Looking Back on 2020

The year 2020 started out great with a cover story in Finland's Blues News magazine - and then, six months of the year were swiftly cancelled on account of the pandemic, with more gigs called off or postponed than in the previous 20-odd years put together. 

Nevertheless, a few concerts and workshops took place before it all started and several more over the summer and early autumn, including appearances at festivals such as Tartu Bluusikuu and Linnujämm in Tartu, The Blue Icicle and Pärnu Bluusipäevad in Pärnu, Urissaare Kantri in Univere and Moosekants in Kadrina - even two shows in Finland with Ismo Haavisto and Matias Partanen: one at Ismo's Roots Thursday club in Lahti and the other at the Bluemood Saimaa festival in Ristiina. 

There was also the livestream from Tartu's Genklubi and a guest slot on Dave Arcari's Blues'n'2s online series, and of course Tartu2024's "Spring 2020" project that captured Tartu's cultural figures in isolation. 

 

On the recording front, 2020 proved most fruitful: there were two critically acclaimed CD albums ("Mississippi to Loch Lomond" and "Tartu Lockdown") and three digital EP's (the "House Arrest" recordings that would make up the "Tartu Lockdown" album), plus two long overdue cuts with Eric "Red Mouth" Gebhardt to celebrate the 10th anniversary of our first studio collaboration (more on these soon!). You can check the music out on the Bandcamp page HERE. 

In addition, there was the recording of musical accompaniment for Johannes Pääsuke's 1914 silent film "The Bear Hunt in Pärnu County" for the Estonian Embassy in London's #time4estonia project that is now available as a free e-book HERE.  

 

There were radio appearances and a TV interview, airplay and reviews from around the globe, and while we're pretty much back in lockdown, there are even a few gigs confirmed for 2021 - fingers crossed. Thank you, and a Much Happier New Year to you all!

Photo by Leif Laaksonen.