"Deep Purple Re-imagined by Black Ace"

Reviewing "Solo Pieces" for the October issue of Blues in Britain magazine, Norman Darwen writes: "As good as ever... completely solo - though you might not believe me about that... reminded me of Deep Purple as re-imagined by Texas slide guitar bluesman Black Ace... if it's good enough for God, it's gotta be good enough for us mere mortals." 

Check out the magazine HERE - and hear the album HERE!

The CD's Are Here!

The 2016-2024 collection of guitar-only tracks, titled "Solo Pieces", is now here.

Available at gigs!!!

 

 

Solo Pieces Tour & CD!

On July 11th, Andres Roots’ “Solo Pieces” tour will kick off at the Pirita Bluus Festival in Tallinn, Estonia and continue with gigs in Finland, England and Germany, including two shows at the 40th anniversary edition of the Birmingham Jazz & Blues Festival and a set at the Upton Blues Festival that has once again been voted “Blues Based Festival of the Year” in the 2024 UK Blues Awards. For the duration of the tour, the Estonian guitarist’s 14-track compilation “Solo Pieces” will only be available at gigs, going online in August.

The tour schedule is as follows:

July 11 ESTONIA Pirita Bluus Festival, Tallinn
July 12 FINLAND Kulttuurikellari, Savonlinna (+ Jantso Jokelin)
July 13 FINLAND Roihuvuoren Rio, Helsinki (+ Jantso Jokelin)
July 14 FINLAND Villa Hakasalmi, Helsinki (14:00)
July 20 UK Birmingham Jazz & Blues Festival/Fair Deal Music (13:30)
July 20 UK Birmingham Jazz & Blues Festival/The Wellington (20:00)
July 21 UK Upton Blues Festival/Acoustic Roots Stage (15:00)
July 22 UK Temperance, Leamington Spa
July 24 GERMANY ARTliners, Berlin
July 25 GERMANY Revolte Bar, Berlin
July 26 GERMANY Die alte Garage, Potsdam
July 27 GERMANY Madame Claude, Berlin (+ Pan Salmenhaara)
July 28 GERMANY SonntagsMusikCafé Alte Kita, Berlin (16:00)

And here's the CD tracklist:

1. Cruisin' with the Rev - previously unavailable on CD
2. Django (alt. take) - previously unreleased
3. Lockdown Special - from “Tartu Lockdown”
4. Jook Jones - from “Breakfast in September”
5. Sunstroke - from “Vol. 12”
6. Hawk's Out with His Axe - from “Vol. 12”
7. Fretless Wonder - from “Tartu Lockdown”
8. The Sheik of Hawaii (live) - from “Mississippi to Loch Lomond”
9. Blues for Halvo (stereo) - previously available in mono, on “Mono”
10. Starbuck Theme - from “Vol. 12”
11. So It Is, Subhuti - from “Vol. 12”
12. 4 AM Hot Dog - from “Breakfast in September”
13. Sherwood - from “Vol. 12”
14. Legacy Blues (live) - from “Mississippi to Loch Lomond”

All tunes written & performed by Andres Roots. Recorded 2016-2024 by Jaan Tamm, Andres Roots, Asko-Romé Altsoo & Dave Arcari. Mixed & mastered by Asko-Romé Altsoo. Photo by Jüri Vlassov II. Design by Siret Roots. 

Looking Back on 2022

It seems impossible to look back on 2022 and not mention the world going to hell in a handbasket, so there... Concert-wise, 47 gigs in 4 countries were rather a positive improvement on the pandemic-ridden 2021's mere 18, but still a far cry from the touring schedules of old.

In 2022, there were 30 shows in Estonia, 12 in Finland, 3 in Germany and 2 in Latvia. That meant gigs and mini-tours with Edgars Rubenis (NL/LV), Ismo Haavisto (FI), Mike Heberle (DE), Jantso Jokelin (FI), Steve Lury (UK) and Faarao Pirttikangas (FI), as well as festival appearances at Hamina Mosna Blues in Finland and Viru Folk, Pärnu Bluusipäevad, The Blue Icicle and Karlova päevad in Estonia.

Recording-wise, the next Andres Roots solo album is in the can as of December 23rd and scheduled for release in March 2023. Work also continues on the joint album with Red Mouth (US) and Jantso Jokelin - there is no release date yet, but in June 2022, the trio's reading of "Minor Gripes" did appear on the "Maaseutumusiikkia vol. iii" compilation in Finland. 

In May, Redneck Rampage released their "Beneath the Boulder" EP that featured Andres Roots on one track: "Soul Astray"; in July, the song won the listeners' vote on Estonia's Rock FM. That month also saw the premiere of 1Teater's stage production of the N. Richard Nash play "The Rainmaker" ("Vihmameister") that featured new music by Andres Roots; a couple of those tracks are set to appear on the 2023 album. In October, the New York DJ Mike Pearl put out an EDM remix of the Andres Roots and James Dalton collaboration "Get Me Back" that originally appeared on the 2016 album "Winter".  

As always, a big thank you to everybody who attended gigs, put on gigs, wrote about gigs, took photos or filmed gigs, bought records, played records, wrote about records, made records, broke records - and to everyone that's been kind. Thank you, and a much happier New Year to you all!

Reviews, Reviews!

Today's your last chance to catch the 1Teater staging of N. Richard Nash's "The Rainmaker" ("Vihmameister") - among praise for the play and performance, the Danzumees blog notes that "Andres Roots has created an ideally suited country guitar (at times even banjoesque) music design". Full review in Estonian HERE!

Meanwhile in Finland, the Rajatapauksia blog has published a detailed review of the "Maaseutumusiikkia vol. iii" CD: "The compilation's biggest surprise is the presence of the Estonian blues musician Andres Roots. Several of his records have ended up on my shelf and I hold him in high esteem. Roots is not a relic stuck in a particular blues genre but an innovative musician genuinely looking for something new. "Minor Gripes" by Andres Roots & Red Mouth feat. Jantso Jokelin shuffles cards from so many decks that I can't even describe the genre it represents. Folksy blues-based art music topped with country and western? Great stuff in any case." Full review in Finnish HERE!

Photo from last Saturday's gig at Kuur in Otepää by Ville de Ville. 

"Minor Gripes" on a Finnish Compilation Album

The Andres Roots & Red Mouth feat. Jantso Jokelin (EST/USA/FIN) track "Minor Gripes" has just been released in Finland on the compilation CD "Maaseutumusiikkia vol. III" - you can order the album HERE or buy the song HERE!

Pre-order "Tartu Lockdown" now!

On September 4th, the home recordings made by Andres Roots during this year's COVID spring will be issued as a CD album titled "Tartu Lockdown". You can order your signed copy for just 15.90 - shipping included! - if you place your order in August by e-mailing roots.art.oy(at)gmail.com with your shipping address and preferred method of payment - Roots Art Records accepts both bank transfers and PayPal.

The liner notes for the CD were written by the international blues journalist Norman Darwen, who currently contributes to magazines such as Blues & Rhythm, Blues in Britain, Blues Matters, RnR and Blues in the South in the UK, Bluesnews in Norway and Twoj Blues in Poland. Since the 1980's, he has provided sleevenotes for a long list of blues releases from Elmore James and Howlin' Wolf to Otis Grand and Buddy Guy.

"One positive of the whole COVID-19 pandemic is the music on this CD," writes Darwen. "Like some of the best blues, these are responses to a specific situation that also transcend it. This is totally enjoyable, thoughtful and thought-provoking music, however and whenever you’re listening to it."

For more details, click HERE!

Looking Back: 2016

2016 was a big year and a busy year: Andres Roots celebrated his 40th birthday and 20 years on stage, put out three records and played 55 shows in 20 different towns and villages in five different countries with seven different line-ups, ranging from solo shows to 4-piece bands.

Photo: Siret Roots

First of the records was "Roots Music" - a compilation LP that was the very first vinyl record ever manufactured in Estonia and Andres' first #1 in the Estonian Album Charts. Finland's Smackthejack.net writes: "Roots' imagination seems almost out of control. "Roots Music" sounds fresh and original throughout, even though we're deep in the three-chord territory. So there's not much variety and yet there's a lot of it all the time. Hope you get it, because I don't - I just know that Andres Roots' latest is sheer fireworks of blues and playing. It makes you feel good." /---/ "I could even use the sentence "Andres Roots is as close to pop as one can get within the blues genre", but that might be a corny thing to say."

Photo: Leif Laaksonen

The second record was the live EP "FiESTa!" (follow that link to download it for free!) - an unscheduled release of an unscheduled performance. Pärnu jazz festival FiESTa!'s XXX Anniversary concert was originally meant to feature Roots and drummer Anneli Kadakas separately, but since they'd played together in Roots' very first band in 1996 and not once in the 20 years that followed, they couldn't resist turning it into a duo show, going on to play further gigs in Pärnu and at the Haapsalu Augustibluus festival. According to the Croatian webzine SoundGuardian, the resulting 5-track EP is "proof that the blues is very much alive and stable across the planet!"

And the third and last release was the new CD album Andres Roots "Winter", in the making since 2012 and finally released in November 2016. "It’s no secret to insiders that Andres guarantees craftsmanship on the strings, but the variety he shows with all these musicians will definitely be a surprise," reads a Blues'n'Roots Corner review from the Netherlands. "One feels the spirit of good old Muddy and it sounds like Andres' hands are guided by the master himself... All the bragging and boasting about the new Rolling Stones album is not my cup of tea. Andres Roots shows that there is far better blues to get." Within a month of its release, the album has received airplay in Estonia, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Germany, France, the UK and Canada.

Photo: Jazzy Bluesonline

Also, two of Andres' lyrics appeared on the new Black River Bluesman & Bad Mood Hudson LP "Moonshine Medicine" in Finland: "Big Alligator" and "Latest Stranger". As for the gigs, in addition to FiESTa! and Augustibluus with Anneli, there were the Suwalki Blues Festival shows in Poland with Raul Terep, two tours with the Bottleneck Guitar Trendsetters - with Ismo Haavisto (FIN), Jim Roberts (USA) and Matias Partanen (FIN) in Finland and with Ismo and Aleksandr Belkin (LT) in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia - and joint shows with Black River Bluesman (FIN), Black Magic Six (FIN), Dave Arcari (UK), The Boswell Boys (USA) and Louie Digman (UK).

Photo: Leif Laaksonen

There were blues history lectures in Tartu, Pärnu and Haapsalu and live performances on YLE Lahti in Finland and Klassikaraadio in Estonia. There was also the Pealtnägija coverage of the vinyl-making process, a Muusika magazine cover story and an in-depth interview for Blues.gr... And then towards the end of the year, Andres became a ZT Amplifiers Artist.


A big thank you to everyone and happy holidays!

More Roots Music

The "Roots Music" LP was released on April 6th; by April 13th, it was #1 on both Lasering & CD Market sales charts. You can watch the Pealtnägija episode on how the first Estonian-pressed vinyl came about here and listen to Andres discuss it on Vikerraadio here (sorry - both are in Estonian).

The first album review was published in the daily Postimees on April 9th and states: "To explain the feeling, one could say that the music sounds a bit like the soundtrack from an unknown Tarantino film: slightly dusty and old-fashioned, yet contemporary and cool."

Andres Roots will be playing another birthday concert/CD release party in April, this time at Kohvik Versus in Pärnu on April 28 - earlier that afternoon, he also concludes his series of blues history lectures at the Pärnu Central Library. Plus: for May 6 & 7, two Bottleneck Guitar Trendsetters gigs have been announced for Lahti & Kouvola in Finland - details on the gig page, and more on that later! ;)

New Release: Roots Music LP

On April 6th, Estonian slide guitarist Andres Roots will be celebrating his 40th birthday and 20 years on stage with his first vinyl release – the "Roots Music" LP is a collection of studio recordings made between 2010 and 2014 and features collaborations with Dave Arcari (Scotland), Eric "Red Mouth" Gebhardt (USA), Steve Lury (UK), Black River Bluesman (Finland), Lorete Medne (Latvia), L.R. Phoenix (UK/Finland), Bert Deivert (USA/Sweden), Bottleneck John (Sweden), Jantso Jokelin (Finland), and many others.

The first record to be pressed at the brand new Vinyl Plant in Tartu, "Roots Music" is also the first gramophone record ever manufactured in Estonia – during the Soviet vinyl era and in the pre-war shellac days, the nearest pressing plant was always in Riga, Latvia. Incidentally, the Vinyl Plant logo was designed by the Tartu artist Siret Roots, who also designed the cover for this inaugural release ;)

Happy 2016!

Happy New Year! :)

2015: Looking Back

Photo by Raul Terep.

It is time to look back on 2015, and what a year it's been! Just to add up the numbers: there were 40 gigs in 4 different countries (Estonia, Latvia, Finland, Sweden) with 12 different line-ups, with venues ranging from 14 festivals to shows in churches, town halls, museums, clubs, pubs and bars, on riverboats and street stages. The nature of those shows varied from opening for Dr. Feelgood to lecturing on the history of the blues to jamming with Bert Deivert, Brian Kramer, Jonzip McNeill, Howard Fishman, and many others. 

The "Winter Is Coming" EP with its still current title was recorded and released; the track "Winter Blues" with Bert Deivert that appeared on the CD has already made the Blues Corner "best of 2015" list on Rock Radio UK. A video was filmed for "Chicken Man" which made #2 on two different TV pop music programmes; you can now vote for it to appear on national broadcasting's best Estonian videos of 2015 show here. A number of tracks were completed for next year's new studio album, with four more two be wrapped up in the months to come; a vinyl compilation containing material from 2010-2014 has been mastered for a January 2016 release, with further details TBA before New Year.



The 2016 compilation LP "Roots Music" and the new CD album will be part of a modest anniversary: in 2016, Andres Roots will be celebrating his 40th birthday and 20 years on stage. There will be at least one big live event of a very special nature, but it's too early to reveal the details; there will certainly be concerts in Estonia, Finland, Latvia, and Poland in 2016, as well as further lectures on blues history in Tartu and Pärnu. 

But for now, thank you very much for a wonderful year - and happy holidays! :) 

Vinyl Anyone?

This year's last show at Rockstar's in Tallinn was a blast!

But what will the next few months bring if not gigs?

Well, here's a bit of a hint...

Hurriganes & Beyond

Eero Palusalu, Remu Aaltonen, Risto Vuorimies, Andres Roots - Scotland Yard, Tallinn, Dec. 9, 2014. Photo by Leif Laaksonen.

The Hurriganes tribute album launch in Tallinn on December 9th was a success - a detailed account will be published by Blues-Finland.com & Blueswebzine.com early next week. Meanwhile, another album has appeared on the market that also features Andres Roots on one track - "Ei ole must ei ole valge" by old friend Erki Solna, ex-Dead Next Door & Big Whiskey.



The "Live In Lerwick" album by Steve Lury & Andres Roots is still getting airplay around the world - here's another review by Wend, published in the Estonian national broadcasting's culture webzine: "Andres Roots is a king of style! And with that line-up, on that stage... Yes, I would have liked to have been there! Top of the genre this year!"

And the tickets for the Hämeenlinna Dr. Feelgood/Roots & Terep show coming up in February are now available, too - here! 

Hurriganes Tribute Launch Party

5 p.m. on Tuesday, December 9th, "Get On! Estonian Tribute To Hurriganes" will be launched at Scotland Yard in Tallinn. With guest vocalist Mikk Tammepõld (Dramamama), Roots & Terep contributed opening track "Hear Me Calling" - a Hurriganes classic from the early days, written by Alvin Lee and originally performed by Ten Years After. The entire album will air today 5.30 p.m. (Estonian time - 3.30 p.m. UK time) on the Üheplaadilaulud programme with Andres Põllu on KUMA radio, featuring a phone interview with Andres Roots - you can tune in online here.

Hurriganes – with a "g" for "extra Texas" – were a groundbreaking Finnish rock & roll group, active 1971-1984 & briefly resurrected in 1988. Best remembered as a trio, the band centered around Remu Aaltonen on vocals & drums & Cisse Häkkinen on bass & vocals, with a Yardbirds-like rotating cast of ace guitarists: Albert Järvinen, Ile Kallio & Janne Louhivuori. Their success in Finland & Sweden was unprecedented, their fame spread far & wide, & with the help of radio, TV & the occasional smuggled LP, their influence even travelled where few "capitalist" groups were welcome at the time: across the Gulf of Finland & beyond the Iron Curtain.

"Get On! Estonian Tribute To Hurriganes" presents a selection of Hurriganes tunes performed by several generations of Estonian musicians. While most were recorded expressly for this project, the title track is a previously unreleased 1977 cover of that European Pop Jury winning rocker by the legendary Apelsin, who at the time of writing are celebrating their 40th anniversary. It's also the 40th anniversary for the tune: "Get On" first appeared on the 1974 Hurriganes LP "Roadrunner", generally considered their finest effort, with an iconic sleeve designed by Risto Vuorimies. The cover photos used for this tribute are outtakes from Vuorimies' original "Roadrunner" shoot & the rare black & white images inside depict Remu, Cisse & Albert in action in 1973. The sleeve was designed by Siret Roots. 

This Outlaw Music release is currently available from Lasering, Apollo, and Rahva Raamat.

EDIT 12.12.2014: Now also available in FINLAND from STARDUST RECORDS!

Lerwick CD Tracklist + Pipeline Review!

Recorded over two nights at the Mareel last September at the 10th Shetland Blues Festival, Steve Lury & Andres Roots "Live In Lerwick" with Peeter Piik & Paul Archibald will be released on CD in November 2014. The tracklist is confirmed as follows, with a total running time of just under 50 minutes:

1. Tomorrow Night (Junior Wells)
2. Born Blind (Sonny Boy Williamson II)
3. Rambler's Blues (Tampa Red)
4. Build Me A Statue (Andres Roots)
5. Take A Little Walk With Me (Robert Lockwood Jr.)
6. Driftin' Blues (Charles Brown)
7. Walkin' Blues (Robert Johnson)
8. Gone To Main Street (Muddy Waters)
9. You Can't Lose What You Ain't Never Had (Muddy Waters)
10. What's The Matter With The Mill (Memphis Minnie)

In other news, Blues-Finland.com discusses the upcoming Hurriganes tribute compilation here and a lengthy "Trad.alt.blues" segment of the Music In The Mail show which originally aired on Free Radio Santa Cruz on Sept. 12th can now be streamed below (starts 01:12:12).

Music in the Mail Sep 12 14 by Kipli on Mixcloud

And there's more: the UK's rock instrumental magazine Pipeline has published a wonderful review of last year's "Three!" album by Andres Roots Roundabout. Alan Taylor writes: "This is a blues album at heart and as such it is the best instrumental blues album that I have ever had the pleasure of hearing. With plenty of tasty slide guitar work on both electric and acoustic guitars, it mixes bluesy rock tracks with swinging lighter numbers that provide variety and contrast - and at an average length of just over three minutes none of them outstays their welcome either...Most enjoyable and highly recommended."

Meanwhile, in the Sept. 16th issue of Virumaa Teataja, Inna Grünfeldt describes Roots & Terep's recent recent library gig in Rakvere as follows: "The music flooded every nook and cranny of the building, even the walls were vibrating. The duo had promised to play as quietly as possible, but luckily, things were far from piano pianissimo. When after an hour the duo asked which of two very different tunes the audience would like to hear as the last piece of the concert, the answer was unanimous: "Both!""

Finally, a reminder of next week's Muddy Waters tribute gigs in Finland: the band consists of Ismo Haavisto, Andres Roots, Peeter Piik, and Matias Partanen, and the shows are: Sept. 25th - Vihreä Talo, Riihimäki; Sept. 26th - Old Cock, Lappeenranta; Sept. 27th - Ruskablues Festival, Koli. See you there!

 

Rakvere Pics & Hurriganes Tribute

On September 11, Roots & Terep played a concert at the Lääne-Viru County Central Library in Rakvere, promoting their "Trad.alt.blues" album right after Siret Roots' art exhibition opened downstairs. Below are a few photos Siret took during the concert - and also an image of the 2012 book on the 100-year history of the library, which included a photo of one of Andres' earlier visits with Eric "Red Mouth" Gebhardt.

In other news, Tallinn's Outlaw Music is preparing the release of an Estonian tribute album to the legendary Finnish rock band Hurriganes. Andres Roots & Raul Terep were joined in the studio by the fabulous vocalist Mikk Tammepõld (Dramamama, Brides In Bloom) and here's their contribution: a cover of the Hurriganes cover of Ten Years After's "Hear Me Calling" - the album should hit the stores before Christmas:

  

"Stick With You" Story @ Redmouthmusic.com

"Stick With You" was a track recorded with Eric "Red Mouth" Gebhardt that appeared on the 2010 Andres Roots album "Roundabout" and later on "Lutsuvad Kivid", a compilation of music by Estonian poets and writers. Check out Andres' full account of the matter @ redmouthmusic.com! ;)

CD Compilation & More Pics

The 2010 track "Stick With You" that features Eric "Red Mouth" Gebhardt on vocals, Andres Roots on guitar, Ahti Bachblum on keys and Kalle Kindel on drums has been released on "Lutsuvad kivid: writers in music", a compilation CD of music by Estonian poets and writers. Compiled by Aapo Ilves and released by the Tartu Public Library, only 100 copies will reportedly hit the stores, so order yours today! ;)

Below, there's more pics from the June 2013 Tartu gigs, this time by Alar Madisson/Eesti Kirjandusmuuseum. The shows were at a train poetry reading at the Tartu railway station with Peeter Piik and at Madisson's outdoors photo exhibition opening in Vanemuise Street.

Ugriblues, Shetland Blues, Old Iron & Lutsuvad Kivid

This summer's Ugriblues Festival line-up has just been announced, featuring Honey B & Kuloniemi, Tuomari Nurmio, and many others. The Ismo Haavisto & Andres Roots in Muddy Waters quartet will be playing two shows in Tallinn: at Luscher&Matiesen on July 18th and at Noblessner on July 19th. 

In September, Steve Lury, Andres Roots and Peeter Piik are to undertake a much longer journey to spend a weekend playing at the Shetland Blues Festival.

Much sooner, though, on May 18th, the Roundabout trio will appear at the Old Iron Weekender pre-party at Rock'n'Roll Heaven in Tartu, with Kalle Kindel filling in for Raul Terep on drums.

The summer should also see the release of "Lutsuvad kivid", a CD compilation featuring musical works and performances by Estonian writers and poets - and it should also include a track by Andres Roots. Stay tuned for details!