Since we began the Monthly Revival column, we’ve had a lot of feedback from readers offering thoughts and opinions about the guitarists we’ve featured. And to our delight, much of that feedback has indicated that the column is serving the very purpose we hoped it would; to connect fans with some of the best and most influential guitarists that may otherwise have slipped under the radar. Those guitarists that deserve the credit, but often go without it.

Over the past few months that list has included the likes of Wes Montgomery, Mike Bloomfield, and Peter Green. Last month we brought you Al di Meola, a true master of fusion music. The feedback we received after focusing on fusion for the first time was immensely positive; and given our desire to make you – the reader – as happy as can be, we’ve decided to keep the ball rolling with world music.

This month, Guitar Planet’s Monthly Revival is a man who brought bossa nova out of Brazil and into the limelight for the rest of the world. A man who standardized Brazilian influence into the world of jazz , paving the way for an entirely new interpretation of the genre. This month, we honour Charlie Byrd.

Born in Suffolk, Virginia in 1925, Byrd grew up in the “Roaring Twenties” of America’s post-World War I recovery. Like our other featured guitarists, Byrd had a steel guitar in hand at age ten under the instruction of his father – himself a guitar and mandolin player.

At age 17, he enrolled at the renowned Virginia Polytechnic Institute where he joined the school’s orchestra as a guitarist before being drafted to the United States Army during World War II . Despite engaging in combat, Byrd managed to maintain and develop his classical guitar playing within the Army. It was during his time in the Army, stationed in Paris, that Byrd first fell under the spell of his greatest influence; gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt. When the war was over, he returned to the U.S. and moved to New York City to study jazz.

Over the next few years he would move to Washington D.C. and then later to Italy to learn and play with Andres Segovia, where he developed his famous finger-picking jazz style on the classical guitar. It was at this time, in the mid-1950s, that Charlie’s career began to take off.

Since we began the Monthly Revival column, we’ve had a lot of feedback from readers offering thoughts and opinions about the guitarists we’ve featured. And to our delight, much of that feedback has indicated that the column is serving the very purpose we hoped it would; to connect fans with some of the best and most influential guitarists that may otherwise have slipped under the radar. Those guitarists that deserve the credit, but often go without it.

Over the past few months that list has included the likes of Wes Montgomery, Mike Bloomfield, and Peter Green. Last month we brought you Al di Meola, a true master of fusion music. The feedback we received after focusing on fusion for the first time was immensely positive; and given our desire to make you – the reader – as happy as can be, we’ve decided to keep the ball rolling with world music.

This month, Guitar Planet’s Monthly Revival is a man who brought bossa nova out of Brazil and into the limelight for the rest of the world. A man who standardized Brazilian influence into the world of jazz , paving the way for an entirely new interpretation of the genre. This month, we honour Charlie Byrd.

Born in Suffolk, Virginia in 1925, Byrd grew up in the “Roaring Twenties” of America’s post-World War I recovery. Like our other featured guitarists, Byrd had a steel guitar in hand at age ten under the instruction of his father – himself a guitar and mandolin player.

At age 17, he enrolled at the renowned Virginia Polytechnic Institute where he joined the school’s orchestra as a guitarist before being drafted to the United States Army during World War II . Despite engaging in combat, Byrd managed to maintain and develop his classical guitar playing within the Army. It was during his time in the Army, stationed in Paris, that Byrd first fell under the spell of his greatest influence; gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt. When the war was over, he returned to the U.S. and moved to New York City to study jazz.

Over the next few years he would move to Washington D.C. and then later to Italy to learn and play with Andres Segovia, where he developed his famous finger-picking jazz style on the classical guitar. It was at this time, in the mid-1950s, that Charlie’s career began to take off.