Michael Messer, Chaz Jankel

Michael Messer

Michael Messer is a virtuoso slide guitarist, singer, and blues innovator. Throughout his thirty year recording career, his music has remained individual and contemporary. Michael Messer's reputation as an innovator of the blues and master of slide guitar is well known. Being British with an international reputation for blues slide guitar is a rarity in itself, but Michael's obsessive appetite for knowledge of his art is virtually unrivalled. His stunning slide guitar playing and superb vocals, ooze authenticity and integrity, and his use of turntables in the Second Mind Band marked him as one of the trailblazers of the 21st century blues sound. His current band, Michael Messer's Mitra, is once again breaking new ground, playing an exhilarating and accessible fusion of rural blues and Hindustani classical music. Their highly acclaimed debut album, Call Of The Blues, was released in February 2016. Johnny Cash was a fan of Michael Messer's music and wrote the liner notes for his 1993 album Rhythm Oil, a rare honour shared only with Bob Dylan on Nashville Skyline. Rhythm Oil was awarded Import Album of the Year, by the Austin, Texas, music press. Michael's King Guitar album reached number one in the US Living Blues chart, and the American magazine Spirit has listed Michael Messer as one of the greatest slide guitarists ever, alongside Duane Allman and Ry Cooder. Michael's album Second Mind won Best International Guitar Album of the Year, and he is included in the Virgin Encyclopaedia of the Blues. Michael Messer has released ten albums, produced a few albums for other artists, toured worldwide, recorded numerous live radio/TV sessions, and appeared in his own 'blues' episode of BBC TV show, Zingzillas. He also has a successful line of MM guitar products; including Michael Messer Resonator Guitars, Michael Messer Guitar Strings, and a series of slide and lap steel guitar tuition DVDs.

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