Dan Crary & Tony Rice -these 2 are generally credited as making the guitar a lead instrument within bluegrass. some of the finest, fastest and cleanest flatpicking i've heard. Tony Rice Unit combines bluegrass and jazz. Dan Crary mixes in celtic, classical and flamenco sometimes. Both been around for years. Recommended listening: Tony Rice -Backwaters Dan Crary - Guitar
Don Ross - this guy's Canadian and a brilliant fingerpicker, loosely in the same area as Michael Hedges mixing up blues, new age, folk. usually plays a 7 string acoustic. Recommended listening - Passion Session
Tony MacManus - Scots fella specialising in celtic styles, arranging trad tunes for guitar.clean, fast and a great tone.Recommended listening - Pourquoi Quebec
Tommy Emmanuel - a big name Down Under and recently moved away from the rock thing to more solo acoustic stuff in the Leo Kottke vein. a master fingerpicker if ever there was and a former collaborator of Chet Atkins.Recommended listening - Solo
Martin Taylor - been around a while and also a former collaborator with Chet. What he cant do on guitar isnt worth doing. primarily a jazz player he also incorporates other styles. Recommended listening - Masterpiece Guitars
Antonio Forcione - a very individual stylist fusing classical, rock, jazz, flamenco, arabic. often plays a fretless guitar. recommended listening - Live
Jerry Reed - so he's an old fella now and was knocking about in the 70s doing stuff with Chet. still, not just a brilliant fingerpicker but a writer of some great tunes with funny lyrics. wrote 'Guitar man' and 'US male' , as covered by Elvis.
