Whilst Wednesday has traditionally been the day of choice for featuring instrumental tracks that has typically been as a bonus feature – so today we’re breaking with tradition and finding space for an instrumental track premiere. That’s a little ironic since this is quite the traditional piece, an acoustic blues with a long heritage.
Gyasi is a guitar player who was raised in the woods of a West Virginia holler whose approach to his music is as an all-encompassing art piece, using fashion, storytelling, and his guitar to create a world for his music. He’s best known for a glam rock take on electric lead guitar, and in addition to his own music, he is the primary lead guitarist on Alice Cooper’s highly acclaimed reunion album, The Revenge of Alice Cooper. But, wouldn’t you know it, he’s more multi-faceted than that would suggest, and his latest solo album Songs From The Holler leans into the roots of the blues and shows Gyasi as quite the talented exponent of that musical form as well.
Gyasi told Americana UK that “Poor Boy Blues is one of the oldest blues songs I know of. There are countless different versions and mine is a mix of several with my own clogging style thrown in. I originally learned it from the Piedmont blues master John Cephas and then I heard John Fahey’s version whose arrangement heavily influenced this recording. Throw in a little Bukkha White style slide and you have this take on a classic.”
Gyasi will release Songs from the Holler comes out September 18th via Alive Naturalsound Records and will undertake a European Tour later this year, with three dates in the UK:
Sep 18 Fri – Voodoo Daddy’s – Norwich, United Kingdom
Sep 19 Sat – Prince Albert – Brighton, United Kingdom
Sep 20 Sun – The Shacklewell Arms – London, United Kingdom
