I'm feeling more and more like a like a dying breed every day in my town. There used to be dozens of solo acoustic acts like myself playing aound town even a couple of years ago. Now there are maybe ten, and I know of only a couple besides myself that refuse to use backing tracks or loop pedals. Luckily I can still go to Nashville when I see fit and get my "honest" music fix.

When I played Put-In-Bay last summer EVERYONE used them.
I even had an established solo guy tell me I needed to "up my game" by adding all these bells and whistles. His act consisted of playing 100 percent cover tunes with the actual backing tracks to the original recordings. He kinda joined in on guitar whenever he saw fit, and was basically Karaoke with a guitar.
He was nice guy, so I didn't have the heart to tell him I thought his act was the cheeziest damn thing I've ever seen, and if thats what I need to do to "up my game" I'd rather be digging ditches!

bc