Craig Erickson - Modern Blues (2023) [gnodde]



According to his official website, American singer-songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Craig Erickson “learned to play while working in his father's record store in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He formed his first band at 13, and began playing around the area.” His rockin’ resume includes “over 20 solo albums, dozens of guest appearances, and multiple collaboration projects.” His debut disc, Roadhouse Stomp!, dropped in 1992.
He has recorded, jammed, and toured both nationally and internationally with such other artists as Black Oak Arkansas, Chris Duarte, Tony Franklin, Eric Gales, Glenn Hughes, Buddy Miles, Walter Trout, Rob Wasserman, and members of The Dregs, the Jeff Beck Band, Motley Crue, Poison, Ratt, Starship, and Paul McCartney's band. Erickson also founded and fronts the band Sky Train.

Modern Blues is a 12-track album of original music. It has a running time of nearly 55 minutes. Much like Tom Scholz, the founder of the American rock band, Boston, this album is largely a one-man band solo album.

It features Erickson on guitar, bass, keyboards, and vocals steadfastly backed by experienced American drummer Jeff Sipe. Erickson recently discussed the origins of his new solo release. He said: “[It’s] one of the most involved music projects I have recorded.”

He continued: “I started writing songs for a new album, in my Midwest studio, just as the worldwide pandemic began in 2020. I sent a couple of songs to legendary producer Mike Varney. He heard the potential and began offering some advice and inspiration for the project.
I previously recorded several records for Mike’s Shrapnel Records label. He had hooked me up with some of the best musicians in the world beginning in the 90s including the likes of Glenn Hughes and the ’Badlands’ rhythm section. We initially discussed traveling to a studio near him and working with some musicians to record the album.”

Tracks:
01 - Topsy Turvy 04:07
02 - Modern Blues 04:33
03 - Stormchasin' 05:17
04 - Narrow Way 04:21
05 - Bring Love Back Again 03:35
06 - Last Train To Nowhere 06:19
07 - Brokedown World 05:30
08 - Wildfire 04:06
09 - The First Stone 06:25
10 - Blues River 06:09
11 - Love's Gonna Win 02:28
12 - In The End 02:01

All in MP3 @ 320kbps