Since he was on the stage in Wellfleet, at Preservation Hall on the first date on his tour in early April of this year, Aaron Larget-Caplan has been across the country in a melting pot of stops. He played in front of a crowd of 30,000 in Salem MA celebrating the 400th birthday of that witchy town before manifesting a westward destiny to the farther out reaches: Oklahoma, his homeland of Colorado, the Oregon PNW to play his packet of ballads to our America for its 250th – GUITAR AMERICA 250: REVOLUTIONARIES & ROCKSTARS (streaming all over).
True to ‘real life vs online perception’ form, Aaron is happy to confirm that “America” is not as bad a word out there amongst the rank & file as you may be lead to believe. It’s still as inspiring to his audiences, who will find their way to the stage to read various Amendments from the Bill of Rights while he summons the rasa gods. The ghost in that document is as moving to those in the seats as it was to the countries which were moved by the spirit of what founded our country that they borrowed the ideas for their own nation’s declarations of sovereignty. We see you, Australia, Brazil, Belgium, Norway. Now, is it ironic that the US has engaged in a spectrum of conflicts with several other countries who were so moved by our founding principles to have lifted something from those documents (hi there Venezuela, Vietnam, Czechoslovakia, and Liberia)? Yes but who’s perfect? Certainly not us, and very likely not them, but let’s not lose the thread – “America,” to many of us who are happy to live here even while we readily acknowledge its imperfections, is not a bad word.
It’s Not All Pitchforks & Guillotines
And when Aaron makes this declaration, he makes it with his own established credibility because this program is unlike any other classical guitar performance you’ve ever heard of or seen before. He’s just as tasteful, and plays just as elegantly, as any professional with the success he’s enjoyed but in this show, Aaron breaks the fourth wall: after bringing up poets, or other talent to read chosen works throughout the show, he encourages members of the audience to take the microphone and read an Amendment to the room in their own voice.
This simple act of inviting, encouraging, and welcoming folks to participate in the performance, to give articulate voice to the well-crafted and considered language that, still!, speaks deeply to the ideals of so many, gives the inspired asses in the seats an opportunity to focus on the thrust of voice and volume without struggling to put their hope into words. This is how you want a show to end, on a high note, this communal energy that’s essential to the extemporaneous experience of giving yourself over to whatever will be conjured up in the room where that singular mix of talent & audience gather.
But this crowd participation isn’t the only way that Aaron undermines the potential stuffiness or even perceived intimidation of a classical guitar concert. Aside from being informally chatty with the audience between some numbers (and lowkey funny riffing on Bach and whammy bars), he plays songs by Paul Simon and Eddie Van Halen. So while classical fans will be fed all of the essentials they’ll want to enjoy the evening, they’ll be served some sweet treats & surprises, which in turn can pull the sought out classical guitar show from the amber for the uninitiated.
What Is America?
But as interesting and genre-bending as they are, these formal aspects of the program itself came to the set later. What seemingly drew the map for this program, the creative thrust to create this album for this time, was his real interest in America, Americana, the charm and traditions behind what makes those things what they are, but also the misconceptions about them as well.
It’s not an accident that one of the first things Aaron talked about when this show hit the road in the spring was the Mexican-American immigrant who made it a point to get time on the microphone to participate in the reading of the Amendments. He made it clear to Aaron how much that meant to him, and Aaron made it clear how much that meant to him. Soon he was talking about KKK marches that happened in the leadup to the 1948 election and how the Klan exaggerated their patriotism with flag waving while they sang God Bless America, a staple Americana song written by Irving Berlin, a Jewish Immigrant from Czarist Russia – not quite the Klan’s core demo, right?
Aaron’s point stands that what we identify as America & American are simply contributions from all of our citizenry, many of whom could be considered outside of the stereotypical perception of what comes to mind when thinking of Patriots and Patriotism. Again, this is the ‘real life vs perception’ macro wearing a mask about ready to rob a bank in POINT BREAK. Just as your algorithm could lead you to believe that the folks who feel any attachment or love for the promise of this country are in short supply, those Klansmen were just about 100% sure as shit that the words they sang as they stalked the streets weren’t written by some Jewish-Russian national named after a German city.
Creation After Revision
Gearing up to take his show back out on the trail, Aaron reworked several pieces, added some Gershwin, and gives the Wellfleet premiere of Michael Nix's 'Prayer (for the victims),' a meditative response written in the aftermath of 9/11 – this is also our America. Gershwin is a standard in Aaron’s catalog, so adding him into the program, especially the numbers he chose, was an easy move.
Another interesting addition to this show is a song written by Jewish brothers for an all-Black opera, which Aaron is folding into his New Lullaby Project. What drew Aaron to the tune, conceptually, was the idea of a child being made to feel safe and secure as they're being sung to by a parent, who knows full well that the child is neither safe nor secure. That spin alone is enough to have you close your eyes and walk through those conceits.
But that’s all the more reason to find yourself a ticket to the show this Thursday: Aaron will probably riff on the idea between songs and turn a nice little phrase to make you laugh as he picks up the instrument and is once again simply with the guitar.
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Aaron Larget-Caplan plays the Wellfleet Public Library on Thursday, 03 September 2026 @ 7p.
Visit the Wellfleet Public Library's site for details.
Visit Aaron's site HERE.
