Roots & Terep

Photo by Leif Laaksonen.

Andres Roots & Raul Terep are an instrumental blues/swing/roots rock duo whose performances have been described variously as the sonic equivalent of watching a Marx Brothers film (Blues News) and as the best instrumental blues set since John Fahey (Waldemar Wallenius).

Established in 2014, the duo have toured in Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Finland and Sweden, opened for Dr. Feelgood and performed and/or recorded with a number of guests, including Bert Deivert (USA/SWE), James Dalton (USA) and Mikk Tammepõld (EST). To date, Roots & Terep have released one EP ("Winter Is Coming", 2015) and one album ("Trad.alt.blues", 2014), spanning the hit video "Chicken Man".

The duo grew out of Andres Roots Roundabout, a loose association of musicians formed upon the release of Roots' first solo album in 2010 that evolved into an instrumental trio. While Roots & Terep have been performing together off and on since 2003, their first-ever duo performances were recorded by Antti Alanko of Finland's Devil Box in 2014 and issued on "Trad.alt.blues", of which the French Soul Bag magazine stated: "The injection of soul licks and traditional Estonian airs... turns the difficult task of a full-length instrumental concert into a happy moment where you feel you've heard as many stories as if there'd been a singer recounting them."

Festival appearances by Roots & Terep include Suwalki Blues Festival (PL), Tammerblues (FIN), Baltic Blues (LV), Tallinn Music Week (EST), IDeeJazz (EST), Pärnu Bluusipäevad (EST), Blues & Jazz at Rock Café (LV), Blue Icicle (EST), Emajõe Bluus (EST), Prima Vista (EST), Guitar Jamboree (EST) and Intsikurmu Music Festival (EST).