Nathan Salsburg
Guitarist, Composer, Writer, Archivist
Nathan Salsburg is a guitarist, composer, writer, and the curator of the Lomax Digital Archive, the online repository of the seven decades of documentary work compiled by renowned folklorist Alan Lomax. His most recent album is “Psalms” (August 2021), a collection of new musical arrangements of pieces from the Book of Tehillim. He lives in Kentucky with his wife, singer-songwriter Joan Shelley, and their dog, cat, chickens, goats, and infant human daughter.
Articles
Blog
Nathan Salsburg: On Psalms
I’m a guitar player and composer living in Kentucky. In 2016, in a desire for some kind of rigorous and creative Jewish engagement, I began an irregular practice of opening a bilingual Book of Psalms at random, scanning for passages that resonated conceptually and emotionally, as well as scanned rhythmically. Stirred (and/or challenged) by the words, I worked to thread them into new melodies, with the ultimate intention of making them satisfactorily singable. And in August I released an album called Psalms. Read more.
Appears in
Reboot Ideas
Reboot Ideas: Ancient Psalms Meet Contemporary Folk
Reboot Ideas presents a conversation with musician Nathan Salsburg and Reboot CEO David Katznelson, a Grammy-nominated producer in his own right, and also no stranger to the power of the tincture of history and sound to propel us forward. The two dig into Salsburg’s Psalms, the process, his impetus and the impact on him personally of deeply investigating his Judaism now. You will be treated to a musical and thoughtful conversation about the value of listening to the sounds of our past to imagine our future. Watch here.