TRIBUTES have been paid to the acclaimed acoustic guitarist John Renbourn who died of a suspected heart attack at his Borders home last week.

TRIBUTES have been paid to the acclaimed acoustic guitarist John Renbourn who died of a suspected heart attack at his Borders home last week.

The 70-year-old had lived at The Snoot – a remote converted former church on the Borthwick Water near Roberton – for two decades.

He had been due to perform with Wizz Jones at The Ferry in Glasgow on Wednesday night, but when he failed to show up, friends contacted the police. His body was discovered at his home on Thursday evening.

Having studied classical guitar in his native London, Renbourn was perhaps best known as a leading figure in the British folk music revival of the 1960s, teaming up with Scottish guitarist Bert Jansch, singer Jacqui McShee, fiddler Sue Draheim, bassist Danny Thomson and drummer Terry Cox to form Pentangle in 1968.

Pentangle became one the seminal live and recording bands of the genre and found notable success in the US where they performed at Carnegie Hall and the Newport Folk Festival.

With Jansch, Renbourn developed an intricate duet style known as “folk baroque”, but his influences ran the gamut of jazz, blues, folk and classical.

He continued to perform, record and teach throughout his life and showed no signs of letting up after relocating to the Borders from San Francisco in 1995.

His most recent recordings with fellow veteran guitarist Jones took place at the Penicuik studio of his sound engineer friend Colin Hood, percussionist with the Border Boogie Band.

“John loved the Borders and found great inspiration from the place and its people,” said Mr Hood. “He was a lovely gentle generous man whose playing was as fresh and beautiful as ever right up to the end.” John Renbourn is survived by his children from two marriages Joel, Jessie, Ben and Jake.