Blues in Britain Interview

The September issue of Blues in Britain comes with a story that's introduced on their website as follows: "It’s pre-show at Temperance, the basement venue tucked away in Leamington Spa, the delightful spa town in Warwickshire, where a sold-out audience tonight will witness the combined acoustic double-bill of Scotland’s finest paddle-boarding bluesman, Dave Arcari and Estonia’s Andres Roots. Their performance styles are very different but they make a formidable pairing and they’ve been friends for over twenty years as they tell Blues In Britain..." Check out the mag HERE!

 

August Tour Pix

The August tour in Ireland and England was a blast, starting with the Howth Roots & Blues Festival at The Summit Inn and The Harbour Bar in Dublin, and continuing with The Lamb Surbiton in London, Bournemouth Brewery in Bournemouth, Caroline of Brunswick in Brighton, The Royal Oak in Tunbridge Wells (a last minute venue change!), and Madison Heights in Maldon - the latter with Tim Aves, Richard Townend & Co. Here's a few photos by Siret Roots.

 

Blues in the South Cover Story

Just released, the August issue of the UK's Blues in the South monthly features Leif Laaksonen's photo of Andres Roots on the cover and an in-depth interview by Ian McKenzie inside. 

Click HERE to place your free subsciption and HERE to download the current issue in .pdf format!   

More Käbliku Pics

...And a few more photos from Käbliku Beer Camp & Rock'n'Roll festival, this time by Taimo Arume.

 

Käbliku Pics

Here are a few photos from last weekend's Käbliku Beer Camp & Rock'n'Roll festival, by Siim Neerut and Mati Leet.

  

Pipeline Magazine Review & Tour Dates

Norman Darwen reviews "Royal Spa Blues" in the summer issue of Pipeline Instrumental Review: "Estonian guitarist Andres Roots (his real name) plays excellent, skilful, mainly blues-based acoustic instrumentals and he has built up a growing audience for his music in the UK. He is worth checking out if you get the chance - he has appeared here fairly regularly in recent years."

With that in mind, here's a detailed list of such "chances" for Irish and UK residents this summer (photo by Siret Roots):

Fri 8 Aug 7pm DUBLIN: Howth Roots & Blues Festival @ The Summit Inn + Ben Reel
Sat 9 Aug 4pm DUBLIN: Howth Roots & Blues Festival @ The Harbour Bar Garden Stage
Tue 12 Aug 8pm BOURNEMOUTH: Mardi Blues Club @ Bournemouth Brewery
Thu 14 Aug 8pm BRIGHTON: Caroline of Brunswick
Fri 15 Aug 8pm TUNBRIDGE WELLS: The Green Duck Blues Club @ The Green Duck Events Space & Bar
Sat 16 Aug 7:30pm MALDON: Madison Heights + Tim Aves, Richard Townend  

Tickets are currently available for the Tunbridge Wells and Maldon shows: click HERE for the Green Duck Blues Club and HERE for the acoustic night at Madison Heights!

Viljandi Concert & Finland Pics

There's only one concert scheduled for June: a return to Konservatoorium in Viljandi on Thursday, June 12th with Riga's dark folk guru Father Andy - check out the Facebook event HERE!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile, here are three shots from last weekend's Tampere-Riihimäki-Tuusula Finnish tour, by Marko Aho, Pertti Puusaari, and Ari-Pekka Huovila:

 

Songlines Review

"Estonian Guitar-Picker Andres Roots Offers a Hardcore Reshaping of the Blues" - Martin Longley reviews the East Riding Theatre show in Beverley for the Songlines magazine, with a photo by Paul Burgess: 

"Roots makes his runs and slides sound relaxed and effortless, despite any challenging intricacies, allowing the gathered blues acolytes the luxury of stretching out and savouring the tunes. He’s skilled at fine picking, underlaid by a bulking bass presence. Roots sometimes emits a jazz mellowness, a pleasing roundness of tone, but still slidin’ deeply when the deft bottleneck starts gliding..." 

"Roots has a modernised appeal, but one that rears up from a pallet of vintage down-home US blues. Most of his instrumentals are self-penned, but he adds in touches of Jimi Hendrix (‘The Wind Cries Mary’), and closes the second set with ‘Come Together’, an attractively re-shaped Beatles ditty. Along with traces of tango, Hawaiian spuming and Manouche gypsy jazz, Roots shoves through the fences favoured by many blues songsters."

Photos from Baierbrunn

Last week's shows in Germany were great fun and Saturday's concert at Mittendrin in Baierbrunn truly a blast - here are a few photos from that night, by Petra and Boris Bokowski.

German Shows This Week!

Beverley's East Riding Theatre Pics

One of the many highlights of the UK tour was the March 7th show at Beverley's beautiful East Riding Theatre. Here are a few photos from that night, by Paul Burgess:

Mid Wales R&B Club Pics & Review

The March UK tour kicked off on March 1st with Andres Roots' first-ever show in Wales: a double header with the fabulous Dave Arcari at the Mid Wales Rhythm & Blues Club at The Muse in Brecon - with local harmonica ace Dilwyn Roberts joining the duo for an encore jam. 

Of Roots' solo set, Jim Kerslake writes on the club's website: "Andres delivered a masterclass in acoustic guitar finger-picking. His playing is delicate and dexterous, and his overall sound mellow and warm. The interplay between his expressive use of slide on the top strings and rhythmic thumb-picked bass line on the lower strings was particularly impressive. He clearly has complete mastery over his guitar, and plays with great charm and taste… often exhibiting just the right degree of restraint to create a subtle tension.

"The diversity of Andres’ repertoire was most remarkable, as he ranged between powerful self-composed acoustic blues, through Eastern European-influenced mandolin-like strumming, to expert renditions of standards by Hendrix and Alvin Lee… with even a bit of tango rhythm along the way."

Below are a few photos by Barry Hill, the last one with the Mid Wales Rhythm & Blues Club chief Angus Kings front and centre:

 

Henry's Blueshouse Pics

The March tour in Wales and England was truly a blast - more photos to come, but here's a few by Binzhi Chen from the March 4th set at the legendary Henry's Blueshouse at Snobs in Birmingham. Left to right, photo 1 features Andres Roots, Henry's Blueshouse, Big Bear Records and Birmingham Jazz & Blues Festival founder *and* original Black Sabbath manager Jim Simpson, and the Honorary Consul of Estonia, Mr. John Workman. Photo 5 is an image of a "live" ink & watercolour in progress, by Birmingham artist Tim Griffiths. And photo 7 has the broadcasting legend Chicking George in the background - the concert aired live on Genesis Radio Birmingham.