The Blues Comes In Many Colours
Dave Arcari (with Andres Roots) – Harbour Arts Centre, Irvine, 16th May 2024
Dave Arcari (with Andres Roots) – Harbour Arts Centre, Irvine, 16th May 2024
"The blues comes in many colours" isn't just the declaration on Scottish alternative blues troubadour Dave Arcari's merch wear; it's also a truism that was firmly established at the Harbour Arts Centre in Irvine, where Arcari was joined by his good friend and Estonian blues musician Andres Roots as they neared the end of their current run of UK dates.
When first hearing or watching the impressive slide and picking talents of Andres Roots, who resides in the Estonian city of Tartu (cultural capital of Europe this year, no less), you could be forgiven for thinking your ears or eyes deceive you, given it sounds like either there are two musicians/ guitars involved, or he has six fingers on each hand (there isn’t, and he hasn’t, respectively).
And that’s because, as with guitar luminaries such as Martin Taylor, Andres Roots is an exceptional multi-parts guitarist; thumbing a bass line and picking out a rhythm while delivering a melody, highly individualistic phrasing or some nifty slide work, the latter sometimes incorporating two slides (a full finger slide and a ring slide). Yeah; he’s a bit good.
You could also be forgiven for thinking many of his compositions are direct lifts from traditional American folk & Delta blues, such is their stylistic authenticity.
A prime example was delightful country & western/ folk blues piece 'Starbuck Theme,' written in 2022 for the Estonian play The Rainmaker, adapted from the 1950s American original (and made into a movie starring Burt Lancaster & Katharine Hepburn).
When first hearing or watching the impressive slide and picking talents of Andres Roots, who resides in the Estonian city of Tartu (cultural capital of Europe this year, no less), you could be forgiven for thinking your ears or eyes deceive you, given it sounds like either there are two musicians/ guitars involved, or he has six fingers on each hand (there isn’t, and he hasn’t, respectively).
And that’s because, as with guitar luminaries such as Martin Taylor, Andres Roots is an exceptional multi-parts guitarist; thumbing a bass line and picking out a rhythm while delivering a melody, highly individualistic phrasing or some nifty slide work, the latter sometimes incorporating two slides (a full finger slide and a ring slide). Yeah; he’s a bit good.
You could also be forgiven for thinking many of his compositions are direct lifts from traditional American folk & Delta blues, such is their stylistic authenticity.
A prime example was delightful country & western/ folk blues piece 'Starbuck Theme,' written in 2022 for the Estonian play The Rainmaker, adapted from the 1950s American original (and made into a movie starring Burt Lancaster & Katharine Hepburn).
Like Dave Arcari, Andres Roots likes to tell stories about some of the songs (the story about the play for example), or regale the audience with a few anecdotes (being interviewed at home, by a man with a video camera, who was perched on a ladder outside his house, during the Covid lockdown, was one such couldn’t-make-it-up tale).
But such commentaries were incidental highlights compared to the performances, not all of which were based on the American roots blues sound.
Indeed Andres Roots’ influences go much further and wider, as heard with 'Django,' a piece that, as the title suggests, honours the spirit and style of the great Django Reinhart.
Then there’s the flamenco blues of 'Spanish Run,' the deftly played slide interpretation of Hendrix’s 'The Wind Cries Mary,' and the fast-fingered dexterity of 'The Sheik of Hawaii,' which blends middle eastern and pacific island musicality.
Each as intricate in compositional craft as the performance skill required to play them.
But blues (alt orientated or otherwise) is an integral part of the Andres Roots repertoire, heard to fine effect on compositions such as the whimsical '4am Hot Dog,' the delightful 'Springtime Blues' and, a throwback to those original Delta days, 'Legacy Blues.'
Andres Roots more sedate, seated-with-guitar 45 minute set was the calm before the storm of Dave Arcari hitting the stage (and I mean hitting, leaping and bounding to the mic) for a high-energy, 70 minute set from one of the most animated performers you’re likely to encounter.
But such commentaries were incidental highlights compared to the performances, not all of which were based on the American roots blues sound.
Indeed Andres Roots’ influences go much further and wider, as heard with 'Django,' a piece that, as the title suggests, honours the spirit and style of the great Django Reinhart.
Then there’s the flamenco blues of 'Spanish Run,' the deftly played slide interpretation of Hendrix’s 'The Wind Cries Mary,' and the fast-fingered dexterity of 'The Sheik of Hawaii,' which blends middle eastern and pacific island musicality.
Each as intricate in compositional craft as the performance skill required to play them.
But blues (alt orientated or otherwise) is an integral part of the Andres Roots repertoire, heard to fine effect on compositions such as the whimsical '4am Hot Dog,' the delightful 'Springtime Blues' and, a throwback to those original Delta days, 'Legacy Blues.'
Andres Roots more sedate, seated-with-guitar 45 minute set was the calm before the storm of Dave Arcari hitting the stage (and I mean hitting, leaping and bounding to the mic) for a high-energy, 70 minute set from one of the most animated performers you’re likely to encounter.
From boisterous opener 'Cotton On My Back' to a great closing duet with Andres Roots for 'Folsom Prison Blues' (they also duetted on the Mississippi-tinged and fittingly titled 'Good Friend Blues') Dave Arcari entertained the audience in his own inimitable fashion.
At the microphone to tell a story or ten, introduce the songs and, rather obviously, to sing said songs, Arcari was at other times covering every part of the stage like a fully charged energiser bunny (a tall, bearded, Scottish one) with occassional loud vocal salvos of "C’mon!" or "Hell yeah!" to add further amplification to the evening’s entertainment.
A Dave Arcari show is, then, an engaging performance in every way, one that delivers a heady blend of blues, where roots, pre-war Delta, hill music, alt-blues and rockabilly-punk are all part of the mix.
Highlights? Well pretty much the entire set, but special mention for the on-the-road ode to homesickness 'Travellin’ Man' (and if you live by Loch Lomond you’re entitled to feel homesick as soon as you leave the post code), the cover of Merle Travis’ 'Nine Pound Hammer,' the stomp-pedal blues of 'Cherry Wine' (which carried the funniest accompanying story of the night) and the full electric treatment given to the swampy 'Walk The Walk' (a brooding blues highlight of latest studio album, Devil May Care).
At the microphone to tell a story or ten, introduce the songs and, rather obviously, to sing said songs, Arcari was at other times covering every part of the stage like a fully charged energiser bunny (a tall, bearded, Scottish one) with occassional loud vocal salvos of "C’mon!" or "Hell yeah!" to add further amplification to the evening’s entertainment.
A Dave Arcari show is, then, an engaging performance in every way, one that delivers a heady blend of blues, where roots, pre-war Delta, hill music, alt-blues and rockabilly-punk are all part of the mix.
Highlights? Well pretty much the entire set, but special mention for the on-the-road ode to homesickness 'Travellin’ Man' (and if you live by Loch Lomond you’re entitled to feel homesick as soon as you leave the post code), the cover of Merle Travis’ 'Nine Pound Hammer,' the stomp-pedal blues of 'Cherry Wine' (which carried the funniest accompanying story of the night) and the full electric treatment given to the swampy 'Walk The Walk' (a brooding blues highlight of latest studio album, Devil May Care).
There was also an outing for quirky and fun 2023 single 'Younger Days' ("a tune that started out as a hill country blues but turned into a country song, with yodelling, compounded further by the fact I can’t yodel!") as well as two banjo numbers (cue mandatory "not the f*cking banjo!" banter), the reflective lament 'Still Friends' and the folksier 'Whisky Trail.'
(The latter has taken on more resonance for Dave Arcari since downing tools on the Water Of Life – his self-confessed "predicament" over the love, and danger, of the dram was one of his most honest and open between song stories).
Add in around a dozen other numbers including the blues pickin' 'Devil May Care' (prefaced by the related folklore tale about the Whangie rock in the Kilpatrick hills) and 'See Me Laughing' (a homage to Mississippi hill country artists), and you have a great night down by Irvine Harbour, from a couple of very different, but wonderfully dovetailing, alt-blues musicians.
The blues does indeed come in many colours.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Photo credit: Alistair Mulhearn Photography (all images)
(The latter has taken on more resonance for Dave Arcari since downing tools on the Water Of Life – his self-confessed "predicament" over the love, and danger, of the dram was one of his most honest and open between song stories).
Add in around a dozen other numbers including the blues pickin' 'Devil May Care' (prefaced by the related folklore tale about the Whangie rock in the Kilpatrick hills) and 'See Me Laughing' (a homage to Mississippi hill country artists), and you have a great night down by Irvine Harbour, from a couple of very different, but wonderfully dovetailing, alt-blues musicians.
The blues does indeed come in many colours.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Photo credit: Alistair Mulhearn Photography (all images)