acrobatics in "Salt Creek" with a driving bass counterpoint that seems to chase the treble melody all over the fretboard. Bluegrass elements dominate, but blues gets its due in Brad Davis and Cody Kilby's edgy rendition of "Gold Rush" and Mark Cosgrove and Scott Fore's version of "Cattle in the Cane." David Grier and Bryan Sutton round out the CD with the jazzy sophistication they bring to "Back Up and Push." The playing is masterful throughout, with breathtaking lushness and clarity of tone.

Celine Keating, Acoustic Guitar Magazine

What can you say about a CD where 25 of the greatest acoustic flatpicking guitarists in the world are assembled on one CD and given freedom to play their hottest and spiciest versions of traditional tunes? Producer Dan Miller (Publisher of Flatpicking Guitar Magazine) got the idea for this CD as a result of requests from fans at festivals who were looking for a CD that would draw from fiddle tune standards that are at the core of flatpicking repertoire, yet allow these masters to color outside the lines with new arrangements, breaks, and improvisation.

The talent on Hot and Spicy includes David Grier, Brad Davis, Bryan Sutton, Jim Hurst, Cody Kilby, Tim May, Scott Nygaard, Jim Nunally, Gary Cook, Mike Maddux, Mark Cosgrove, Kenny Smith, Robin Kessinger, Steve Kaufman, Roy Curry, Scott Fore, Andy Falco, Bull Harman, Cecil Tinnon, Chris Eldridge, Tim Stafford, Wyatt Rice, and Larry Keel (seven Winfield National Champion Flatpickers and four IBMA "Guitar Player of the Year" winners) all paired off into duets on songs of their choice.

While there is not a lick out of place on the entire CD, several tracks are standouts for me; "Wheel Hoss" performed by Brad Davis and Bryan Sutton, "Lonesome Reuben" by Larry Keel and Wyatt Rice, and "Back Up and Push" played by David Grier and Bryan Sutton.

Recorded in Nashville, and mastered by Brad Davis, this disc allows the true sound of Martins, Merrills, Gallaghers, Collings and other fine guitars to ring clear and true, with a sound quality that puts the listener practically in the room with the pickers.

Hot & Spicy is an excellent introduction to this very specific acoustic genre or a great addition to the collection of the most devout flatpicking fan. You can find out more about this album and others on the FGM label at the magazine's site at flatpick.com.

Steve Douglas, Nine X

There has never been a better album for Acoustic Guitar picking that has come our way. Flat-picking Favorites features several artists and musicians that know their music. Bluegrass guitar performed with style and grace. What a wonderful instrumental album.

Roots Music Report (rootsmusicreport.com)

Dan Miller used to live in Pacific Grove, CA and he started his Flatpicking Guitar Magazine empire in sunny California. He has since returned to Virginia,and the books, CDs and magazines have continued to pro vide guitar pickers and bluegrass lovers with inspirational music that is found nowhere else.

The magazine features arrangements of "festival jam standards" that every aspiring picker should know and recognize at 50 paces from the jam. Dan has gathered the top guitar players in the country, including some Winfield Contest and IBMA Guitar Player award winners to produce some "hot and spicy" versions of these tunes. The pickers start out with the basic melody but by the third time through the song, the variations and licks are piled high and the result is a burn-the-barn-down version of the song that needs repeated listening to be believable - "how did they do that?" The recordings have a high presence and the tone of the guitars is wonderfully woody and happily without the embellishments of other instruments.

Jim Nunally and Scott Nygaard play a rumbling version of Salt Creek that has one guitar playing the melody in the treble register with the other taking the bass counterpoint. Mike Maddux and Gary Cook combine swing rhythms with jazz overtones in "Panhandle Rag." Bryan Sutton and Brad Davis gallop off on "Wheel Hoss" and push the notes so close to each other that the ink smudges. Tim May and Cody Kilby's version of "Lonesome Fiddle Blues" is another fast and furious romp, and no one will notice the absence of a fiddle!

Dan Miller has a winner with this CD - it's definitely one for every guitar player's collection!

Brenda Hough, Bluegrass By The Bay