Reviews & Videos

In the February issue of the UK's Blues Matters! magazine, Iain Patience reviews the "Tartu Lockdown" album, calling it "an interesting exploration of down-home recording that seems to mix downtown home-porch styles with raggedy juke joint sounds": "Roots brings his fine fretwork and quality to the mix with an air of excitement and experience that should work well for those who prefer their blues to be both experimental without straying too far from the traditional path and raw-edged."

In Finland's Blues News magazine that same month, Honey Aaltonen discusses the "Afternoon" EP: "Virtuosically working his acoustic guitar, Andres Roots' music gets more stylish by the year. But don't worry, it's still the blues!" 

Well, here are two multi-cam video clips from Andres' March 14th performance at the Estonian Literary Museum - courtesy of and originally webcast on KirmusTV: 

Bman's Blues Report Review!

As Estonia seems to be heading into another lockdown, Arizona's Bman's Blues Report reviews "Tartu Lockdown": "A cool batch of instrumental blues... reminding me just a bit of early Jeff Beck." Read the whole thing HERE!

Soul Bag Review!

Christophe Mourot has reviewed the "Mississippi to Loch Lomond" and "Tartu Lockdown" albums for the French Soul Bag magazine: "Chicago blues, Mississippi blues, western swing... An incredible mix of sweetness and aggressiveness."

Read the whole thing HERE!

Real Roots Café Review

Jaks Schuit has reviewed "Tartu Lockdown" and "Mississippi to Loch Lomond" in the Netherlands' Real Roots Café: "Two releases that deserve the label quarantine blues. The music on these albums is particularly nice to listen to and gives solace in these occasionally difficult times." Read the whole thing HERE!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, everyone! 

And there's some good news to start it off, too: "Tartu Lockdown" is #17 on the Blues in the South/Wednesday's Even Worse best blues albums list for 2020! Check out the UK webzine HERE.

Twoj Blues Reviews

Both "Mississippi to Loch Lomond" and "Tartu Lockdown" are reviewed in the current issue of Poland's Twoj Blues magazine. Robert Lenert compares the former to Ry Cooder's "Paris, Texas" soundtrack while noting "the great sound of the instrument, virtuosity, well-presented themes and great musicality". Of the latter, he states: "Recording full-size albums of instrumental music performed on one instrument is a real challenge. Andres Roots did it like no other. Please pay close attention to this guitarist. He is an extraordinary artist."

Blues Matters! Review

"Tartu Lockdown" is reviewed in the current issue of Blues Matters! magazine - Adam Kennedy calls it "a smorgasbord of instrumental slide guitar playing": "Scorching slide licks, catalyzed by his fiery cigar box skills... Whilst tracks such as "Springtime Blues" have a bit more of a jazzy undertone reminiscent of the late great Django Reinhardt."

Barikada & Bluesnews Reviews

Dragutin Matošević reviews "Tartu Lockdown" in Barikada.com in Bosnia and Herzegovina: "The sincerity of his messages expressed through the music without exception is easily recognizable. All these messages are understandable to us because Andres has an impeccable playing technique, and the sound of his guitars is almost close to human speech." Read the whole thing HERE!

Meanwhile, in the December issue of the German Bluesnews magazine, Dirk Föhrs reviews both 2020 releases, preferring the "traditional country and delta blues" of "Mississippi to Loch Lomond". This issue of Bluesnews also features a lengthy piece on blues artists on Bandcamp by Dirk Funke that includes an interview with Andres Roots. The magazine hits the streets on December 10th.  

Blues Blast Review

John Mitchell reviews "Mississippi to Loch Lomond" and "Tartu Lockdown" in the American Blues Blast Magazine: "There is plenty of opportunity to appreciate Andres’ skillful playing on an all-original program in Clarksdale... Andres varies the pace well, moving from the uptempo “In The Dark” to the reflective “Build Me A Statue” which sounds like a classic Delta blues slowed down to quarter speed." Read the whole thing HERE!

Muusika Review

"Tartu Lockdown" is reviewed in the current issue of the Estonian Muusika magazine by Virge Joamets, who writes: "Each tune is like a world of its own... Roots is like a polyglot, able to promptly switch from one "language" to the next. You won't get bored, for the craftsman is a master at introducing Southern and Eastern sounds and colours." Read the whole thing HERE!

Meanwhile, Blues-Finland.com discusses "Right Across the Hill", the new acoustic single by Andres Roots & Red Mouth HERE. And HERE, you can view some more photos from Jack Reacher's birthday party held at the National Library of Estonia in October - due to the pandemic, quite possibly Andres Roots' last live appearance this year. The photo above by Liina Luhats-Ulman/Eesti Rahvusraamatukogu.

Blues News Review

Pete Hoppula reviews "Tartu Lockdown" in the current issue of Finland's Blues News magazine, calling it "a job well done"! Check out the music HERE and the bimonthly mag HERE.

Keys and Chords Review

The Belgian webzine Keys and Chords has given "Tartu Lockdown" 4.5 stars out of 5! 

Philip Verhaege writes (thanks to Rod 'The Jook' Jones for the translation!): "The thirteen instrumental tunes are skilfully played by Andres. Working through like a guitarslinger, he squeezes his Delta Blues out of a three-string fretless Hobo 63 cigar box, or a one-string diddley bow, through his Lunchbox & Ampeg BA-112 amplifers. That's all it takes to make a cool album." 

Check out the whole thing HERE!

Rapla Blues Club!

On Thursday, September 24th at 8 p.m., Andres Roots will play his last confirmed gig this fall at the Rapla Blues Club at Kultuuriklubi BAAS in Rapla (Tallinna mnt. 5), performing material from the two 2020 solo albums "Tartu Lockdown" and "Mississippi to Loch Lomond". The evening will also feature a quick Q&A session. Tickets are available HERE!