Ned Evett | |
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Background information | |
Birth name | Edward Duncan Evett |
Born | Nashville, Tennessee, United States | May 9, 1967
Genres | Rock, blues, Americana, Delta blues, instrumental rock |
Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter |
Instrument(s) | Guitar, vocals, fretless guitar, mandolin, piano |
Website |
nedevett |
Ned Evett (born May 9, 1967) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter, best known for inventing and playing the fretless glass-necked guitar.
Edward Duncan Evett was born in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. A son of a university English professor and an opera singer mother, Evett excelled at music; first playing the ukulele at the age of 11, progressing to the classical guitar and giving his first professional performance at the age of sixteen. He then won a classical guitar scholarship, but dropped out before graduating to play in rock bands around the US. [1]
Evett began playing fretless guitar in 1990 on a modified stratocaster. He first appeared in print in Fingerstyle magazine's 'Bizarre Guitars' profile, who stated "Ned Evett will make you reconsider the plucked-string instrument". [2]
Evett developed the use of glass fingerboards for fretless guitar in 1996. [3] In 1996, Evett played the fretless glass-necked guitar with Warner Brothers Recording artists Built to Spill, on their album, The Normal Years. [4]
In 2003, Evett won the North American Rock Guitar Competition and, in 2004, PBS Television broadcast a documentary about the competition titled Driven To Play. [5] The competition launched a series of high-profile opening concert performances for Evett with notable musicians, including Joe Satriani, the Allman Brothers, John Fogerty, George Thorogood, Eric Johnson, Kansas, and Leon Russell. [6]
In December 2003, USA Today described Evett as "The perfectly sane and vastly entertaining master of the fretless glass-neck guitar". [7]
In 2007, Guitar Player described Evett as "The world's first fretless guitar rockstar". [8]
In 2012, Evett released Treehouse, his sixth solo record, produced in Nashville, Tennessee by musician Adrian Belew. [9]
An animated filmmaker, Evett and Joe Satriani co-created the original animated series Crystal Planet, currently in development. [10]