Lawson Rollins music video Santa Ana Wind
He is best known for his compositions The Fire Cadenza, Santa Ana Wind, Flight, Daybreak, Infinita, and Moonlight Samba and his albums Infinita, Espirito, Elevation and Full Circle which were all critically acclaimed by the jazz and guitar communities. He has reached a wide audience on both radio and the internet. Video performances of Locomotion, The Fire Cadenza and Santa Ana Wind have been viewed millions of times on YouTube. and he was a Top 100 Artist of the Year on radio as ranked by RadioWave. The song Shifting Seasons from Full Circle won the USA Songwriting Competition first place award for instrumental song of the year and Lawson was also awarded 3rd place for Overall Artist of the year.
Influenced by Andrés Segovia from his mid-teens, he developed an interest in Jazz, Flamenco, and improvisational Latin and Brazilian guitar styles in his early twenties. After graduating from Duke University he earned a graduate degree from the London School of Economics, then moved to Washington, D.C. in 1998 where he met guitarist Daniel Young (Dan Young) at a local flamenco shop and formed the Latin guitar fusion group Young & Rollins.
His four solo albums Infinita, Espirito, Elevation, and Full Circle are characterized by an eclectic mix of Middle Eastern, Brazilian, and Arabic music fused with Spanish guitar and backed by an all-star cast of musicians from around the world including Brazilian singer Flora Purim, percussionist Airto Moreira, Cuban drummer Horacio Hernandez, Shahin Shahida of Shahin and Sepehr, Iranian kamancheh player Kayhan Kalhor, Grammy-winning violinist Charlie Bisharat, and electric guitarist Buckethead, among others.
Lawson is a voting member of NARAS, a member of A2IM, and owner of the independent world music record label Infinita Records.