Ben Garnett’s Kite’s Keep is a masterclass in acoustic storytelling, where each track unfolds like a film scene and the guitar serves as both narrator and landscape. Garnett’s second studio album brings together a remarkable ensemble including Darol Anger and Brittany Haas on fiddle, Ethan Jodziewicz and Paul Kowert on bass, Chris Eldridge on guitar, and Matt Glassmeyer on piano. Together they create intricate musical dialogues that bridge jazz, folk, bluegrass, and classical traditions without ever settling into one.

For Garnett, the acoustic guitar is a cinematic instrument capable of building entire worlds. “It has this ability to build a world for other instruments to inhabit,” he says. That vision is realized across the album’s lush textures and evolving structures, with melodies that shimmer and expand like beams of late-afternoon light. Tracks such as “Look Again” and “Tell Me About You” illustrate his ability to let the ensemble breathe, passing themes between instruments in ways that feel organic and alive.

Raised in Texas, Garnett grew up surrounded by guitars and songcraft. His cousin Andy Timmons, a celebrated guitarist who played with Danger Danger and Olivia Newton-John, taught him that songs matter more than flash. Later, studies with Julian Lage at the Savannah Acoustic Seminar and a lasting mentorship with Punch Brothers’ Chris Eldridge helped refine his musical compass.

With Kite’s Keep, Garnett proves that the acoustic guitar can do more than dazzle, it can invite, converse, and transport. It’s an album that doesn’t just speak to guitar players but to anyone who finds beauty in the space between sound and silence.