- Details
- Written by Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
It often happens, in the music business, to find fascinating stories behind the creation of music project or bands. It's like a series of astral coincidences happening all at the same time, like meeting the right people at the right time or walk into the right place, inadvertently and fortunately.
Those coincidences, of course, need to be matched by some real inner talent, a strong belief in wanting to achieve the goals that you set for yourself as a musician and a great love and respect for the musical heritages of your country of origin.
- Details
- Written by Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
Since the massive, global success of an album like the Dear Silence Thieves back in 2014, blues/rock has never been the same again for a country like South Africa and, most importantly, for its creator, guitarist and singer/songwriter Dan Patlansky.
The amount of curiosity and admiration coming from the music press and the worldwide blues/rock community pushed the South African artist's fame from national notoriety to a more global and well deserved success all over the world. From that point on, virtually nothing has been stopping Patlansky in his ascension to blues/rock stardom, something that the thunderous follow-up 2016 album called Introvertigo confirmed in full, through a combination of well crafted songs packed with lyrics of a strong, social and personal depth, accompained by a sound verging into more rock territories. On both the albums aforementioned, Patlansky worked with producer Theo Crous, in a working relationship that the artist himself described as "challenging" in the beginning but then growing massively, once that the two got to know each other's approach to music and understood the ways they both liked to work on records.
- Details
- Written by Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
There is always a special feeling for a music fan when buying a new record and pressing the "Play" button on the Hi-Fi to explore that new purchase. It's that mixture of trepidation and expectations, the hope of capturing that sparkle, that magic, in a record that would catapult such listener in an enchanted and exciting place, somewhere else in the world.
On this respect, the EP Mama Earth by Project Mama Earth, a mini-concept album about the power of nature, assembling a group of extraordinarily talented musicians, fulfills every music lover's expectation in full, from beginning to end.
- Details
- Written by Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
After five years from the release of its highly successful predecessor, Seesaw, the brand new album from blues/rock Titan Joe Bonamassa and Powerhouse singer/songwriter Beth Hart was long awaited from both artist's worldwide fans and the music press. Considered as the hottest record release of the past weekend, Hart & Bonamassa's third effort, called Black Coffee, follows the previous album's concept, which see both artists covering classics of R&B, blues and soul through their own unique signature style, something that has been a winning factor on their previous albums Don't Explain and Seesaw.
They say that a winning Team doesn't need to be changed, therefore, for both Bonamassa and Hart, to have once again producer Kevin Shirley working with them on the making of Black Coffee, was the most obvious choice for The Dynamic Duo's new record.
- Details
- Written by Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
The Blues Foundation is an organisation founded in 1980 with the objective to preserve, maintain and help to spread the importance and the significance of Blues music. For over 35 years, The Blues Foundation has been and it still is, the epicenter of the most important events organised in the United States linked to the genre, like Keeping The Blues Alive Awards, Blues Hall Of Fame and International Blues Challenge, among others.
The latter, in particular, is an event that has helped, through the years, several musicians to push further their careers within the music industry, by forging relationships between the artists themselves, independent labels and music veterans of the Blues circuit, allowing the artists as well to open up to new fans coming to watch this very important event in the world of Blues music.
Read more: International Blues Challenge #33 - Various Artists
- Details
- Written by Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
Cornwall is not just one of the prettiest areas of the United Kingdom, often chosen as the preferred destination for many holiday makers but it is also a very active, dynamic and creative part of this country, when it comes to make music.
After collecting numerous accolades from the whole of the UK music press for their first three self-released albums, the collective and local heroes Wille & The Bandits have released, back few months ago, a brand new record called Steal, which it doesn't just reinstate the collective as one of the most innovative and original bands of the blues and rock circuits but also as one of the most experimental.
- Details
- Written by Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
2016's Big Dog was an album that meant a great deal for one of the finest bluesmen around, the Florida-based guitarist and singer/songwriter Albert Castiglia.
Celebrated at the time as Castiglia's finest hour to date, Big Dog was an album that displayed clearly the amount of talent present in Castiglia as a musician in many ways and under different levels. With this in mind, to move forward from an album of this level of excellence must have been not an easy challenge to face for Castiglia, while approaching the writing of the new record.