Jim Campilongo | Arts + Literature Laboratory | Madison Contemporary Arts Center

Jim Campilongo

With eleven albums of original material and guest appearances on dozens of recordings -- from the Bammie-winner's contribution on Cake's million-selling Prolonging the Magic to (most recently) doing lead guitar duties with The Little Willies, his band with Norah Jones -- Campilongo has played with JJ Cale, Al Anderson, Gillian Welch/David Rawlings, Peter Rowan, Martha Wainwright, Bright Eyes, Teddy Thompson, and Burning Spear to name a few, has earned two Gold records, and has written music for national ads for National Grid, Volkswagen, SBC, Michelin and Jack Daniel's.

Campilongo also had repeat appearances on The Late Show with David Letterman, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Later . . . with Jools Holland (BBC), Abbey Road Sessions (BBC), and has been interviewed on many major radio shows.

Additionally, Campilongo is a published guitar teacher and contributing editor for Guitar Player Magazine. Jim’s monthly column “Vinyl Treasures” has a large dedicated following. Campilongo's TrueFire instructional video "Sonic Tele" continues to be a best seller along with his popular, homespun "Lessons By Mail", offered on jimcampilongo.com. Campilongo's virtuosity and originality has inspired a generation of guitar players. His songwriting uses a palette of the best in Blues, Country, Jazz and Rock with a sensitivity and wit that has also earned him the broad fan base most instrumental guitarists never enjoy.

In 2013, Fender Guitars bestowed Jim the honor of the Campilongo Signature Telecaster, a high quality instrument made by Fender's elite Custom Shop. Campilongo is also a featured endorser of D'Addario string company, Celestion speakers and Lava cables.

In 2017 master guitar builder Chihoe Hahn collaborated on the Hahn Jim Campilongo Model C Telecaster- a boutique guitar of the highest quality at an affordable price. Chihoe and Jim are delighted with the rave reviews and interest.

In 2018 Jim released his 12th record “Jim Campilongo with Chris Morrissey and Josh Dion Live at Rockwood Music Hall NYC” - an album of the best performances from over one hundred live shows. Nels Cline appears on two tunes and Guitar Moderne calls it “one of the years 10 best releases”.

Shaping the trio's personal sound with Campilongo is the formidable rhythm section of Josh Dion (d) and Chris Morrissey (b). Dion, the front man of the New York art-funk duo Paris Monster also boasts a long and eclectic list of world class collaborators including Wayne Krantz, Greg Allman, Bill Evans and Warren Haynes. Josh's rare musicianship is as at home painting and pummeling in the trio's iconoclastic rendition of "Manic Depression" as it is crooning their version of the Ray Charles blues "Here Am I".

The Jím Campilongo Trio's joyful abandon is urged onward by its bassist, Chris Morrissey. He is a veteran member of globe trekking jazz outfits such as The Mark Guiliana Jazz Quartet and The Dave King Trucking Company, and has held music directorships with popular artists Sara Bareilles and Trixie Whitley. His own writing earned him the Residency Commission from New York's "Jazz Gallery" in 2015.

The Jim Campilongo Electric Trio perform every Monday at NYC's Rockwood Music Hall, which Time Out New York recommended as "one of the city's strongest", touting "Monday night means Jim Campilongo."

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Arts + Literature Laboratory is located at 111 S. Livingston Street #100, Madison, Wisconsin, 53703.

Our galleries are open Tuesday through Friday 10am-5pm and Saturday noon to 5pm, and other programs take place throughout the week. Please check the events calendar and education section for details.

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