Trace Bundy
| Trace Bundy | |
|---|---|
 Trace performing with multiple capos. | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Austin, Minnesota |
| Genres | Acoustic |
| Years active | 1999–to present |
| Labels | United Interests |
| Associated acts | Sungha Jung |
| Website | www.tracebundy.com |
Trace Bundy is an instrumental acoustic guitar player who lives and performs in Boulder, Colorado. He is known to fans as "The Acoustic Ninja" for his legato and finger tapping skills. His playing style features him playing with both hands on the fretboard, intricate finger picking arpeggios and inventive use of multiple capos.[1] Trace has built up his career through success on websites such as YouTube and Facebook and is now signed with the record label/management company United Interests.[2]
Early life
Bundy was born in Austin, Minnesota[3] and later moved to the small town of Buena Vista, Colorado. He first started playing guitar when he was 11 years old.[4]
Bundy met Jonah Werner (now an acclaimed acoustic folk songwriter) in high school and started playing with him at a local coffee shop in Buena Vista. The duo played mostly Jack'o'Pierce and other various folk songs. Bundy then met Tim Thornton from Newcomers Home and started playing old Dylan and Cat Stevens tunes. They all attended the University of Colorado at Boulder and still continue to play together from time to time. Before pursuing his music career in a full-time capacity, Bundy was an engineering professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Career
Bundy was influenced by a variety of musicians such as David Wilcox, Ani Difranco and Phil Keaggy. He stopped using a pick altogether when he realized he could play more complex music using all five fingers.
Bundy's first musical release was in 1999 with "O Night Divine", a collection of traditional Christmas songs. His next recording, containing all original songs, was 2000's "Solomon's Splendor". In October 2004 he released a CD/DVD combo titled "Adapt". The DVD shows a live concert filmed in Boulder, CO, in the summer of 2004. Many clips from this DVD circulated on YouTube and have received well over twenty-one million views. Some of the more popular clips are Trace covering the Backstreet Boys song "I Want It That Way", and Pachelbel's Canon[5] performed on an acoustic guitar using the fingertapping technique. Following this album was "A Few Songs For Christmas", an EP of more Christmas songs released in December 2007.
In 2008, Bundy's released "Missile Bell", a two-part project, consisting of a studio CD, a live CD, and a DVD filmed live at the Boulder Theater in November, 2007. Also in 2008, Bundy was named "Most Promising New Talent of the Year" by Acoustic Guitar Magazine, and came in third in the same magazine's "Best Fingerstyle Guitarist of the Year" category.[6]
On February 29, 2012 Trace announced via his Facebook page that his new album, "Elephant King", would be released on May 1, 2012.[7]
Discography
Releases on the Honest Ninja Music label:
- O Night Divine (1999)
- Solomon's Splendor (2000)
- Adapt (2004)
- A Few Songs for Christmas EP (2007)
- Missile Bell (2008)
- Elephant King (2012)
References
- ↑ Collegian
- ↑ "United Interests". Retrieved 8 November 2014.
- ↑ Mitchell Pavao, Brett Woitunski. "Trace Bundy on PureVolume". PureVolume. Retrieved 8 November 2014.
- ↑ http://www.tracebundy.com/bio/
- ↑ "Performance of Pachelbel's Canon (acoustic)". YouTube. Retrieved 8 November 2014.
- ↑ Acoustic Guitar Magazine
- ↑ "Trace Bundy". Facebook. Retrieved 8 November 2014.