Andres Roots – Vol. 12
Andres Roots – Vol. 12
Format: CD
Label: Independent
Release: 2023
Release date: March 3, 2023
March 3rd, 2023 will see the launch of a new album of solo instrumentals from the Estonian slide guitarist Andres Roots – titled “Vol. 12”, the predominantly acoustic 14-track album is Roots’ first full-length release since 2020’s “Tartu Lockdown” and his first proper studio album since 2018’s “Breakfast in September”.
The latest recordings on the album were made on December 23rd, 2022, the earliest on June 7th, 2019 – indeed, the two electric numbers on “Vol. 12” originally appeared on the pre-COVID 7-inch EP “Waiting Around” and are now presented on CD for the first time. Since those recordings were made, the guitarist has toured in the US, Germany, Finland and the Baltics, been hospitalized with heart trouble, survived the pandemic lockdowns, suffered from a nasty case of eczema on his hands that made playing the guitar nearly impossible, and made the Blues & Roots Radio’s International Song Contest finals with not one but two original compositions – one of which came third in the jury’s Top Ten for the duo/trio/band category.
Featured on “Vol. 12” are all six tracks from the now out-of-print 2021 CD EP “Afternoon”, which the French Soul Bag magazine described as “pure acoustic pleasure” – the EP made #15 in the Independent Blues Broadcasters Association’s monthly airplay chart in the UK and #16 in the Collectif des Radios Blues airplay chart in France. Of the 2022 recordings, “Starbuck Theme” and “Western of the Month” were captured for the 1Teater production of the N. Richard Nash play “The Rainmaker”, a popular Hollywood version of which once starred Katharine Hepburn and Burt Lancaster. “Hawk’s Out with His Axe”, a third number originally produced for the play, was re-recorded for the album.
“I had my heart set on trying it with a different sound and feel and in a different key for the album – and then two days before the session, I suffered a fall in the snow and ended up in the ER with a sprained wrist and thumb,” says Roots. “Still, I went in as scheduled, cut the song to my satisfaction and finished the album. I’m glad I did and happy with the way it turned out, even if I had to spend the following four weeks in physio!”
“Vol. 12” was recorded by Jaan Tamm, who engineered all but one of Roots’ old band Bullfrog Brown’s studio records back in the 00’s, and mastered by Asko-Romé Altsoo, who has been working with Roots since 2009. The cover painting is by Siret Roots and she also designed the sleeve which features photos by Risto Vuorimies, Leif Laaksonen and Malle-Liisa Raigla.
Website: https://www.andresroots.com/
Tracks:
01. So It Is, Subhuti
02. Sunstroke
03. Starbuck Theme
04. Dromedary
05. Birdsong Thing
06. Hawk’s Out with His Axe
07. Picnic at Dockery’s
08. Bye Bye Berry
09. Blues on Green
10. Years Past Midnight
11. Waiting Around
12. Western of the Month
13. Yuletide Blues
14. Sherwood