Mike Sharp : Gentle Guitarist & Songwriter

So, today's featured artist was another brilliant find by Brenda. After reading about my hard time finding a good artist a couple days ago, she recommend I look up Mike Sharpe. When I did, I was pleasantly surprised. He's got a ton of great covers and sweet originals. The first of his covers that drew me in was of Otis Redding's "Sittin' On The Dock Of The Bay", a personal favourite of mine. His is a cover that is simple, yet intricate. With a booming, yet smooth guitar sound, Mike covers the highs and lows of the track, over which he keeps the vocal melody simple and easy. In all honesty, I think it's something that just about anybody would enjoy. Have a listen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKzm6Cezig8

Sweet, right? I really dug that little guitar solo he stuck in the middle there. And I'm not too sure what guitar he's on but it's got a brilliant, balanced sound. I actually found it interesting how he goes about those barre chords. He barres them typically but somehow gets to do little hammer-ons here and there. I personally play in a Hendrix/Frusciante fashion, which makes it easier to hammer-on and move around, within barre chords. But, technicalities aside, let me just say once again, brilliant cover!

I obviously subscribed to Mike's youtube channel, which you may do too, and "liked" his Facebook page, which you can find just by looking up his name on Facebook. As I said earlier, Mike's got a good deal of covers available and his list is ever-extending. There is variety in there, and I noticed a Pearl Jam cover, which I really like. However, a cover that stood out to me seems to be his earliest cover. It is of Marvin Gaye's "What's Goin' On". Quite an ambitious cover, and Michael did the masterpiece justice. Doubt it? Check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peh4DIMy-mo

Really nice cover. It's such a great song, and I'm glad Mike did it justice. The background to the song is quite interesting, so if you don't know about it, I recommend you check it out. Initially, Motown was against Marvin doing the song, but eventually, Marvin got the upper hand with the track. It definitely changed things in Motown, as well as the rest of Marvin's career. Can you imagine Marvin Gaye's discography missing "What's Goin' On"? Anyways, let's get back to Michael.

Michael's got some great originals too. A really cool tune he uploaded almost a month ago is entitled "Annabelle's Groove", and is yet another measure of Mike's talent. I was definitely drawn to that guitar playing, and all the little details he managed to fit in the melody. But do listen to the lyrics, they're definitely well written and show off Michael's songwriting skills. If you're ever able to catch him live, you should do so. I know I would. And if you really dig this original, make sure you check out the website he notes under the video! Check back tomorrow for another fantastic artist.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvnU2iisJ-8

Alex Hamel