Fingerstyle guitar champion Kade Puckett allows the musical muse to direct him in concert.
He summarized his free-flowing perspective in an interview with The Republic last year.
“I do like to have a sense of humor about what I play and, within the melodies, not always playing everything exactly right,” Puckett said, speaking from a recording studio in Linton, where he lives. “And I really kind of like to have a jam party, with a lot of songs kind of stuck together.”
The 46-year-old artist loves nothing better than to perform a country tune, followed by funk, followed by harder-edged rock. For him, wildly varying genres can blend without clear boundaries.
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“I don’t like being stuck to any one thing,” he said.
Puckett, who has played for nearly 30 years, will entertain in a show at at 7:30 p.m. Friday at The Harlequin Theatre inside FairOaks Mall, 2380 25th St. in Columbus. Fingerstyle guitar involves a performer playing both the rhythm and the melody simultaneously, much as a pianist does. The guitarist’s thumb normally handles the bass notes with a couple other fingers adding several other notes at the same time.
Puckett began playing as a youngster on his Dad’s 1943 Gibson guitar that was a gift. His father told him not to touch it. But Puckett began trying to play it “as soon as he left the driveway,” trying to sing Elvis Presley’s “Blue Suede Shoes.”
These days, the self-taught Puckett’s set list might include anything from Chet Atkins to Pat Matheny to Van Halen. Harlequin operator Robert Hay-Smith calls him “a consummate musician.” In a 2015 online interview with Journey Indiana, he mentioned that he clearly values individuality.
“You want your own style,” he said, “and your own knack.”
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Who: 2013 Indiana Fingerstyle Guitar Champion Kade Puckett of Linton in concert
When: 7:30 p.m. Friday
Where: The Harlequin Theatre inside FairOaks Mall, 2380 25th St. in Columbus
Tickets: $15 in advance at Viewpoint Books in downtown Columbus or online at brownpapertickets.com
Concessions: Cash bar available
Information and reservations: 812-343-04597.
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