I was inducted into The Kansas Music Hall Of Fame in 2008 with Pat Metheny. I was considered a pioneer in using special tunings on the acoustic guitar in creating my unique, poetic songs. I toured as a “solo” opening act for many iconic bands and artists including: BB King, The Jefferson Airplane, Jethro Tull, Linda Ronstadt, John Denver, POCO, John Lee Hooker, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Hot Tuna, Brewer & Shipley and MANY others. Metheny has recorded some 50 albums has won 20 Grammy s in 12 different categories. It was while on one of his many tours that the guitarist began rummaging through recordings to compile Dream Box.

Metheny's discography is a testament to his influence and talent, with 50 recordings and 20 Grammy wins across twelve different categories. From his groundbreaking album New Chautauqua, (ECM, 1979), which redefined instrumental steel-stringed Americana, to his exploration of free-improv in Zero Tolerance for Silence (Geffen Records, 1994) and the innovative use of technology in The Orchestrion Project, (Nonesuch, 2013) Metheny consistently pushes the boundaries of what a solo performer can achieve. But surely Artificial Intelligence also has dangers? He gives a balanced answer: “I know everyone is freaking out about it but for me it is a unique set of possibilities. It will need a lot of decisions on how It gets utilised and the way it gets disseminated.”

2024 DREAM BOX TOUR - Solo

With such continuity emanating from these varied efforts, it should come as no surprise that the title alone of “From The Mountains” conjures the panoramic beauty of Metheny’s best music (and many album covers). Selections such as “The Waves Are Not The Ocean” radiate a relaxed unhurried quality, one that pervades most of this nearly sixty minutes. The new compositions are highlights, tracing their central motifs to unexpected destinations. While some of Metheny’s best original work this century has spoken to his ambition as a composer (2005’s The Way Up), his aim here is for simple but immersive mood-setting. After an introduction of electric guitar against chiming, slightly dissonant acoustic chords, the gorgeous “Ole & Gard” swiftly finds its feet and cycles through various settings to return to a recurring bluesy refrain. “From the Mountains” is more formless but just as memorable, navigating its eight-minute runtime with a dreamy sense of focus: The effect is like watching the sun rise over an unfamiliar city, new contours filling in as the light starts to spread. In contrast to the introspection and insularity of the aforementioned companion pieces to this LP (as well as the raging cacophony in the contractual fulfillment that is 1994’s Zero Tolerance For Silence), there’s an overriding sense of this newly-formulated compilation as PatMetheny’s unconscious capture of the essence of people, places and things gleaned from his global jaunts.

Metheny made one point very clearly in an interview with LJN via Zoom. Whereas he writes a lot of tunes, he always submits them to his own tough test. He needs to be persuaded that the tune is strong and robust enough for him to want to go out on stage and play it at least 150 times. And most of the tunes he writes, he says, don’t pass that personal and self-imposed test. Or as he expresses it: “The batting average for the standard that I hope to aspire to is low.”Some commentators have suggested that his approach to integrating technology makes him a fore-runner or precursor of Artificial Intelligence. Here again he is clear as to the parts he wants to embrace and the aspects that simply have no interest for him at all in his permanent striving to be a better musician: “When I think about how to apply my interest in music through the prism of what tech offers I feel very strongly that – as the tech saying has it – ‘Garbage in. Garbage out’. If you don’t have a good story to tell, a good melody, and you can’t play that good, none of this is going to help. It is just going to amplify that it isn’t happening….” With “Trust Your Angels” reminiscent of the faint philosophical undercurrents in recent projects like 2020’s From This Place, a contemplative drama is nevertheless too real on “Ole & Gard.” Along with traces of mysticism in keeping withMetheny’s extended history, further such elements, buoyed by a distinct air of spontaneity, surface in “Clouds Can’t Change The Sky,”.