Becoming Artists explores the writing, recording and influence of The Beatles' 1965 Rubber Soul album. With a primer on the recording processes used in Abbey Road studios and details on the album's songs, the timelessness and far-reaching influence of Rubber Soul is chronicled in painstaking detail for old fans, new fans, and those who have yet to discover the genius of the Fab Four.

Transcriptions from Neshamah, Tim Sparks's ground-breaking recording for Tzadik Records of traditional Jewish melodies arranged for solo guitar. Neshamah is a Hebrew word meaning "soul," and in these soulful pieces, Sparks explores the music of the Jewish Diaspora, from the Caucasus to the Carpathians, from the Black Sea to Bosnia, from Jerusalem, Istanbul, Sarajevo, to New York's Lower East Side. Using a unique blend of bluesy string bends, jazz harmony and middle-eastern scales, he sheds...