U.S.-France relations may have reached their nadir, but that hasn't kept a couple of recording artists from either side of the Atlantic from collaborating. The sessions have culminated in "EVETT/VIGROUX," a mesmerizing "experimental-pop" CD released today on Emptybeach Records and created by two of the world's foremost fretless guitarists -- U.S.-based Ned Evett and France-based Franck Vigroux.

"EVETT/VIGROUX" brilliantly fuses rock and pop with blues, jazz, and alt. country. All but three of the 11 songs on the CD, recorded in France in August 2002 immediately following Evett's last European tour, were improvised in the studio.

Evett -- winner of the 2003 North American Rock Guitar Competition -- contributes haunting, world-weary baritone vocals, human beat-box rhythms, and his trademark fretless electric and fretless acoustic guitar licks that CreativeMusicWorks.org says are "like listening to a waterfall on fire." Vigroux -- artistic director of La Nuit De La Fretless, the world's premier fretless-guitar festival -- supplies avante-garde and often explosive and hyperkinetic electric and acoustic fretless and fretted guitar licks, as well as sampled noises and textures.

The net result lies somewhere between Miles Davis, Kurt Cobain, John Lee Hooker, and Thom Yorke and picks up where Pat Metheney, Lyle Mays, and David Bowie left off with "The Falcon and the Snowman." Above all, "EVETT/VIGROUX" showcases the fretless guitar -- a close relative of the slide guitar -- and the cornucopia of sounds the artists can coax from it. The lack of any interposing frets (the series of metal ridges set across a traditional guitar's fingerboard) frees Evett and Vigroux to play every note you can conceive of and all the ones in between.

The artists are launching a three-week, 14-date West Coast/East Coast tour next week to promote the record. Booked by Cincinnati-based Backstreet Booking, which added Evett to its roster last October, the tour will reach: Sacramento, Calif., Feb. 12; Los Angeles, Feb. 13; San Francisco, Feb. 14; Weed, Calif., Feb. 16; Eugene, Ore., Feb. 18; Portland, Ore., Feb. 19; Seattle, Wash., Feb. 20; Olympia, Wash., Feb. 21; Boise, Idaho, Feb. 22; Philadelphia, Penn., Feb. 24; New York City, Feb. 25; Boston, Feb. 26; Albany, N.Y., Feb. 27; and Buffalo, N.Y., Feb. 28.

"EVETT/VIGROUX" was engineered by Carlos Duarte at Digitruc Studio in Paris and produced by Vigroux's label, D'Autres Cordes Records, which licensed the masters to Emptybeach. The album is available in record stores nationwide via Portland, Ore.-based Burnside Distribution Corp., one of the nation's leading distributors of independent music, which has licensed the record for U.S. distribution. The record is also available in Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

Evett and Vigroux, who plan to record a follow-up album next summer, first met in April 2001 when they performed at La Nuit De La Fretless ("The Night of the Fretless"), held every other year in Mende, France. Since then, they have toured together in France and the U.S. Northwest and produced the world's first compilation recording of fretless guitarists. "Fretless Guitar Masters" -- which boasts 16 tracks by 8 different acoustic and electric fretless guitarists from Belgium, France, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States -- earned 4 stars out of 5 from Guitarist magazine.

Fretless guitars derive their unique sound from the musician's fingers engaging the strings against a fingerboard without interposing frets -- like the fingerboards of violins and cellos. According to Evett and Vigroux, the fretless guitar is a melodically liberating instrument that gives players direct control over every aspect of a note's pitch. Evett pushes the fretless guitar further by outfitting his instruments with custom mirrored-glass fretless fingerboards. The tonal qualities of the glass affect the sound, plus light seems to dance from the guitar's neck as he performs onstage.

The music of Evett and Vigroux is gathering increasing acclaim. Guitar heroes as disparate as Joe Satriani and Built To Spill frontman Doug Martsch sing Evett's praises, and Guitar One magazine says, "Ned's command of the fretless guitar is astonishing." His groundbreaking, experimental, nearly all-instrumental debut record, "An Introduction to Fretless Guitar," was recently featured in the Open Mic section of All Songs Considered, NPR's online music show. And Evett's latest record, the vocal pop/rock "Circus Liquor," was described as "brilliant" and "infectious" by 20th Century Guitar magazine.

Vigroux has been featured in Guitarist magazine for his pioneering work and what the London Guitar Festival describes as "intelligent and convincing improvisations that disturb and delight." The French Web site Neospheres characterizes his last record, an avante-garde duet with French harpist Hélène Breschand called "Lilas Triste," as a "very rich blend of temptation and Zen, cinema for the ear, and cosmic darkness." And "Les 13 Cicatrices" by Vigroux's band Trepp/Vigroux/Blanc (now called Kunntest) earned album of the month in France's Jazz Magazine.

Both artists endorse Ashdown amplifiers. In addition, Evett endorses Fernandes Guitars and Line 6 effects and Vigroux endorses Vigier guitars.

Visit www.emptybeachrecords.com, www.nedevett.com, or www.ifrance.com/franckvigroux for more information.