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Showing posts with the label The Learning Tree

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💿 ALBUM REVIEW: John Primer and Friends - Tribute To Theresa's Lounge

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John fell in love with the blues as a child when his father and an older cousin played guitar and sang at night after a hard day in the fields. His mother moved to Chicago to secure a job and support her family. She promised to bring John and his sister to the big city when they reached age 18, leaving them with family. Depressed and lonely, young Primer frequently went into the neighboring woods, where he cried his troubles away and began singing the blues in solitude. He eventually built himself a diddley bow on the side of his grandmother's house out of broom wire, two nails and a brick and began accompanying himself as he sang, eventually playing for dimes and quarters in his schoolyard. After listening to Jimmy Reed , Little Milton, B.B. King , Albert King and Muddy Waters on his grandmother's record player, his biggest dream was to play alongside Muddy Waters one day. 🎵 LISTEN & SUPPORT THE ALBUM ▶ Listen to Album Samples (Clic...

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Voidfree Records artist: Mike Ian - The Learning Tree - New Release Review

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I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, The Learning Tree , from Mike Ian , and it's an interesting progressive rock adventure. Opening with A Pirate's Dream , songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Mike Ian uses his own layered vocals over bongos, synthesizer, and acoustic guitar creating a radio friendly progressive tale. On Cast In Stone , Ian's melodic strength is really nicely displayed again with vocal over acoustic and electric guitar, synthesizer and drums. Well crafted and executed, very commercially strong. Building on an acoustic guitar riff,  and enveloped in electric guitar additions, Saved slowly rises with additional layers of vocals, percussion, reverb saturated guitars, and synthesizer. With a solid melody, this may be my favorite track on the release. Something More Nothing Less opens quietly with only Ian and piano backed with some subtle synthesizer but grows with the addition of guitar and drums. Building to full bloom, Ian steps ...