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.

 

Ireland/England Tour This Week

The Ireland/England tour starts this week - here's the updated tour poster (with the London/Kingston date added). And don't forget to check out the cover interview in Blues in the South and the track on RnR Magazine's covermount CD...!

 

London Show Announced + New Live Track!

A London show has been just added for August 10th, so the upcoming tour in Ireland & England will proceed as follows:

Fri 8 Aug DUBLIN Howth Roots & Blues Festival @ The Summit Inn
Sat 9 Aug DUBLIN Howth Roots & Blues Festival @ The Harbour Bar
Sun 10 Aug LONDON The Lamb Surbiton 
Tue 12 Aug BOURNEMOUTH Bournemouth Brewery
Thu 14 Aug BRIGHTON Caroline of Brunswick
Fri 15 Aug TUNBRIDGE WELLS The Green Duck Blues Club
Sat 16 Aug MALDON Madison Heights w/ Tim Aves, Richard Townend

The YouTube link above is to an audio track recorded live by Matthew Devenish/Paul Jones of Mu-Mu Audio on the Acoustic Roots Stage of the Upton Blues Festival - St Peter and St Paul's Church in Upton-upon-Severn, England on July 21st, 2024. Mixed & mastered by Asko-Romé Altsoo at White Room in Tartu, Estonia, with cover art by Siret Roots. You can download the track for FREE on Bandcamp - just click HERE!

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!   

Ireland/England Tour Approaches!

 

RnR Magazine's Covermount CD

Out next week, the UK's RnR Magazine's July/August issue will arrive with a live Andres Roots track on the UnHeard covermount CD. Order yours HERE!

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!

August Tour Posters!

The August tour of Ireland and England is coming together nicely - meanwhile, here's a few posters:

 

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."

Blues in Britain Reviews

In the May issue of Blues in Britain, Norman Darwen reviews the "Royal Spa Blues - Live from Temperance" CD - and Nicholas John reports on this year's Temperance show with Dave Arcari, from that very album's launch tour.

"The Estonian king of (mainly) acoustic blues instrumentals Andres Roots has re-established his following since Covid as a regular and welcome visitor to these shores," writes Darwen about the 2024 recording. 

"Fifteen songs, all instrumentals, all solo and acoustic, and all well worth a listen. They vary from the lovely blues of ‘Springtime Blues’ and ‘Station Blues Medley’ and the sprightly ‘4 A.M. Hot Dog’ (nice bass string snapping) to the self-explanatorily titled ‘Tango Walk’, the “confusing” ‘Django’ and excellent covers of Jimi Hendrix’s ‘The Wind Cries Mary’ and, to finish off, The Beatles’ Come Together’, whilst ‘Spanish Run’ sounds like a vintage rock guitar instrumental from the early ‘60s – maybe."

"Restrained subtlety is Roots’ stock in trade," suggests John, having witnessed the more recent set at the same venue. "Andres has a dry wit to accompany his dexterous playing and this approach to gentle storytelling enhanced his fine set of instrumentals, his guitar weaving through tangos, swing and folk blues."

Live Footage from Royal Leamington Spa

Temperance in Royal Leamington Spa was where the "Royal Spa Blues" album was recorded in 2024 - well, here's the opening number from the album lauch show on March 5th: "Hear Me Calling", a Ten Years After cover. This one's not on the album :)

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.

UK TOUR!

 

Album & UK Tour

The "Royal Spa Blues - Live from Temperance" CD is now available from Bandcamp and assorted Estonian record stores. And what follows next is this:

 

Live from Temperance!

Recorded on July 22, 2024 at Temperance in Royal Leamington Spa, England, the acoustic live album "Royal Spa Blues" will arrive on CD on February 25, 2025 in time for the next UK tour! Recorded by Adrian Gains, mastered by Asko-Romé Altsoo, cover photo & design by Siret Roots - watch this space for updates!

UK Tour Pics

The July shows in the UK and Germany were a blast - here are some pics from the UK leg of the tour: the Birmingham Jazz & Blues Festival gigs at Fair Deal Music and at The Wellington, the Upton Blues Festival Acoustic Roots Stage, and Temperance in Leamington Spa. Photos by Siret Roots, Alison Ashcroft-Gent, and Christine Moore. 

More pics coming soon - and don't forget: the remaining copies of the "Solo Pieces" compilation CD are now available from Bandcamp: just click HERE!