Takamine

Things getting weird in your world? Need a sure-fire pick me up? Here’s one tried and true recipe for a better day.

Take one Sarah Zimmerman with acoustic guitar. Stir in a Justin Davis with same. Inject one clever notion to cover an appropriately-titled classic. Carefully position both in front of a single hot microphone and press “cook”.

The result in this case is the amazing Striking Matches, gifting us with their unplugged rendition of "Pick Up the Pieces", the Average White Band’s 1974 classic, recorded live at Tournament Studios in Nashville. Check it out below.

For this go-round, Justin chose his 12-fret-to-the-body, slot head EF740FS TT, easily one of the acoustic guitar world’s best kept secrets. Just one note from this this extra-deep bodied, extra resonant, thermal topped OM cutaway and you know it is extra special. Meanwhile, Sarah’s 12-year-old, now-unavailable TAN45C still remains her number one go-to acoustic. A current, loud and balanced, cedar top, NEX cutaway offering would be the P3NC with classic CT4BII preamp.

The band has also just released their latest EP Night, which you can get here. Go to StrikingMatches.com to get regular fixes from this incredible duo.