Not really a tour but nevertheless, there are three gigs coming up next week: Esmaspäeva Jazz at Swissotel Tallinn on Monday 18th in Tallinn, Estonia, Albertin Kellari on Friday 22nd in Hämeenlinna, Finland and Carlos Ravintola on Saturday 23rd in Lappeenranta, Finland.
The tickets for the Tallinn show are almost gone - at the time of writing, there are 7 seats still available: click HERE to get yours now!
All three concerts are acoustic, but here's some electric footage that has just surfaced on YouTube: playing in front of the Cat Head Delta Blues & Folk Art store in Clarksdale, Mississippi during the Deep Blues Festival in October 2019. Filmed by Jeff Eaton.
Andres Roots will play two shows this week: the "Mississippi to Loch Lomond" album launch will finally take place at Salong in Tartu on Friday and on Saturday, there's the Moosekants festival in Kadrina!
The June issue of Muusika magazine includes Andres Roots' piece on the music he experienced in Mississippi, Arkansas and Tennessee last October, as well as Meelis Hainsoo's review of the "House Arrest" EP and the "Mississippi to Loch Lomond" album, of which he writes: "You hear virtuosic musicianship pickled with warm humour and the
emotional response of the audience: everything a concert needs to have."
"Andres plays some fine solo blues in Clarksdale, Mississippi, with
excellent slide, bass string snapping and fine finger-picking on a bunch
of traditional sounding but actually original instrumental
compositions," writes Norman Darwen in the current issue of Blues in Britain of the "Mississippi to Loch Lomond" album, noting that Jeff
Eaton's "sleeve notes are excellent too."
You can hear and download the album on Bandcamp HERE or order the disc direct HERE.
To help musicians who have lost their gigs & income because of
COVID-19, Bandcamp is waiving their fees this Friday, March 20 to help put
money directly into artists’ pockets - check it out here! A case in point, I myself was set
to do 20 shows to launch the "Mississippi to Loch Lomond" album this
spring and it doesn't look like I'll get to do any. So if you haven't
heard the album yet or haven't bought it yet or just feel like
supporting 'the artist' until it all blows over, please check out https://andresroots.bandcamp.com/.
There, you can download single tracks for 1 euro, the whole 15-track
album for 8.- (with a .pdf of the liner notes included!), or even order
the actual CD for 13.- (plus VAT & shipping). PS: the digital
version of the album is *only* available here.
This year's first issue of Finland's Blues News is out next week, with an Andres Roots cover feature - cover photo by Peter Lee, interview by Leif Laaksonen. Check out the magazine on Facebook here or place your order via their website here. Andres' next gig is at The Blue Icicle festival in Pärnu on February 27 - showtime 7 p.m.!
We're now taking pre-orders for the upcoming live album "Mississippi to Loch Lomond" - official release date March 6, but order yours in February and get a signed copy plus a free signed copy of "Roundabout" from 10 years ago for just 15.90! Place your orders by e-mailing roots.art.oy(at)gmail.com - further details HERE!
Here's another tune from the upcoming "Mississippi to Loch Lomond" live album - recorded at the Deep Blues Festival, Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale, Mississippi. Photo by Peter Lee from outside the Xanadu Music & Books in Memphis, Tennessee.
With the "Mississippi to Loch Lomond" live album arriving on March 6, there will naturally album launch shows coming as well - continuing through May, but starting with:
Here's another live recording from the Deep Blues Festival - recorded at the Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale, Mississippi on Oct. 18, 2019, mastered by Asko-Romé Altsoo, photo by Peter Lee. Live album coming in March!!!
Here's some news to kick it off: there's a new live album coming in March - recorded in 2019 at the Deep Blues Festival in Clarksdale, Mississippi, at the Endla Jazz Club in Pärnu, Estonia and at Memorial Hall in Milton of Buchanan, Scotland. Cover photo by Jeff Eaton, design by Siret Roots, full tracklist below.
1. In the Dark (Cat Head, Clarksdale, MS, USA, 19.10.19) 2. Build Me a Statue (Ground Zero, Clarksdale, MS, USA, 18.10.19) 3. Bullfrog Medley (Ground Zero, Clarksdale, MS, USA, 18.10.19) 4. Snake Girl Blues (Ground Zero, Clarksdale, MS, USA, 18.10.19) 5. Meow Meow (Ground Zero, Clarksdale, MS, USA, 18.10.19) 6. Legacy Blues (Ground Zero, Clarksdale, MS, USA, 18.10.19) 7. Right Across the Hill (Endla Jazzklubi, Pärnu, Estonia, 4.10.19) 8. Waltzin' Blue (Endla Jazzklubi, Pärnu, Estonia, 4.10.19) 9. Birdsong Thing (Endla Jazzklubi, Pärnu, Estonia, 4.10.19) 10. 4 AM Hot Dog (Buchanan Memorial Hall, Scotland, 2.3.19) 11. Jook Jones (Buchanan Memorial Hall, Scotland, 2.3.19) 12. Spanish Run (Buchanan Memorial Hall, Scotland, 2.3.19) 13. Station Blues Medley (Buchanan Memorial Hall, Scotland, 2.3.19) 14. The Sheik of Hawaii (Buchanan Memorial Hall, Scotland, 2.3.19) 15. Wagon Swing (Buchanan Memorial Hall, Scotland, 2.3.19)
In 2019, Andres Roots played 60 concerts in four countries: in Estonia (Tallinn, Tartu, Pärnu, Haapsalu, Viljandi, Võru, Põlva, Toila, Kadrina, Palivere, Kohila, Muuga), in Finland (Helsinki, Tampere, Turku, Lahti, Lappeenranta, Rauma, Pieksämäki, Loimaa), in Scotland (Glasgow, Edinburgh, Milton of Buchanan) and in the USA (Clarksdale, Mississippi; Memphis, Tennessee; Helena, Arkansas). 50 out of the 60 shows were solo performances, but Roots also appeared with Ismo Haavisto (vocals, guitar, harmonica) & Matias Partanen (drums), with Peeter Piik (bass) & Les Wilson (percussion), with Anneli Kadakas (drums), with Robert Floyd Stevens (drums) and with James Dalton (vocals, guitar, harmonica) & Les Wilson (percussion). There were mini-tours with Dave Arcari and Black River Bluesman, a 3-month residency at Von Krahl in Tallinn, a set for the international jury that would go on to declare Tartu, Estonia as the European Capital of Culture for 2024, a live-on-the-air set on Uuge Kojola's radio show on Finland's Roll FM, etc. etc.
With Dave Arcari in Milton of Buchanan. Photo by Alistair Mulhearn.
Altogether, the year included appearances at 18 festivals: Deep Blues Festival (Clarksdale, Mississippi), King Biscuit Blues Festival (Helena, Arkansas), Rauma Blues (Rauma, Finland), Savonsolmu Winter Blues Party (Pieksämäki, Finland), Sügisjazz (Tartu, Estonia), tARTuFF Film Festival (Tartu, Estonia), Pärnu Bluusipäevad (Pärnu, Estonia), 7 Linna Muusika (Toila, Estonia), Prima Vista Literature Festival (Tartu, Estonia), Vanalinna Päevad (Tallinn, Estonia), Munarock (Põlva, Estonia), The Blue Icicle (Pärnu, Estonia), Underground Blues (Põlva, Estonia), Metsiku Lääne Päev (Palivere, Estonia), Viljandi Õllefestival (Viljandi, Estonia), Pandivere Muusikafestival (Muuga,
Lääne-Virumaa, Estonia), 20/20 Film Festival (Tartu, Estonia), and Tartu Bluusikuu (Tartu, Estonia), which included an exhibition on the first 15 years of Tartu Blues – the first Estonian blues society founded by Roots, Alar Kriisa and Üllar Kärt in 2003.
With Black River Bluesman in Clarksdale. Photo by Jeff Eaton.
There were two Andres Roots EP's released on Roots Art Records in 2019: the limited edition live CD "Loch Lomond Blues" and the 7" vinyl "Waiting Around" – the first 45 ever pressed on location in Estonia. Roots also appeared on several recordings by James Dalton (USA), adding guitar to "When It’s Midnight Somewhere in the World" which appears on Dalton's spoken word release "Words" and is also included on the CD version of his "Troubadours" EP, and playing on all tracks on the live "Tartu Jämm", recorded at the Sügisjazz festival in Tartu with Les Wilson on percussion. In addition to an abundance of live footage from 2019, Asko-Romé Altsoo directed a music video for "Waiting Around", filmed at Genklubi in Tartu and featuring dancers from the Tartu Swing club.
Roots' 2018 album "Breakfast in September" reached #10 in the IBBA airplay charts for December 2018 and made it to #8 in the French-speaking blues radio association's airplay chart in January 2019. The press continued to be kind throughout the year – in addition to favourable album reviews, there was the Blues in Britain cover story by Jeff Eaton and longer pieces in Blues Matters! (UK), Blues Again! (France), Turun Sanomat (Finland), Blues-Finland.com (Finland), Jazzrytmit (Finland), KesKus (Estonia), Sakala (Estonia), Tartu Postimees (Estonia), etc. Incidentally, the current issue of Blues in Britain also features an in-depth review of the "Loch Lomond Blues" EP by Norman Darwen, and while the limited edition EP itself is sold out, there's a live album coming in 2020 that features those six acoustic tracks from Scotland PLUS recordings from the Deep Blues Festival in Clarksdale, Mississippi and from the Endla Jazz Club in Pärnu, Estonia. Thank you all very much and see you in 2020!
Here's a few photos by the Deep Blues Festival's official photographer Peter Lee from the concert at the Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale, Mississippi on October 18, 2019.
Here's another live recording (audio only!) from the Deep Blues Festival in Clarksdale, Mississippi - this time from the Cat Head stage in Delta Avenue.
In October, Andres Roots played six shows in the US - a solo set and one with Robert Floyd Stevens on drums at the King Biscuit Blues Festival in Helena, Arkansas, a solo set at Xanadu Music in Memphis, Tennessee, and three more at the Deep Blues Festival in Clarksdale, Mississippi, including one at the Ground Zero Blues Club. Here's a few photos from the trip by Jeff Eaton and Jukka Juhola.
Released March 6, "Mississippi to Loch Lomond" is #16 in Independent Blues Broadcasters Association's most played albums chart for March in the UK - and reviewed in the current issue of the Blues Again! webzine in France!
