I'm looking for some great acoustic guitar reference recordings. What do you guys use?

harvest
blood on the tracks
zep III
CSNY
tea for the tillerman
aerial boundries
leo kottke anything
sweet baby james
rubber soul
ani defranco
dave matthews

Pretty much anything by Willy Porter, John Martyn (1967-1975), Leo Kottke or Kate Rusby.

What's with the "Leo Kottke anything" recommendations? He's asking for references, not favorites. I love L. Kottke, especially his live stuff because he's not just a great guitar player but also a true entertainer. But in terms of recording quality, his extensive catalog is all over the map, from very good to AM radio.

"New Favorite" by Allison Krauss & Union Station is one of my longtime references for really detailed, nuanced and clean acoustic instruments.

For less subtle, fat-sounding mainstream pop/rock, I've always enjoyed Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers material from the "Full Moon Fever" / "Into the Great Wide Open" (Jeff Lynne) era.

OK..'Leo Kottke (but just the ones that sound good)'

yea, what he said.

Sorry to be such a nit-picker :)

bitflipper


Sorry to be such a nit-picker :)

Actually, I don't consider you a nit-picker at all.  I like a lot of the music that's been recommended, but, as you wrote, I'm looking for GREAT recorded acoustic guitar tones as REFERENCE material.

Tony Rice, (I went through a big Tony Rice phase) Tommy Emmanuel (Tommy uses a lot of mikes to record his sound) Frank Gambale when he is playing acoustic and that is a rare and beautiful thing:

http://www.frankgambale.com/bestoftheacousticside.php 

Frank is one of the finest acoustic guitarists on the planet. And albums like Eagles etc where the acoustic guitars are just beautifully recorded. Listen to the rhythm guitars, that is the key. I am sure I will think of more. Any well recorded Nashville album etc..

actually, i'd like to put a few of my own out there.

i've done quite a bit of acoustic recording lately, i'm very happy with the tracks i'm getting of late.
if interested, i'll post a couple...