Paul Banks - White Noise And Diamond Nights (1999)

Guitarist Paul Banks, winner of the Danish music award for best folk songwriter of 2001, is actually a Colorado boy. He has been living in Denmark since 1961, and began issuing recordings in that country's small and heavily taxed recording industry in the late '70s. As a sideman, Banks has worked with more than 100 different Scandinavian outfits, the wide range of styles involved also apparent in the music the guitarist creates himself.

A blend of blues, gospel, jazz, ragtime, and folk is at the heart of most of his work, including the critically acclaimed 2002 release entitled White Noise and Diamond Nights. For a comprehensive understanding of what went into this recording, listeners would have to dive into the Danish music scene, including spending many nights in the company of Danish blues bands. Banks comes out of a scene that is earnest, reverential, and well-intentioned, but the blossoming of his own personality is what inspired critics to treat White Noise and Diamond Nights as if it were a beautiful bouquet. A taste of Banks in more of a house-rocking mode is available on the album Second to None by the Barner-Wittrock band.