Finnish Tour in June!

Andres Roots' third Finnish mini-tour of 2026 will kick off at Tampere's Huurupiilo on Wednesday, June 3rd, followed by his first solo appearance at Rauma Blues, considered by many the most important blues festival in Finland. On June 5th, Roots will be performing in Hämeenlinna, and the tour wraps up in Roihuvuori, Helsinki on Saturday with a matinee that also features A. Takalo. Here's the detailed schedule:

June 3 - Huurupiilo, Tampere

June 4 - Rauma Blues Festival @ Ravintola Otava, Rauma

June 5 - Nooran Viinibaari & Juliuksen Olohuone, Hämeenlinna 

June 6 - Roihuvuoren Rio, Helsinki w/ A. Takalo

Read more about it in the Estonian Embassy's cultural newsletter HERE, in the Blues News magazine HERE, and in Blues-Finland.com HERE.

Hamina Mosna Blues Pics

Here are a few photos from the Hamina Mosna Blues Festival in Finland earlier this month - with Jantso Jokelin and Old Wood'n Joe, and by Ari-Pekka Huovila.

Tallukka Blues Party Review & Photos

Last week's Finnish tour ended with a set at the Hotelli Tallukka Blues Party in Vääksy and Blues-Finland.com has published a detailed review of the event. Pasi Tuominen writes: 

"Even though Roots has been making music for a long time and has been performing actively in Finland for well over a decade, he remains part of the younger generation of roots musicians. And that shows in both his artistic and personal progress – it feels like this guy’s development curve is about to go through the roof.

"The Vesijärvi restaurant was nicely packed on Saturday, intensely alive with the masterful guitarist’s performance. Roots’ acoustic guitar playing exhibits almost endless inventiveness. When seasoning his playing with juicy basslines and percussive right hand effects, he sounds like a trio at the very least!

 

"The humorous stage banter further adds to the concert value of Roots (who speaks better Finnish than many Finns). Rarely do artists get an extra applause for what they say between songs. Andres got many."

 

You can read the whole thing HERE (in Finnish). Photos here and in the article are by Juha Seila. - see the full gallery HERE. 

 

Tallukka Blues & National Museum Pics

Finland's Hotelli Tallukka Blues Party festival in Vääksy has just revealed this year's line-up - Andres Roots will playing a solo set on Saturday, August 19th. 

Meanwhile, the 3-song set performed at the Estonian National Museum on March 23rd can now be viewed on YouTube HERE - the photos below are by Arp Karm.

 

Pärnu Winter Blues!

The performers for this year's Pärnu winter bluesfest The Blue Icicle have just been announced - see you at the Pärnu Yacht Club on Friday, March 3rd at 7 p.m.!

Helsinki Pic, Opening Night & Pärnu Blues

Last weekend's Finnish tour was fabulous: thank you, Janakkala, thank you, Järvenpää, thank you, Helsinki, thank you, Kouvola! :) With extra special thanks to Jantso Jokelin for sitting in on harp at the Hakasalmi Villa! 

Here's a photo of the solo half of the Hakasalmi show, by the legendary Risto Vuorimies:

Tonight - July 19th - is the opening night for 1Teater's version of "Vihmameister" - "The Rainmaker" by N. Richard Nash that features a bit of music written and recorded by Andres Roots. Get your tickets HERE! 

As for live performances, next up is the Pärnu blues festival next week: it's the set that opens the fest, 3 p.m. on Tuesday, July 26th at Mohri Ait! 

 

Mosna Blues Pics

Here are a few photos by Ari-Pekka Huovila from last weekend's Hamina Mosna Blues festival in Finland - full gallery HERE!

 

 

Trip to Finland & Augustibluus Videos

This weekend, Andres Roots will play what look to be his only international gigs this year - on Saturday, August 14th, he'll be doing an open tunings workshop at 4 p.m. and playing an acoustic solo set at 8 p.m. at the Kymi Kantri country & western music festival in Myllykoski, Finland. For more details, check out the Facebook event HERE!

Meanwhile, here are three live video clips, filmed by Heino Maripuu at the Augustibluus festival in Haapsalu on July 31st, 2021:

Summer Festivals!

First two solo shows announced for the summer of 2021: on July 31st, Andres Roots will play his first-ever solo set at the Augustibluus festival in Haapsalu, Estonia, where he's been a regular since the year 2000, and on August 14th, he'll play his first-ever acoustic set in finland at the Kymi Kantri festival in Myllykoski, preceded by an open tunings workshop.