Amos Garrett: Go Cat Go (Flying Fish FF226)

LIKE RY Cooder, guitarist Amos Garrett has carved a solid niche for himself without resorting to the usual ploys associated with rock's guitar cult: Although he can summon all the speed and power of his better known axe-wielding peers, Garrett has always concerned himself more with nuance, his best solos making their mark through restraint rather than flash. Like Cooder, too, this Toronto-born player has long displayed a wide-ranging musical intelligence that has enabled him to graft elements of country, jazz, and Hawaiian styles onto his own playing, lending his work an effortlessly exotic piquancy.