If there\u2019s one place you\u2019re unlikely to find Diego Garcia\u2014the Spanish-born guitarist better known as Twanguero\u2014it\u2019s in a rut. Combining European, classical, flamenco, Latin American, and North American influences, this Latin Grammy winner is always ready to explore. Both his playing and approach to composition are richly diverse\u2014yet they\u2019re cohesive enough to come across as the personal expression of an artist who, in his own words, \u201ctells stories with six strings.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even for someone celebrated for his fluency in different genres of guitar playing, from steel-string acoustic to nylon-string to electric, the latest Twanguero album, Carreteras Secundarias, Vol. II<\/a><\/em> (Back Roads, Vol. II<\/em>), is something of a departure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The studio? A Costa Rican jungle. That venue would be challenging enough without the added factor of the instrument he used: a nylon-string made to the specifications of one of the earliest guitars ever built. While the album teems with nature sounds captured as ambience, the music itself isn\u2019t locked in one place or time. Instead, it\u2019s like a journal, a reflection on both a brilliant guitarist\u2019s technique and on the meaning of place in a world that, at the time, was isolated by Covid lockdowns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I connected with a Twanguero, who currently lives on a houseboat in southern California, during a visit to his family hometown of Valencia, Spain. In a video call, he talked about the recording and guitar techniques behind the project, as well as the Torres replica he brought with him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n