Sunjay
Award-winning blues guitarist Sunjay releases “The Easy Blues” – the second single taken from his forthcoming album Black & Blues Revisited, released by Mighty Tight Records on Friday October 14th.
“The Easy Blues is adapted from a Jelly Roll Morton piano piece called Jelly Roll Blues,” says Sunjay. “We recorded it live in one take, at the end of a days’ recording. My producer suggested a lo-fi production, just three mics to capture the performance, the same way they recorded it 100 years ago. I wanted to echo the sound and feel of Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. This is the final track on the album. For me, it feels like the perfect way to end the album.”
Watch “The Easy Blues”
The single is available for download/stream Here
Pre-order Black & Blues Revisited Here
Black & Blues Revisited produced by Sunjay and Josh Clark at Get Real Studios in Bath, UK marks a significant passage of time in Sunjay’s life. “I’d just started recording the album when my mother suddenly and tragically died,” says Sunjay. “There was so much to deal with, the shock was huge, and it took me a long time to recover. Thankfully Josh enabled us to keep the momentum going as he continued to work on various things until I could record again. Music has always been my catharsis. I’m grateful that I’m now in a much better place both personally and musically.
My mother was born in Goa, India. She gave me my forename, Sunjay. Though always very proud of me, I think there were cultural expectations of me becoming a Doctor or Lawyer! My father who (is British) taught me to play guitar initially, and I inherited his love of blues music.
Faced with these challenges I feel far closer to these songs now than I’d ever done before. Some of these songs, in fact most of them, I’ve been singing for years. However singing them now has a whole different meaning. In the Blues, references to death, the devil etc aren’t usually very far removed from real life.”
Listening to “Statesboro Blues” and “Living With The Blues”, you can feel that raw emotion. Sunjay’s voice sounds more edgy than it has on previous albums. There’s a willingness to sing straight from the heart, to let the listener hear him at his most vulnerable and somehow evoke feelings of, ‘hey, it’s ok, come and sit with me a while’. While on other tracks like “Freight Train” and “Come Back Baby” we hear the more familiar warm sonorous vocals that we’ve become accustomed to hearing from Sunjay.
This is new territory for Sunjay, territory that’s unfamiliar to him as well as to the regular Sunjay listener. Have no fear though, it’s wonderful to hear the growth between albums. “When I was younger, I always got told – you need to suffer to be able to sing the blues. Well, now I have.” says Sunjay, a wry smile that those accustomed to his live performances will be familiar with. He has a unique ability to craft equal parts sadness and humour into songs and stories alike. At 28 years old he seems to have the experience and wisdom of somebody much older. Though as he’s keen to point out, “That’s only because I’ve made so many mistakes…”.
The band on the album is comprised of drummer (and occasional bassist!) Josh Clarke (Kate Rusby), bassist Josh Jewsbury (Eve Selis), Bob Fridzema on keys (King King, Joanne Shaw Taylor, Walter Trout), and harmonica player Lee Southall (Voodoo Blue).
Sunjay will be on tour in the UK. For tour dates see here.
Sunjay website
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