Ritual (feat. Jackie Venson)

#61 in The Need To Know Badass Blues Instrumentals Series, Ritual, features yet another Austin, Texas voodooist, Jackie Venson. Jackie is chill personified. She showed up, plugged in, closed her eyes and without ever hearing the track before, did this. The daughter of a professional musician, Jackie knew exactly what she was getting into and at just thirty years old, with three albums, three EP's and a bunch of singles (one of which we will be releasing on vinyl at a later date) under her belt, I'd say the gettin's been good so far. I'm sure once it is safe again to venture out, Jackie will be back on the road delivering what the Chicago Sun-Times calls "formidable instrumental chops and a musical message of positivity" and "a singing voice that radiates warmth and spirit". 

The backing band on this track is Rich Kirch (John Lee Hooker 1984-2001) on rhythm guitar, Andrew "the kid" Guterman (Rick Estrin) on drums and myself on bass. The track was recorded at Skunkworks in Capitola CA. Mixed at Shangri-La by Duane Lundy (Ringo Starr) and as always, masterfully mastered by Alex McCollough at True East Mastering.