solo acoustic guitar

is very nice.

I'm not entirely sure what to say about it. My fascination came when I lived in Scotland; the music was a peaceful retreat from the madness of freshman year revisited with accents and mountains. It's not actively listening, not the way many songwriters/composers/ambiencieers capture my mind with both the music and it's instant critical reflection. Much of it isn't even very interesting-- it's repetitive and cliche-- even if the chord sounds like crap, hold it out and pretend you meant exactly what you played and it takes on a life of its own.

But that's the beauty of it, too. Many solo acoustic guitar music (and, I'm sure, most any solo instrumentation-- I just like guitar) is an unending snapshot of the internal geography of the musician. John Fahey is a knee-jerk non-conformist, slicing out of familiar chord forms whenever possible or, if the song insists on uniformity, obscuring simple tones with a lacquer of amateurism. A dignified dilettante. Kind of a jerk.

James Blackshaw is an empty building investigator.
Leo Kottke hunts pheasant.
Jack Rose surrounds himself with tired Rock and Rollers.
Robbie Basho lives in a yurt in the age of Terrorism. Also, he has many beautiful, lost women.
Tony Rice earns everyone's respect daily.
Jim O'Rourke obsessively figures out things and has figured that out, as well.

When you play an acoustic guitar, you can slouch enough so you're staring right into the soundhole. Unlike a piano, which you sit at-- the piano is a place in itself. The guitar gets toted around, identifying things and used for biofeedback.