Valentine (feat. Robbie McIntosh)

#127 in The Need To Know Badass Blues Instrumentals Series, Valentine, features one of the best guitarists I have ever encountered, Robbie McIntosh. Robbie's resume speaks for itself...five years touring and two albums with Sir Paul McCartney, three albums with The Pretenders including Learning To Crawl (that's Robbie's soloing on Middle Of The Road!), records with Rod Stewart, Celine Dion, Joe Cocker, The Bee Gees, Mark Knopfler, Norah Jones and John Mayer and it just keeps on going. When not enjoying his life by the English seaside in semi-retirement you can still hear and see Robbie with The Robbie McIntosh Band. Robbie was so enthusiastic and generous with his gift that he actually played on two tracks...so, enjoy this one and know that there's another one coming down the road. Cheers!

The backing band on this track is Oakland Born/Nashville residing, funky AF, Derrek Phillips, (Gloria Gaynor, Robben Ford, Charlie Hunter) on drums, and myself on rhythm guitar and bass. The track was recorded at NTA, South San Francisco, The Phamily Room, Nashville TN, and Robbie's place in the UK. Mellifluously mixed and mastered by the infamous F-Bomb.

Song For Mongo (feat. Idris Ackamoor)

#126 in The Need To Know Badass Blues Instrumentals Series, Song for Mongo, features Afrofuturist & Shaman, Idris Ackamoor, on tenor saxophone. A couple of years ago I was hipped via Malcolm Catto's Instagram to a "new" artist, Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids. I became somewhat obsessed and really dug into their catalog. Turns out they are located here in the Bay Area and have a history going back some fifty years. Being someone who is never afraid to ask, I reached out to Malcolm, who had masterfully produced their two most recent albums, and asked him for Idris' contact info. Idris generously agreed to play on this track and it is everything I had hoped for. Fast forward to the present; I've now been lucky enough to have been Idris' US co-producer (Malcolm and Quentin Scott are the UK producers) on his forthcoming masterpiece, Afro Futuristic Dreams. It's been an absolute joy and honor working with Idris and I hope more music will flow from this new friendship. If you want to know more about Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids check out this recent New York Times article maybe while you're listening to this track. Enjoy!

The backing band on this track is Oakland Born/Nashville residing, funky AF, Derrek Phillips, (Gloria Gaynor, Robben Ford, Charlie Hunter) on drums, San Francisco's own and one of the Pyramids, Tony Price on Percussion, and myself on rhythm guitar and bass. The track was recorded at NTA, South San Francisco, and The Phamily Room, Nashville TN. Prodigiously mixed and mastered by the Grammy-winning and extremely good-humored, Matt Winegar (Primus, Fantastic Negrito).