Sir Richard Bishop :: Hillbilly Ragas

From the first shimmering sallies of “They Shall Take Up Serpents,” it’s clear that Sir Richard Bishop has returned from the locales of North Africa and the Middle East to once again explore the shadowy, verdant valleys of blues-folk Americana, the intricate, scale-slanted reveries of India. In abrupt, percussive volleys of strumming and picking, Bishop stakes out a claim on the mystic yearnings of Takoma-style picking, inspired, as the title implies, equally by Appalachia and the sub-continent.