Best European Blues Album

Steve Lury & Andres Roots "Live In Lerwick" is Blues Underground Network's Best European Blues Album of the year!!! Recorded at the Shetland Blues Festival in 2013, the album was released so late in 2014, it didn't make the Canadian webzine's 2014 list and was included in this year's instead, which is great - the Best USA Blues Album went to Buddy Guy, the Best UK Blues Album to Ian Siegal, etc. Read the full Year End Review here!



Previously, four CD's featuring guitar and production by Andres Roots have occupied that spot: Bullfrog Brown's "Mother River Delta" in 2008 and "Moon and Central" in 2009, Andres Roots "Roundabout" in 2010, and L.R.Phoenix "The Hollow Log..." in 2011 (the latter has just been reissued and is finally available online). Additionally, Andres Roots Roundabout "Three!" earned the distinction of a Best Blues Instrumental Album in 2013, and Bullfrog Brown's "Moon and Central" was honoured with Best Original Cover Art - like all the records listed above, the sleeve was designed by Siret Roots.

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!

Best Blues Instrumental Album of 2013!

Canada's Blues Underground Network has just posted its annual Year End Review - with "Three!" included as the "Best Blues Instrumental Album" of 2013. Cheers! :)

"Three!" On The Road!

Currently Blues Underground Network's 'album of the week' in Canada, with the Soul Bag magazine in France calling it "un disque joyeux, fair pour la danse" and Estonia's biggest daily Postimees suggesting the listeners' feet will never stop tapping, "Three!" will be performed live throughout October. Andres Roots Roundabout will kick off the tour with a free show at Illegaard in Tartu this Thursday, October 3rd.

 

"Three!" Tour!

In October, the trio line-up of Roundabout - Andres Roots, Martin Eessalu, Raul Terep - will be playing five shows across Estonia to promote their new album "Three!", namely: October 3rd @ Illegaard in Tartu, October 18th @ Endla Jazzklubi in Pärnu, October 21st @ Clazz in Tallinn, October 30th @ Kannel in Võru, and October 31st @ Tudengiklubi in Viljandi.

The album has been very well received internationally, as were the original launch shows at Sigulda Blues Festival in Latvia and at Augustibluus in Estonia (see earlier posts!). The most recent review comes from Canada, where Blues Underground Network's John Vermilyea writes that ""Three" takes what you thought about the Blues to a whole new level" and is "the best Blues and Beyond instrumental album" he has heard "all year". In the current issue of the Estonian Kitarr magazine, there is also an interview with the band, conducted by KUMA radio's Andres Põllu right before they hit the stage at Augustibluus.    

Cool Album Review From Canada, Pt. 2

Blues Underground Network also raves about L.R.Phoenix' latest solo album, which was recorded in Tartu, co-produced by the ARR production team of Asko-Romé Altsoo & Andres Roots, and features all of the Roundabout band: "...has gathered together perhaps the best European talent around...each track only featuring the minimum number of artists to get the point across...the great Banjo work of Martin Eessalu...Indrek Tiisel's superb playing of Harmonica and Jew's Harp..." - and so on and so forth!

Cool Album Review From Canada

"Leigh's Spider Jam" is included in the Canadian Blues Underground Network's "Top Picks For December 2011" and receives a wonderful review from John Vermilyea:

"One thing you are going to get when Andres Roots is involved, is consistently great blues music, of the kind you would only have expected from seasoned Down South North American Blues Artists to have achieved, but really, throughout all the Albums of his, whether with Bullfrog Brown or not, he has never failed to amaze me concerning his ability to create Blues music that is absolutely authentic. The release of "Leigh's Spider Jam", shows not only his mastery of authentic Blues, but also his mastery of assembling many extraordinary artists to take along on his Blues journey."

Read the rest of it here and don't forget Roots Art Records' special Christmas offer on this very title - check the previous post below for details!