Blue Valley is my all-time favourite guitar instrumental. It’s from Thomas Blug’s debut (?) album, The Beauty of Simplicity.

Why’s it on the list? Tone and dynamics. Just listen to the open, expansive ring that is 100% Fender Stratocaster. Also, listen to the guitar come back in at 2:29, with that very slight Strat “bark”.

It’s such a beautiful, uplifting track.

Blue Valley was actually my first choice for Songs for Sovereign Professionals (it’s number two on my personal playlist, after Alice Cooper), but I could never find a version on YouTube to share. In desperation to share, I instead offer this link to Spotify.

You can also find it on Last.FM, here.

And, it features on the compilation, The Best of Thomas Blug.

Blug is a German guitarist who might be described as somewhere between Jeff Beck and Jimi Hendrix in sound. These days, he might be better known as a gear-head, having formed his own amp company, BluGuitar.

There’s an interesting, gear-focused interview, here.