"Vallillo is an exceptional guitarist on six string, flat or fingerpicked and bottleneck slide and has a rich deep voice" Dana Garcia, Canadian River Music Amarillo, Texas
 
Guitars, I love em all! There’s no such thing as too many. And of all styles of playing, for me, slide guitar is the most intimate. It’s an emotive style of playing that can make a slow song simmer and a fast piece burn.
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For years I’ve collected and restored old stringed instruments, some high quality, most quite inexpensive, but each with its own unique voice. With The Last Day of Winter, I used this collection of voices to create a unique recording of original and Americana roots music on slide guitar.
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I let the songs dictate the arrangements and choice of instrument, frequently pairing some rather unique combinations to create the feel and tonal timbre I was after. Some even surprised me.
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"The heart of each track lies in his slide guitar, which breathes new life into the softly flowing Shenandoah, or springs playfully around as on Steel Guitar Rag and the slightly less than traditional Tequila." -Jonathan Aird, Americana UK
 
Seventeen different vintage instruments are featured in a tonal palette that is rich and varied; the stark, mournful sound of a 1929 steel bodied Triolian paired with the mid-rangy honk of a 1930’s Del Oro arch top on Farther Along, the almost harp-like tones of the 9 string slide contrasted with a magnificent 1936 Larson Brother Euphonon wielded by guitar wizard Robert Bowlin on Shenandoah. And let’s not forget the sassy spit of the National Triolian on the classic 1950’s rocker, Tequila!
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There are original songs here too; Bloody Williamson, the chilling account of the 1922 miner’s strike in the notorious Southern Illinois County of the same name, Lettie’s Song which speaks of lost friends and days gone by in “the town that time forgot”, and Silhouette Against The Stars, a beautiful song of harvest time in the Midwest.
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From Americana classics to original songs and instrumentals, The Last Day of Winter may just be the best combination of old guitars and broken wine bottles you are going to hear in a long, long time!