Mäntsälä/Järvenpää Pics

Here's a few pics from two more Finnish gigs: one at Kulttuurimeijeri in Mäntsälä and the other at Eikan Pankki in Järvenpää with Jantso Jokelin, all by Leif Laaksonen.

 

Insomniacathon Pics

On May 11th, Andres Roots joined Ron Whitehead and Jinn Bug at the Prima Vista Literary Festival's third Insomniacathon at Tartu's Salong - and was in turn joined by Lifetime Beat Poet Laureate Ron Whitehead in the morning of May 12th for a performance of Whitehead's "Gimme Back My Wig: The Hound Dog Taylor Hunter S. Thompson I Gotta Get Outta This Town Blues". Photos by Siret Roots and Heleni Keeman.

 

Tõrva & Tartu This Weekend!

The last two Estonian shows before Scotland: Pubi Juudas in Tõrva on Friday, May 10th 9 p.m. with Arles Kangus, and Prima Vista Literary Festival's third Insomniacathon at Kultuuriklubi Salong in Tartu on Sunday, May 12th at 8:30 a.m.!!!

 

 

Mendocino Photos & BluesNews Review

In the current issue of the German BluesNews magazine, Dirk Föhrs writes: "Even though the guitarist is rooted in the blues, he plays music that transcends all genres. This can be generally classified under “Roots” to match his surname – which, incidentally, is not a pseudonym."

Below are a few photos from the August 15th Helsinki concert at Bar Mendocino, by Leif Laaksonen.

 

Tartu 2024 Ambassador

Andres Roots has been announced as one of the official ambassadors for the European Capital of Culture Tartu 2024 - find out more about Tartu 2024 HERE! Photo taken at the University of Tartu Library's music department by Maanus Kullamaa.

Insomnicathon Pics

Last weekend, the Tartu international literary festival Prima Vista's 20th anniversary celebrations ended with the second 24-hour Insomniacathon, which was led by the Kentucky beat poet Ron Whitehead - just like the first one in 2019. On his Facebook page, you can find the Lifetime Beat Poet Laureate's own account of the proceedings - including the lines: 

Andres Roots, one of the best
blues guitarists on the planet.

Here are some photos from Salong - indoors with Jinn Bug and Ron Whitehead in the early morning hours of May 14th by Johanna Roos, and outdoors with Aapo Ilves and Ron Whitehead in the evening of May 13th by Siret Roots.

Berlin Pics

Here's a few photos from the March 2023 Berlin shows at the Estonian Embassy, at Zimmer 16, at ARTliners, and at Transformator Frohnau. Pics by Merit Kopli, Detlef Stein, Arvo Kannast, and Pan Salmenhaara, plus two livestream screenshots - the last one from the Rockradio.de webcast featuring a jam with Pan Salmenhaara on guitar and vocals and Herbert Quelle on harmonica.

Lockdown Interview!

The Tartu 2024 photo & video project "Spring 2020" features interviews with cultural figures of Tartu & Southern Estonia on how the global pandemic has influenced their life. With video by Hendrik Kuusk (Televant) & photos by Kiur Kaasik, the opening episode presents yours truly in his bedroom window, with his Hobo 63 cigar box guitar & ZT Amplifiers Lunchbox amp.

New Album

The new live CD "Mississippi to Loch Lomond" will arrive in stores this Friday, March 6th and you can already order it from the CD Market and Lasering online stores. The first review is in - by Theo Volk, from the Netherlands and in Dutch, but with a little help from Google Translate, you can read it HERE!

The radio premiere was on Jeff Eaton's Blues Friday show on WXPR in Wisconsin on February 28 - click HERE for the programme and HERE for the playlist. In the UK, Richard Dunning's Blues on the Radio was the first to air a track from the album - click HERE to listen.

The album tour kicks off next week - Friday the 13th at Kultuuriklubi Salong in Tartu, Estonia, with very special guest Ismo Haavisto!

BLUES NEWS!

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.!

 

"Bullfrog Medley" from Clarksdale

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.

Looking Back on 2019

Blues in Britain. Photo by Leif Laaksonen.

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!

Turun Sanomat. Photo by Asko-Romé Altsoo.

European Capital of Culture 2024

Tartu, Estonia has just been announced as the European Capital of Culture 2024 - so here's a few photos of Andres Roots playing for the honourable jury outside of Barlova yesterday afternoon :) Click HERE for more photos of the jury's tour of the city. Congrats to everybody!