A singer, songwriter, and virtuoso fingerpicker, Christopher Paul Stelling crafts timeless-sounding acoustic confections that draw from all corners of the American roots music spectrum. Stelling earned critical accolades for his 2012 debut long-player, Songs of Praise and Scorn, with critics citing both his technical acumen and soulful songwriting, which is steeped in blues, country, and folk. While his third album, 2017's Itinerant Arias, engaged both folklore and protest folk, his fifth full-length, the Ben Harper-produced Best of Luck (2020), adopted a more hopeful, reflective character. ~ James Christopher Monger