October will see the release of another LP in the "Estonian Tribute To Hurriganes" series - this time a track-by-track remake of the legendary Finnish group's "Roadrunner" album. While all the songs have been re-recorded expressly for this project by contemporary Estonian artists and all photos are from 2024 as well, both the car in the cover photo and the photographer himself are "original" - it was Risto Vuorimies who took pictures of this very Cadillac for the iconic Hurriganes sleeve 50 years ago as well.
You can place your pre-orders HERE and enjoy Andres Roots' acoustic cover of Hurriganes' "In the Nude" (a.k.a. Glenn Miller's "In the Mood") below.
2023 saw the release of the first Andres Roots album since 2020 and "Vol. 12" has now received more praise from critics than any Roots Art release in ages - here's a few select quotes:
"It’s almost as if muddy waters were flowing into the Gulf of Riga. Musicians of this sort run counter to all expectations, and upset various purists." - Ted Gioia, The Honest Broker, USA
"Mixing blues of every origin... energetic and poetic, that we never grow tired of listening to." - Christophe Mourot, Soul Bag, France
"Roots has a great sense of blues as it fits in today's world." - Bman's Blues Report, USA
"If you still harbour doubts about the instrumental attraction of one man and his guitar in a, say, concert situation, you have no reason to. For Andres wields magic that many others lack." - Pete Hoppula, Blues News, Finland
"Let yourself be immersed in the world of acoustic slide guitar blues, a world that Andres Roots masters like no other." - Eric Schuurmans, Rootstime, Belgium
"Estonia's finest, and one of the prime acoustic blues instrumental players." - Norman Darwen, Blues in Britain, UK
Work also continued on the upcoming album with Red Mouth and Jantso Jokelin, with two more tracks released digitally: "Retirement Blues" and a new reading of the instrumental "Django". A note to vinyl lovers: the 2014 Estonian tribute to Hurriganes compilation that features a version of Ten Years After's "Hear Me Calling" by Andres Roots, Raul Terep and Mikk Tammepõld has now been re-released on vinyl!
A return to form was also evident on the gig front, with 64 concerts in 53 venues in 29 towns and villages in 5 countries: 28 in Estonia, 24 in Finland, 4 in Latvia, 4 in Germany and 4 in the UK. Live collaborations included sets and/or jams with Jantso Jokelin (FI), Ismo Haavisto & Matias Partanen (FI), Pan Salmenhaara & Herbert Quelle (FI/DE), Sir Douglas Groovers (FI), The Rhythmbreakers & Curtis Brazis (FI/US), Louie Fontaine & John DC Washington (DK/US/LV), and Pat Fulgoni (UK).
On other occasions, Andres Roots shared billing with Ahmed Ag Kaedy (Mali), Etuk Ubong & the Etuk Philosophy (Nigeria), Banjolectric (US), Faarao Pirttikangas & Nubialaiset (FI), Black River Bluesman & Bad Mood Hudson (FI), Tomi Puukko (FI), Otto Mikkola (FI), Steve Augarde (UK), and many others - including Lifetime Beat Poet Laureate Ron Whitehead (US).
In January 2024, Andres Roots will be returning to Latvia, in April to Germany, in May to Scotland, and - if not before! - in July to Finland. A few summer festival bookings in Estonia ought to be revealed soon enough, too :)
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 Happy New Year!
Happy holidays to everyone - here's the lone Christmas number from "Vol. 12", recorded on December 23rd, 2022 by Jaan Tamm and mastered by Asko-Romé Altsoo:
Concerts start again in January 2024, with three shows in Latvia:
Friday, Sept. 1st saw the release of the last COVID blues recording from Andres Roots, Red Mouth and Jantso Jokelin - hear "Retirement Blues" below, see the full lyrics and/or buy the download on Bandcamp, and read more about it over at the Sound Cafe!
The weekend will bring three solo concerts from Andres Roots: on Thursday, September 7th he will appear alongside Detroit's Banjolectric at Kultuuriklubi Salong in Tartu - the music starts 18:00 and tickets are available HERE. On Friday, September 8th, Roots and Banjolectric will take the show to the Põlva Cultural Centre café - the music starts 20:00 and tickets are available HERE.
New York DJ Mike Pearl has completely remixed and reimagined one of the more traditional acoustic blues pieces off Andres Roots' 2016 album "Winter", reinventing it as an electronic "progressive house" number twice the length of the original but still featuring James Dalton singing the Roots-penned lyrics. Be sure to also check out the Nice & Wise, Invinta and Mekhanik remixes below!
And here's a previously unreleased track from the archives, freshly mastered by Asko-Romé Altsoo: "Sofa Club Shuffle", an improvised number recorded live by Randal Randoja at the Buena Vista Sofa Club in Rakvere in 2017:
Last Friday, the South Estonian rockers Redneck Rampage finally released their new digital EP "Beneath the Boulder". The 5-track mini-album includes the tune "Soul Astray" to which Andres Roots contributed some electric slide guitar in early 2021. Hear it below:
Next week, Andres Roots (photo by Martin Eessalu) will be joining the Latvian composer and Mona de Bo guitarist Edgars Rubenis for three concerts in celebration of "Slow Lightning" - Rubenis' upcoming album of acoustic blues and ragtime compositions.
Here's a brand new tune from the upcoming "Afternoon" EP - the CD will arrive on December 3rd, the pre-order campaign ends on Thursday, Nov. 25th. Read more HERE!
New COVID restrictions are in place and for now it's been confirmed that next Friday's concert at the Endla Jazz Club in Pärnu will still go ahead. It will be Andres Roots' last live appearance in 2021 - get your tickets HERE!
There's new music coming, though - here's a taster from the October 19th recording session:
A new studio recording featuring Red Mouth (USA) on vocals and Jantso Jokelin (Finland) on harmonica has been released via Bandcamp - hear "Something in the Evening" below and download the two different mixes HERE!
Meanwhile, the October 5th show at Mulks in Viljandi was great fun and another concert at the Endla Jazz Club in Pärnu has just been announced for November 5th - 3 tracks recorded there during Andres Roots' last appearance there in October 2019 ended up on the "Mississippi to Loch Lomond" live album. Get your tickets HERE!
The year 2020 started out great with a cover story in Finland's Blues News magazine - and then, six months of the year were swiftly cancelled on account of the pandemic, with more gigs called off or postponed than in the previous 20-odd years put together.
Nevertheless, a few concerts and workshops took place before it all started and several more over the summer and early autumn, including appearances at festivals such as Tartu Bluusikuu and Linnujämm in Tartu, The Blue Icicle and Pärnu Bluusipäevad in Pärnu, Urissaare Kantri in Univere and Moosekants in Kadrina - even two shows in Finland with Ismo Haavisto and Matias Partanen: one at Ismo's Roots Thursday club in Lahti and the other at the Bluemood Saimaa festival in Ristiina.
There was also the livestream from Tartu's Genklubi and a guest slot on Dave Arcari's Blues'n'2s online series, and of course Tartu2024's "Spring 2020" project that captured Tartu's cultural figures in isolation.
On the recording front, 2020 proved most fruitful: there were two critically acclaimed CD albums ("Mississippi to Loch Lomond" and "Tartu Lockdown") and three digital EP's (the "House Arrest" recordings that would make up the "Tartu Lockdown" album), plus two long overdue cuts with Eric "Red Mouth" Gebhardt to celebrate the 10th anniversary of our first studio collaboration (more on these soon!). You can check the music out on the Bandcamp page HERE.
In addition, there was the recording of musical accompaniment for Johannes Pääsuke's 1914 silent film "The Bear Hunt in Pärnu County" for the Estonian Embassy in London's #time4estonia project that is now available as a free e-book HERE.
There were radio appearances and a TV interview, airplay and reviews from around the globe, and while we're pretty much back in lockdown, there are even a few gigs confirmed for 2021 - fingers crossed. Thank you, and a Much Happier New Year to you all!
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."
8 p.m. UK time, 10 p.m. Estonian/Finnish time you can watch the second episode of Dave Arcari's Blues'n'2s live on his Facebook artist page - with special guest Andres Roots! Just click HERE and tune in!
Meanwhile, HERE's the segment of national broadcasting's evening news - Aktuaalne Kaamera - from last night that focusses on Saturday's Wild West event in Palivere, featuring footage of both the play and the concert.
In the June issue of Blues in Britain, Norman Darwen writes: "The four solo instrumentals – all his own compositions – range from the gutsy, raw boogie of the opening ‘Lindberg Boogie’ to the Blind Willie Johnson-ish ‘Fretless Wonder’ via the more reflective ‘Soup City Blues’, with hints of Elmore James, and the closing ‘Black River Blues’ which reminds me a little of early R.L.Burnside. Andres is a master of this kind of music and this is a fine release. Buy
it and support one of the best instrumental blues players around."
You can hear and purchase the "House Arrest" EP HERE and order your copy of the magazine HERE!
The third and most probably the last installment in the lockdown home recordings series, "House Arrest 3", is now available on Bandcamp: to listen and/or purchase, just click HERE!
The "House Arrest 3" EP arrives next week with more home recordings - here's one track from it, played on a 3-string fretless Hobo 63 cigar-box guitar, with the signal split between ZT Lunchbox & Ampeg BA-112 amps and mastered by Asko-Romé Altsoo at White Room.
October will see the release of another LP in the "Estonian Tribute To Hurriganes" series - this time a track-by-track remake of the legendary Finnish group's "Roadrunner" album. While all the songs have been re-recorded expressly for this project by contemporary Estonian artists and all photos are from 2024 as well, both the car in the cover photo and the photographer himself are "original" - it was Risto Vuorimies who took pictures of this very Cadillac for the iconic Hurriganes sleeve 50 years ago as well. 
