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 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!

 

Solo Pieces Tour & CD!

On July 11th, Andres Roots’ “Solo Pieces” tour will kick off at the Pirita Bluus Festival in Tallinn, Estonia and continue with gigs in Finland, England and Germany, including two shows at the 40th anniversary edition of the Birmingham Jazz & Blues Festival and a set at the Upton Blues Festival that has once again been voted “Blues Based Festival of the Year” in the 2024 UK Blues Awards. For the duration of the tour, the Estonian guitarist’s 14-track compilation “Solo Pieces” will only be available at gigs, going online in August.

The tour schedule is as follows:

July 11 ESTONIA Pirita Bluus Festival, Tallinn
July 12 FINLAND Kulttuurikellari, Savonlinna (+ Jantso Jokelin)
July 13 FINLAND Roihuvuoren Rio, Helsinki (+ Jantso Jokelin)
July 14 FINLAND Villa Hakasalmi, Helsinki (14:00)
July 20 UK Birmingham Jazz & Blues Festival/Fair Deal Music (13:30)
July 20 UK Birmingham Jazz & Blues Festival/The Wellington (20:00)
July 21 UK Upton Blues Festival/Acoustic Roots Stage (15:00)
July 22 UK Temperance, Leamington Spa
July 24 GERMANY ARTliners, Berlin
July 25 GERMANY Revolte Bar, Berlin
July 26 GERMANY Die alte Garage, Potsdam
July 27 GERMANY Madame Claude, Berlin (+ Pan Salmenhaara)
July 28 GERMANY SonntagsMusikCafé Alte Kita, Berlin (16:00)

And here's the CD tracklist:

1. Cruisin' with the Rev - previously unavailable on CD
2. Django (alt. take) - previously unreleased
3. Lockdown Special - from “Tartu Lockdown”
4. Jook Jones - from “Breakfast in September”
5. Sunstroke - from “Vol. 12”
6. Hawk's Out with His Axe - from “Vol. 12”
7. Fretless Wonder - from “Tartu Lockdown”
8. The Sheik of Hawaii (live) - from “Mississippi to Loch Lomond”
9. Blues for Halvo (stereo) - previously available in mono, on “Mono”
10. Starbuck Theme - from “Vol. 12”
11. So It Is, Subhuti - from “Vol. 12”
12. 4 AM Hot Dog - from “Breakfast in September”
13. Sherwood - from “Vol. 12”
14. Legacy Blues (live) - from “Mississippi to Loch Lomond”

All tunes written & performed by Andres Roots. Recorded 2016-2024 by Jaan Tamm, Andres Roots, Asko-Romé Altsoo & Dave Arcari. Mixed & mastered by Asko-Romé Altsoo. Photo by Jüri Vlassov II. Design by Siret Roots. 

Birmingham Jazz & Blues Festival Programme

The Birmingham Jazz & Blues Festival has published their 40th anniversary programme - you can download it as a .pdf file HERE, with a few very special pages below :)

Thus, Andres Roots' UK gigs this summer are as follows:

Sat 20 July Birmingham Jazz & Blues Festival:
- 1:30 pm Fair Deal Music
- 8:00 pm The Wellington

Sun 21 July Upton Blues Festival:
- 3:00 pm Acoustic Roots Stage

Mon 22 July Leamington Spa:
- 7:00 pm Temperance

Upton Blues Festival

Just announced: on July 21st, Andres Roots will be appearing at the Upton Blues Festival in Upton upon Severn - the festival that's once again been voted "festival of the year" in the UK Blues Awards!

On July 20th, Roots will also be performing at the Birmingham Jazz & Blues Festival, and on July 22nd at the Temperance in Royal Leamington Spa.

Meanwhile, next week's Scottish tour with Dave Arcari will proceed as follows:

 

• Tues 14 May (5.30pm) - Scottish Music Centre, Glasgow – Making connections: Dave Arcari/Andres Roots – International touring panel session followed by live sets from us both

• Wed 15 May – Tolbooth Stirling – Dave Arcari wsg Andres Roots: Stirling

• Thur 16 May – Harbour Arts Centre, Irvine – Dave Arcari wsg Andres Roots: Irvine HAC

• Fri 17 May – The Kings Kirkcaldy – Dave Arcari wsg Andres Roots: Kirkcaldy

• Sat 18 May – Glassel Hall, Banchory – Dave Arcari wsg Andres Roots: parkinsons UK fundraiser at Glassel Hall

Birmingham Jazz & Blues Festival

Just announced: on July 20th, Andres Roots will be playing two shows at the Birmingham Jazz & Blues Festival - England’s longest-established jazz and blues festival that will be celebrating its 40th anniversary this year! Check out some of the history HERE and HERE.

Between this week's concerts in Finland and the upcoming Scottish tour with Dave Arcari, there are also two Estonian shows scheduled for May:

May 10th at 9 PM - Pubi Juudas in Tõrva, with Arles Kangus;

May 12th at 8:30 AM - Prima Vista Literary Festival's Third Insomniacathon at Salong in Tartu.

Plus there's a livestream in the works - watch this space!