Acoustic Eidolon
This duo sings and plays folk and rock favorites, as well as their own compositions, on guitjo and cello.
Acoustic Eidolon: "Acoustic," an instrument without amplification. "Eidolon," an unsubstantial image, a phantom.
Acoustic Eidolon is no phantom. Instead this duo is very real musicians who first played together in 1998 and instantly created magic. Joe Scott plays double-neck guitjo (more on that later), and Hannah Alkire plays cello. Both musicians sing and compose, and together they create a truly magical sound.
Hannah grew up in a musical family, began playing the cello at age 8, and played in high school with fellow students Alison and Viktor Krauss. While she didn't make music her career (at first) she continued to perform with various groups and as a studio musician.
Joe grew up in Colorado and began playing the acoustic guitar at 12. He later switched to banjo, and still later attended the Guitar Institute of Technology in California. While there, he focused on the guitar yet missed the banjo, and actually strung a six-string guitar in the manner of a five-string banjo.
Joe toured with the New Christy Minstrels, playing guitar, banjo, and mandolin. Later, he moved to Colorado to start the group Wind Machine, with which he traveled and recorded for 14 years. During that time, he worked with his band-mate Steve Mesple and created the 14-string double-neck guitjo.
Joe and Hannah met in the late 90s, began playing music together, married, and have toured and recorded for nearly 20 years. While their music can be haunting, it is not unsubstantial, but fulsome, loving, beautiful, and wise. The two instruments blend, with first one taking the lead, and then the other. The sound is so seamless and perfect that it's difficult to believe there aren't tens of other cello and guitjo duos in the world.
But there is only one, Acoustic Eidolon.
