Festival year 2009
Erja Lyytinen
17.7.2009 >> LP 44! >> 25 EUR
(FIN)
blues with soul & pop influence
The first lady of Finnish blues is a solid songwriter, a seducing singer and a formidable guitar player, especially on slide. For a blues woman Erja is rather heavily educated, as she has studied music both in The Helsinki Pop & Jazz Conservatory and the Sibelius Academy.
Coming from the eastern city of Kuopio, Erja was born into a musical family and started singing and playing the fiddle with her parents, and later the electric guitar. Her ability on slide guitar prompted one magazine to declare her “the Finnish Bonnie Raitt”.
Lyytinen’s Wildflower and Dreamland Blues albums were chosen “Blues Albums of the Year” in the Blues Minister radio show. The latter album was recorded in the US and features David and Kinney Kimbrough, sons of the Mississippi Hill Country legend Junior Kimbrough, as well as her long-time playing partner, guitarist Davide Floreno. Erja also made Pilgrimage in the States with Aynsley Lister and Ian Parker, two rising English blues men and did a very successful international tour with them. She is one of the ladies presented on an international compilation album Blues Women. Her latest album, Grip of The Blues, shows Erja as a modern blues woman, who is not afraid to spice her music with touches of pop and Memphis soul.
Members:- Erja Lyytinen, voc, gtr
- Davide Floreno, gtr
- Rami Eskelinen, drs
- Matti Vallius, bass
- Harri Taittonen, keys
