An Exclusive Interview With Mike Eldred!
“It’s not so much raw chutzpah as sheer love — backed by unassailable musical chops — with which veteran Southern California blues musician Mike Eldred puts on display in “61 and 49,” referencing the fabled intersection in Clarksdale, Miss., that’s essentially ground zero in the world of Delta blues.
What makes the album such a delight is the masterful way the guitarist, singer and songwriter paces his trek through a rainbow’s worth of electric and acoustic blues workouts. It’s the sign of a journeyman who has spent untold hours playing clubs and learning the old-fashioned way what flies and what doesn’t”.
– Los Angeles Times
Voted one of the best guitarists in Americana / Roots / Blues music, The Mike Eldred Trio is a roots “Super-Band” with Eldred (formerly with Stray Cat Lee Rocker) and John Bazz and Jerry Angel both from The Blasters! Their first CD (The Mike Eldred Trio) sent shock waves throughout the Americana/roots/blues community with rave reviews from Brian Setzer among others, and gave Eldred the title “best unknown guitarist”. The band’s second CD (61 and 49) was voted of the Top Ten CD releases of 2011 by the Los Angeles Times.
The band’s newest effort is a multi-layered blues journey through Mississippi juke joints, prisons, churches, and the small neighborhood called Baptist Town in Greenwood where the legendary bluesman Robert Johnson was murdered in 1938. The trio invited several guests into the famed Sun Studio to lend a hand, and David Hidalgo, Robert Cray, and John Mayer help to tell a story of the dichotomy of the ongoing struggle between poverty and affluence, love and hate, and sin and salvation.
The trio’s 4th album “Baptist Town” is a monumental achievement in roots and blues storytelling, and will undoubtedly grow the trio’s already large fan base that includes artists like ZZ Top’s Billy F. Gibbons: “El contenta completa”…! This is it. Enjoy this one, top to bottom, bottom to top. The Mike Eldred Trio makes the rounds through a blues-wrapped offering that is certain to satisfy. Rock it!”
