<br /> Jim’s second CD was selected as one of ten winners in Acoustic Guitar Magazine’s “Homegrown CD Awards,” which deemed it among the finest, independently-produced acoustic guitar CDs in the country for 1999-2000. Jim’s third CD is an all-traditional hymns affair which has also been extremely well received, and Jim’s fourth disc marked his debut with Solid Air Records in Orange County and is a “best of” from his first three independent releases. His fifth CD is a collection of solo Christmas carols, his sixth is a compilation of pop tunes arranged for solo guitar, and his eighth and latest recording is a collection of solo original and popular tunes done is Hawaiian slack-key or "ki ho'alu" style.. Jim was a first place winner in San Diego’s all-styles guitar contest “Guitar Wars” in 1995, and was a “top five” finalist in the 2005 and 2009 International Fingerstyle Guitar Competition in Winfield, Kansas.<br /> <br /> What Jim brings to the stage can best be summed up by a reviewer from Guitar Player Magazine who states “Jim… delivers an appealing mixture of British folk (Jansch, Renbourn, Legg) and California freestyle (Hedges, de Grassi, Ackerman.) He mixes an uncanny ear for melody with an edgy percussive attack… throw in driving rhythms, beautiful crystalline tone, and deft… technique… and you’ve got one fine player. “Jim has shared stage and/or billing with a microcosm of international talent including folk/blues guitarist and singer-songwriter Chris Smither; ex-Steve Vai sideman Mike Keneally; ex-UFO and Scorpions guitarist Michael Schenker; National Fingerpicking Champions Richard Smith, Bob Evans, and Doug Smith; German fingerstyle wunderkind Peter Finger; harp-guitarist and National Flatpicking Champion Stephen Bennett; and Taylor Guitars clinician Doyle Dykes—who considers Jim a "… great writer and musician, and a great man." <br /> <br /> You can contact Jim on jimearpguitar@livejournal.com<br /> ">