October will see the release of another LP in the "Estonian Tribute To Hurriganes" series - this time a track-by-track remake of the legendary Finnish group's "Roadrunner" album. While all the songs have been re-recorded expressly for this project by contemporary Estonian artists and all photos are from 2024 as well, both the car in the cover photo and the photographer himself are "original" - it was Risto Vuorimies who took pictures of this very Cadillac for the iconic Hurriganes sleeve 50 years ago as well.
You can place your pre-orders HERE and enjoy Andres Roots' acoustic cover of Hurriganes' "In the Nude" (a.k.a. Glenn Miller's "In the Mood") below.
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 pandemic break is finally over and Andres Roots will be playing two shows with Ismo Haavisto & Matias Partanen in Finland this week: Roots Thursday at Virasto in Lahti on July 2 and the Bluemood Saimaa festival at Kallioniemi in Ristiina on July 3! CD's, vinyl & T-shirts available at the shows :)
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!
The "Waiting Around" tour ended on Friday with a full house at the Endla Jazz Club in Pärnu - and by Sunday morning, the 7" EP had topped the Rahva Raamat bookstore chain's best-selling music chart! Thank you all, and see you again in a couple of weeks: Tallinn on Oct. 30th, Helsinki Nov. 15th, Lappeenranta Nov. 16th, etc. Until then, here's a previously unreleased tune, recorded live at the Endla on Oct. 4th, 2019 - plus a few posters!
On September 16th and 17th, a music video for the track "Waiting Around" off the new 7" EP was filmed at Genialistide Klubi in Tartu. Directed, filmed and edited by Asko-Romé Altsoo, with Oskar Harding in charge of lighting, the video features dancers from the Tartu Swing dance club, along with a couple of associates from Tartu's Vinyl Plant. Below are a few stills from the video - the clip itself will premiere in time for the final "Waiting Around" concert in Pärnu on October 4th.
With concerts in Tallinn, Tartu, Kadrina, Viljandi and Võru now behind us, the "Waiting Around" 7" EP tour will come to an end with a free show at the Endla Jazz Club in Pärnu on Friday, October 4th, also signalling the end of the active touring season for this year. But there will still be occasional Estonian dates from October 30th onwards, as well as another mini-tour of Finland in November, so keep an eye on the winter schedule via the regularly updated Concerts page!
Here's what the British harpist and blues expert Steve Lury had to say about "Waiting Around":
Here's a live video of "The Sheik of Hawaii", as heard on the live "Loch Lomond Blues" EP and performed at Memorial Hall, Milton of Buchanan, Scotland on March 2, 2019. Filmed and recorded by Dave Arcari, edited and mastered by Asko-Romé Altsoo. And don't forget: Andres Roots and James Dalton will be playing at the Sügisjazz festival at Genklubi in Tartu this Thursday, Sept. 19, and Andres Roots and Randal Randoja will appear at the Kannel cultural centre in Võru this Friday, Sept. 20, as part of the "Waiting Around" EP launch tour!
Here's a few photos from yesterday's EP launch show at the Tartuff film festival in the Tartu Town Hall Square - all pics by Rainer Kratt. The launch tour will continue with a concert at nostalgiakeskus "Kadrina", in Kadrina, on August 24th.
The "Waiting Around" 7-inch is now available from most Estonian record stores and can be heard on Spotify, etc. The Tartu launch show will take place on Saturday, August 17 at the Tartuff film festival - in the Tartuff café tent in town Town Hall Square. Showtime 20:00, no cover charge!
Below are a few pics by Priit Põder from Tuesday's gig at Von Krahl in Tallinn.
The Waiting Around EP tour kicks off on Tuesday, August 13th at Von Krahl in Tallinn, followed by the Tartuff film festival in the Tartu Town Hall Square on Saturday, August 17th. The 7" vinyl will hit the stores and Spotify on Friday, August 16th. Here are the tour dates (with more TBC for September):
Waiting Around in Tallinn - August 13
Waiting Around in Tartu - August 17
Waiting Around in Kadrina - August 24
Waiting Around in Viljandi - September 5
Waiting Around in Pärnu - October 4
Waiting Around in Rakvere - October 5
In addition, there's a Sügisjazz show with the New Jersey artist James Dalton coming in September at Genklubi in Tartu - check out the Concerts page for full schedule.
Meanwhile, the Tampere-Rauma-Lahti tour with Ismo Haavisto and Matias Partanen last week was truly a blast. Here's some photos, with photo credits as follows: (1) Paapan Kapakka in Tampere by Marko Aho, (2) & (3) Rauma Blues festival by Carita Pakula @ Rauma Blues ry, (4) Verstas in Lahti by Keijo Seppälä:
On August 16th, Andres Roots will release his 7" 45 RPM solo EP "Waiting
Around" – the first 7" record pressed at the Vinyl Plant in Tartu,
Estonia. The on-location manufacturing of vinyl records in Tartu, Estonia was
launched by Vinyl Plant in 2016 with Roots' compilation LP "Roots
Music" – the first vinyl record ever made in Estonia, it went to number 1
in the Estonian album charts upon release and earned Roots a Golden Disc
award.
Unlike the 2016 LP, the four tracks on "Waiting Around"
were cut expressly for the 45 and are all instrumental solo performances. The
recordings were made on June 7th by Jaan Tamm, who back in the day recorded all
but one of the albums by Roots' internationally acclaimed alt.blues trio
Bullfrog Brown, and mastered by Asko-Romé Altsoo, who has been working with
Roots since 2009. The EP cover was designed by Siret Roots, with front cover
photo by Priit Põder from a March show at the Record Fair in Tallinn, Estonia
and back cover photo by Leif Laaksonen from a February gig at the venue
currently known as Mendocino in Helsinki, Finland.
By chance, the first person to hear the 45 was the Finnish-born
Tartu author Mika Keränen, who in his in-depth online review writes: "There
is somebody sitting in the corner of a bar and playing guitar. You don't hear
it when you have a CD. When you have the vinyl, you hear it and you feel it. This
is why I like vinyl. It is next to live gigs."
The EP launch tour will start with solo shows at Von Krahl inTallinn on August 13th and at the Tartuff Love Film Festival in Tartu on August
17th, with concerts in Viljandi, Pärnu and Rakvere already confirmed for
September and October and more dates TBA. Before then, Andres Roots will be
joining Ismo Haavisto and Matias Partanen for three trio shows in Finland: at
Paapan Kapakka in Tampere on August 8th, at the Rauma Blues Festival on August 9th
and at Verstas in Lahti on August 10th.
The 7" 45 RPM EP will arrive in the stores on August 16. Yesterday, the famed author Mika Keränen became the first person outside of the immediate "production circle" to hear the vinyl, and he was kind enough to post a track-by-track review on his Facebook page. With his permission, we reproduce it here:
Andres Roots EP 2019
Review by Mika Keränen
1. Waiting Around
There is somebody sitting in the corner of a bar and playing guitar. You don't hear it when you have a CD. When you have the vinyl, you hear it and you feel it. This is why I like vinyl. It is next to LIVE gigs.
This "intro" song sounds a bit lazy and easy - it is a true "intro", which is not a bad thing. I had higher hopes, but it's okay. I guess if I'd be a newcomer in my hometown and heard this in any of the bars, I would pop in to see who is playing!
2. One Good Song
One very good song. A perfect slide. Rolling like ketchup on your collar after a midnight at a truck stop. Smells like a muddy river and shitty red vine - and long, long shadows in some forgotten garden. This is, thank God, a longer song. Something happens in the middle of the song. Sudden tingle-tangle slides, Andres Roots' trademark. I get a feeling like skipping rope with my friends. I might even dance.
The man with a guitar is still alone in this song. No drums, not even a drum machine. Nor a singer. A beautiful melody, just for intruding with slippery slides.
3. Birdsong Thing
The songwriter himself said he heard a bird singing in his garden one morning and wrote the song. Well, this doesn't sound like a bird to me. I hear Hawaiian wind, and drunken butterflies whispering: howdy young man, can you buy me a drink?
4. In the Dark
I have heard this before, a feeling I get quite often when listening to Roots. A bit goofy, joyful slide guitar playing. Too short. How come they make 2-minute songs? I want an extended version.
October will see the release of another LP in the "Estonian Tribute To Hurriganes" series - this time a track-by-track remake of the legendary Finnish group's "Roadrunner" album. While all the songs have been re-recorded expressly for this project by contemporary Estonian artists and all photos are from 2024 as well, both the car in the cover photo and the photographer himself are "original" - it was Risto Vuorimies who took pictures of this very Cadillac for the iconic Hurriganes sleeve 50 years ago as well. 
