Live Footage!

On April 4th, 2012, Andres Roots Roundabout and Dave Arcari celebrated Muddy Waters' 99th birthday with a show at Roundabout's 'home venue' - Illegaard in Tartu, Estonia. Bits of the evening were filmed for and indeed appeared in the Buzz Records documentary "40 Days & 40 Nights". Now, here are two of the outtakes!

Posters & Interviews

Here's the poster for Roundabout's last gig in Tartu this summer. It's also the end of the season for Illegaard - the venue will open its doors again August:

Poster by Siret Roots, photo by Kertu Vares.

And here are previews of the Andres Roots interviews published this month - in Finland's Blues News magazine:

"A Messenger of Roots Music", by Esa Kuloniemi.

...and in Estonia's Kitarr quarterly:

"An Ambasssador of the Guitar", by Kristo Käo.

Film, Zydeco & Interviews!

Last night, Dave Arcari's 30-minute documentary of his spring tour of France, Estonia and Finland premiered on YouTube. It includes footage of the Muddy Waters' birthday event at Illegaard in Tartu, Estonia and of the Jazzkaar festival gig in Türi, where Dave was backed by Andres Roots Roundabout, plus a whole lot more - check it out!

 

In addition to interviews with Andres printed in this month's Blues News in Finland and Kitarr in Estonia, Blues-Finland.com has published the interview TT Tarkiainen did with him backstage at the Kaavi Blues Festival in Finland on June 9th. Kake Kiirikki's festival report is now also available in English: "The genre-conscious guitar playing of Andres Roots was a joy to hear. His electrified acoustic guitar sounded great, even in combination with a wah-wah pedal..."

Kalle Kindel, Andres Roots & Peeter Piik @ Kaavi. Photo by Leif Laaksonen.

 
















And: we are pleased to announce these upcoming gigs: on July 7th, the trio version of Andres Roots Roundabout and MOduo will help wrap up the season for Tartu's Illegaard club. On July 13th, Andres will join the Black Bay Zydeco Stompers and Ismo Haavisto for a set of New Orleans music at the Louisiana Cajun Party in Tampere, Finland - there are also rumours of a 2-track CD single to be recorded with that line-up!

On July 31st, the quartet version of Roundabout will play the Pärnu Blues Festival and on August 2nd, the Ugriblues Festival in Tallinn. On August 10th, the trio line-up will travel to the Fontaine Festival in Liepaja, Latvia, with special guest Andres "Ants" Mikk of Loss Paranoias on drums - Ants also helped the band out for the Viljandi gig on the recent Lury tour. And to end the summer, the quartet will play the Railroad stage at the Augustibluus Festival in Haapsalu on August 18th - along with Bert Deivert & Brian Kramer (check out Bert's mandolin on ARR's "Lightnin' On Horizon"!) and El Trio (a collaboration track with these guys coming soon!!!).  

In Finland With Steve

Over 1500 km in the car and three Finnish shows in 24 hours wasn't quite as easy to do as it sounds, but all three shows - Loimaa, Leppävirta, Kaavi - were wonderful and so were the audiences. The band wish to thank everyone involved, with extra special thanks reserved for Mr. Lehar Lukjanov who did all that driving :) 

Kalle Kindel, Andres Roots, Steve Lury, Peeter Piik. Photo by Leif Laaksonen.

The Finnish leg of the tour kicked off on Friday, June 8th with two sets at Bar Edgar in Loimaa. The joint was jumping and the crowd wouldn't let the band stop...

@ Bar Edgar in Loimaa. Photo by Hannu Enver Mäkela.

...so after only three hours of sleep, the drive to Leppävirta for the Blues Picnic show started. Again, the people were great and the weather superb. The band was on at 2 p.m. and by 5.30, Steve Lury & Andres Roots Roundabout needed to be onstage by the side of another lake in Kaavi, in front of another beautiful crowd.

@ Leppävirta Blues Picnic. Photo courtesy of Plugi ry.

In the Jazzrytmit magazine coverage of the Leppävirta Blues Picnic, Osku Rajala writes: "This outfit led by guitarist Roots was the best this year's Blues Picnic had to offer. Their performance floated like a blue, warm carpet of notes." Reporting on the Kaavi Blues Festival for the same magazine, Jouko Kirstilä continues: ‎"The band's performance was possibly the most impressive heard that day, confident, skillful and arresting."

@ Kaavi Blues Festival. Photo by Leif Laaksonen.

The summer issue of Estonia's Kitarr magazine should hit the stands this week and includes an interview with Andres, plus his tutorial on string bending in standard tuning, interview with this year's Augustibluus stars Bert Deivert & Brian Kramer, a piece on lap steels and more. Check it out when you get the chance!

On Tour & In Print

After six shows in four days and two days off, Steve Lury and the band are back for the second leg of their Estonian/Finnish tour: 7.6. 10 p.m. Illegaard in Tartu, Estonia; 8.6. 11 p.m. Bar Edgar in Loimaa, Finland; 9.6. 1 p.m. Blues Picnic in Leppävirta, Finland, and 9.6. 5:30 Kaavi Blues in Kaavi. And that will be it.

Steve Lury @ Luscher&Matiesen in Tallinn. Phone pic by Andres Roots.

At the band's Luscher&Matiesen show in Tallinn on June 2nd, the line-up for the upcoming Ugriblues festival was announced: Black River Bluesman & Bad Mood Hudson (FIN), Famous Boogiemen (FIN), Devil Box (FIN), The Rude Grooves (EST/AUS), Aapo Ilves (EST), MOduo (EST), Rääma Blue (EST) and - yes - Andres Roots Roundabout (EST). The free festival will take place in Toompea on August 1.-4. and ARR are on August 2nd.

Andres' reviews of the new Jack White album and Mud Morganfield's debut are now online: the original English versions are available via Blueswebzine.com - Jack White and Mud Morganfield - and Finnish translations by Pasi Tuominen via Blues-Finland.com - Jack and Mud. Esa Kuloniemi's interview with Andres is due in the upcoming issue of Finland's Blues News magazine.