DELTA BOYS - Rough & Easy

1) I Saw The Light - Hank Williams 2) Let Me Play With Your Poodle - Tampa Red 3) Memory Pain - Percy Mayfield 4) Love Crazy - Tampa Red 5) Over The Hill - John Martyn 6) Kind Of Man - Ellger / Achterholt 7) Your Mind Is On Vacation - Mose Allison 8) Swing Along - Gorke / Achterholt 9) You Can´t Judge A Book - Willie Dixon 10) Is A Woman - Lou Rawls 11) Bluelight Boogie - Louis Jordan 12) Shine - Ed Roland 13) Can‘t Get No Loving On The Telephone - Bob Greenlee 14) I´ll Fly Away - Albert E. Brumley 15) When You´re Smiling - Fisher / Goodman / Shay 16) If The River Was Whiskey - Sleepy John Estes 17) Someday - Robert Nighthawk GSRCD1301 18) Glory Of Love -

On Rough & Easy, the eagerly anti- On Rough & Easy, the twosome inter- a single overdub on the record. „We cipated sophomore effort by the Delta prets classics by Tampa used vintage microphones and didn‘t Boys, two of Germany‘s most accom- Red and Big Bill Broonzy, traditional do any kind of digital processing after- plished blues musicians, Gerd Gorke American roots and spiritual numbers ward. This way, we managed to cap- & Michael van Merwyk, bring their as well as a handful of original compo- ture the raw, direct and relaxed atmo- unique artistry to an important musical sitions. The repertoire includes familiar sphere of a live performance.“ It‘s no tradition. titles like „I Saw The Light“ and „Glo- coincidence the album is called Rough ry of Love,“ but also demonstrates the & Easy. Once upon a time, from the 1940s th- duo‘s thorough knowledge of the genre rough the folk revival of the 1960s and with song choices such as Mose Alli- With this extraordinary new song col- well into the 1970s (when they stopped son‘s „Your Mind Is On Vacation“ and lection in hand, the Delta Boys will be speaking to one another), the blues Lou Rawls‘ „Blues Is A Woman.“ Gorke spending the rest of 2013 (and beyond) duo of Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee and van Merwyk share vocal duties th- doing what they do best – pulling on charmed audiences with their special roughout, each one possessing a voice their overalls and bringing their brand brand of folk storytelling and acoustic as deep and rich as Delta soil. of premium acoustic blues to live au- guitar-and-harp virtuosity. In more diences throughout the land. Sonny & recent decades, acts such as Cephas Musically, the two veterans show why Brownie are sure to be looking down & Wiggins and Paul Rishell & Annie they are considered among Europe‘s from their separate rooms in blues he- Raines have carried the torch forward. finest. Gorke dazzles with his astonis- aven, smiling. Combining upbeat energy with authen- hing dexterity on Tampa Red‘s „Let Me tic down-home feeling, Gorke & van Play With Your Poodle“ as he does over (Vincent Abbate, November 2013) Merwyk are gradually taking their place and over throughout the album. Van alongside those greats. Merwyk offers nimble fingerpicking, www.deltaboys.de smooth slide guitar and also steps This year, harp player extraordinaire out of the duo format with a sparkling Gerd Gorke is celebrating 30 years diddley bow performance on Sleepy as an important contributor to the Eu- John Estes‘ „If The River Was Whis- ropean blues scene. During that time, key.“ The 18 tracks come in at just over he‘s played more than 2500 concerts an hour – meaning these two pros ne- and accompanied such luminaries ver give you too much of a good thing. as Louisiana Red, Sam Myers, Dave With this diverse song list in place, the Myers and Jeanne Carroll. Guitarist duo set out to make a studio recording Michael van Merwyk has spent hund- that‘s honest and authentic. „Our idea reds of nights paying his dues onstage was to transport the laid back, immedi- and has recently emerged as a rising ate atmosphere of our concerts into the international star: His band Bluesoul listener‘s living room,“ explains Micha- placed second in the band category at el van Merwyk. To that end, they recor- the 2013 International Blues Challenge ded the album in its entirety in one day – the highest finish ever for a non-Ame- at the Claus Grabke Studios (Thumb, rican act! Sebel, The Picturebooks). There‘s not

Contact: Michael van Merwyk | [email protected] | Fon: +49 (0) 172 277 3228