B.G. McPike & Solly Burton
Brent Gordon (B.G.) McPike is an Indiana-based guitarist/composer/songwriter/vocalist. Growing up on the west side of Indy in the 70′s and 80′s, he concurrently learned his grandfather’s 20′s and 30′s jazz music; Classic rock such as Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and Moody Blues; the acoustic music of Dan Fogelberg, James Taylor; and eventually the styles of Leo Kottke and Alex DeGrassi. From the ages of 14-18, every Thursday night he could be seen and heard playing acoustic guitar for the local Young Life club meetings. He went from high school to Butler University’s Jordan College of Fine Arts where he graduated with honors in 1988, studying guitar with Brett Terrell – and composition, counterpoint, and orchestration with Michael Schelle. While at Butler U. in Fall, 1986, the Busch Gardens travelling audition company heard him play a movement from J.S. Bach’s Partita No. 1 for violin (transcribed for guitar) and Charlie Byrd’s arrangement of ‘Stardust’. They offered him a summer job in the 1987 Italian Show at Busch Gardens/The Old Country- in Williamsburg, Va – where he also played in the Starlight Orchestra big band on weekends.
In 1988 he worked a summer at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Michigan, where he got the opportunity to play live on public radio (WBLV) with jazz clarinet legend Buddy DeFranco. After another year at Busch Gardens in 1989, he enrolled in graduate school at the Indiana University School of Music in Bloomington, studying guitar w/ Ernesto Bitetti, and Jazz with David Baker. He completed both the Master of Music (1992) and eventually a Doctor of Music in Guitar Performance and Literature (2004).
Since the mid-90′s he has performed widely throughout the Midwest, Southeast, Texas, and even toured Thailand in 2008 – performing with the Ambassador Brass and giving masterclasses in Bangkok, Maha Sarakham, Kalacin, & Phitsanulok (in a concert attended by the U.S. Ambassador to Thailand in celebration of 175 years of U.S. Thai friendship). He performs mostly on the nylon string guitar, but also on archtop electric – often choosing to compose for guitar duo, string/jazz combo, and songwriter/guitarist formats. In 2008 he won the Arts Illiana ‘BRAVO! The ARTS’ award for Professional Artist of the Year in Western Indiana/Eastern Illinois, and his duo with Dan Sumner (McPike/Sumner Duo) took the “First Place-Professional Duo” certificate at the 2009 Brownsville (TX) Guitar Ensemble Festival and Competition. He has recorded a CD companion to one of the world’s most well-known classical guitar methods (First Lessons for Guitar by J. Sagreras – avalable on cdbaby.com) and two albums of original music with his group, The Haute Club: ‘Smooth Landing’ (2007) and ‘Bluephoria’ (2010) featuring Carolyn Dutton. He also performs in duets with 2007 Winfield Mandolin Champion, Solly Burton, and Steel Drum virtuoso, Dr. Jimmy Finnie.
In November, 2009 McPike performed Steve Reich’s ‘Electric Counterpoint’ at the Indiana State University’s Contemporary Music Festival with Reich himself sitting in the soundbooth of the concert hall. At the end of the program, the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer exclaimed: “That was really a fabulous performance!” Since 2001, B.G. McPike has been on the faculty of the Department of Music at Indiana State University.
Solly Burton is 17 years old, and has been playing mandolin for 8 years. He enjoys raisng chickens and playing his mandolin at jams, festivals, contests, and shows. His instructor Louie Popejoy has been an inspiration and has taught him most all that he knows.