Tibbetts makes metallic folk music for disenfranchised folks. He's an elegant and multifaceted player, his compositions making use of exotic jungle rhythms (courtesy of longtime foil Marc Anderson), jazz-rock signatures, and regal European atmospheres. Tibbetts is one of the more idiosyncratic guitarists of the jazz/rock interface, with an uncanny ability to softly fondle his instrument yet rearrange its vocabulary to resemble nothing less than a sitar or tabla.

Steve Tibbetts is the thinking-man's guitar player whose music spans a host of influences – folk, jazz, rock, ethnic, modern classical – without being bound by any of them. Opening with a tabla-driven folksy cover of Led Zeppelin's "Black Mountain Slide," the album leads us through a collection of original pieces written by Tibbetts and his band members that are full of rich tone colors and inventive rhythms. His main instrument is acoustic guitar, but he also uses guitar synth, dobro, kalimba and something called a pianolin, while his colleagues add tabla, cello, steel drums and assorted percussion.

If one were to compile a list of iconoclastic and innovative guitarists who came to prominence in the 1980s and 1990s, the list would have to include such names as Michael Hedges, Adrian Belew, David Torn and Steve Tibbetts. While Tibbetts is probably the least known of the four, his work is easily on par with that of the others. What makes Tibbetts unique among these is that he is equally prone to playing acoustic and electric guitars. He has released several all-acoustic albums, but most of his albums feature a good mixture of both, as well as judicious use of electronic effects and a heavy reliance on a variety of exotic and familiar percussive instruments. Safe Journey is all of the above in a nutshell.

Steve Tibbetts is a difficult artist to categorize. While the German-based ECM was (at one time) the home of jazz guitarists Pat Metheny, John Abercrombie and Ralph Towner, Tibbetts' music seems more a product of Jimi Hendrix and Frank Zappa than Jim Hall or Wes Montgomery. Throw into the mix the wordless vocals on some tracks and the use of tabla and synthesizer, and Tibbetts and the other musicians on this CD produce some powerful music–not to mention amazing guitar pyrotechnics from Tibbetts himself.

Steve Tibbetts’s first ECM recording since 2001’s “Man About A Horse” is keenly awaited by his dedicated following. “Natural Causes” features the Zen-guitarist of Minnesota and his trusty sidekick Marc Anderson in an all-acoustic programme, a first in the Tibbetts discography.

SELWA marks the second pairing of fusion guitarist Steve Tibbetts with Tibetan Buddhist nun Choying Drolma. Like 1997's CHO, SELWA is a deeply atmospheric, musically adventurous journey that remains true to the spiritual underpinnings of Drolma's practice. A monk whose resonant, mellifluous vocals evoke both the solemnity and the serenity of her chants and prayers, Drolma's singing gifts strike the listener immediately. Even more striking is how perfectly Tibbetts's percussion, effects-drenched guitar work, and production flourishes suit Drolma's voice. Tibbetts's accompaniment is supremely sensitive, supporting and echoing Drolma's phrases and inflections with a variety of suitable instrumentation.