Rosa Amarilla (feat. Rosie Flores)

#92 in The Need To Know Badass Blues Instrumentals Series, Rosa Amarilla, features the wonderfully rambunctious guitar work of the legendary, Rosie Flores. Born in Texas in 1950, by her teens, relocated to San Diego, Rosie was beginning to stoke the flames of her long and illustrious career in Rock and Roll. After fifteen years of paying dues on the San Diego club circuit, Rosie landed her first major label deal and Billboard charting single in 1987 with "Crying Over You" (Warner/Reprise). Since then Rosie has made 10 solo records, toured the world repeatedly, done Austin City Limits and the other cool requisite television appearances. I'm going to nick this next bit straight from Rosie's Wiki: "In addition to her work as a performer and songwriter, Flores has helped to revive the careers of female rockabilly musicians from previous generations and to create new interest in their music. Her album Rockabilly Filly, released on Hightone Records in 1995, included vocals from early rock and roll musicians Janis Martin and Wanda Jackson. In 2007, Flores brought Janis Martin to a recording studio in Blanco, Texas, to record what would be both Martin's first solo album in thirty years as well as her last before her death of cancer. After the project was turned down by a number of record labels, Flores raised more than $16,000 on Kickstarter to release the album, which was titled Janis Martin: The Blanco Sessions. Flores is credited as a producer."
I can honestly say that it was an absolute pleasure having Rosie come by to do this track. She was so full of energy and enthusiasm and I believe it translates to the ear. Enjoy!

The backing band on this track is Rich Kirch (John Lee Hooker 1984-2001) on rhythm guitar, Alvino Bennett (Dave Mason, Stevie Wonder) on drums and myself on bass. The track was recorded at Skunkworks in Capitola CA. Mixing and Mastering duties performed by the Grand Wizard of Greaseland, Christoffer "Kid" Andersen. 

Grandmother's Child (feat. Bombino)

Greetings Friends, Family, Associates, Acquaintances, Comrades, Accomplices & Total Strangers,

#91 in The Need To Know Badass Blues Instrumentals Series, Grandmother's Child, features the Nigerian rebel/guitarist, Bombino. Born in Niger in 1980, at 10 years old Bombino and his family had to flee to Algeria as a result of the Tuareg Revolution. In his early teens, Bombino studied with the renowned Tuareg guitarist, Haja Bebe and by 17, Bombino had returned to Niger to begin his life as a professional musician. Since then the adventure has been a rich and worldly one. Bombino has played with Keith Richards & Charlie Watts, had an album (Nomad, #1 Billboard World Chart) produced by Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys, and has performed at festivals around the world including Coachella, WOMAD, and Pukkelpop. The New York Times has dubbed Bombino "the Sultan of Shred" and he is also the first Nigerian to be nominated for a Grammy award (2018's Deran). I love this quote from one of Bombino's interviews; "I do not see my guitar as a gun but rather as a hammer with which to help build the house of the Tuareg people." We hope we can help. Enjoy!

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. The Grammy-winning and very bearded, Rob Schnapf (Beck, Booker T., Mavis Staples) brings his mad mixing skills. And as almost always, masterful mastering by Alex McCollough at True East Mastering.