ERJA LYYTINEN
Carlos Santana called her “the future” of guitar music. Naturally, she knows a thing or two about the blues.
FINNISH GUITAR MAVERICK Erja Lyytinen has been putting her own spin on the blues for close to two decades, in the process earning a European Guitarist of the Year award, sharing stages with the likes of Carlos Santana and playing to more than 80,000 in her hometown of Helsinki for a televised New Year’s Eve concert. In addition to approaching the blues from a fresh perspective both musically and geographically, she possesses a powerful, emotive voice and a devastating slide technique. It’s no wonder her 2019 autobiography was titled Blueskuningatar (The Blues Queen).
You released a live album, Lockdown Live, during the pandemic. How did that work?
In Helsinki we had three weeks of total lockdown, and when that time ended, me and my band thought, Okay, let’s get out of here. We traveled up to Kuopio, where I’m from, to do this gig at a warehouse, and we did a livestream and recorded it at the same time. The coronavirus had just started two months before, so we were still like, “Yeah, we’re going to be gigging soon.” We were still full of energy and giving our best, and that’s why I think people have received it very generously. They like the powerful, energetic feeling that it has.
Blues is commonly viewed as a distinctly American sound. What led you to it growing up in Finland?
I’ve just always really loved blues and soul music. I remember being 16 and having a band and covering stuff from Koko Taylor and Johnny Winter and all these different kinds of blues artists. I really love that genuine feeling in blues and how strong the performers are onstage. It’s so honest. The emotions feel so real. Of course, I have my own roots, and I have my own kind of Scandinavian sound in my playing, too. But I’ve always been drawn to American and British blues. And everywhere you go, there’s always somebody who plays or listens to the blues.
It’s a universal language.
One of the calling cards of your playing style is your distinctive slide work. How did you develop your technique?
Slide started to fascinate me when I was around 20 years old, and I kind of picked it up on my own. I think because nobody really taught me to how to play slide guitar, I’ve been really open-minded with it, and I use a lot of different effect pedals when I do it. Of course I play in open tunings, and I might use a capo, but then I’ll also use a Whammy Pedal, wah, distortion, and delays and modulation effects. For me, slide is like an adventure.
Do you recall the first blues song or blues lick that you learned?
I was playing Koko Taylor’s music and I was trying to do the vocals and then play the blues riffs in between the lines. When I finally got that going, I was like, “Yeah, this is a new, different world!”
How do you interpret the blues for a modern audience?
“I HAVE MY OWN ROOTS, AND I HAVE MY OWN KIND OF SCANDINAVIAN SOUND IN MY PLAYING, TOO”
I bring in different elements and styles. I’m really open to anything. With my previous studio album, [2019’s] Another World, I was very open in my interpretation of the music. And, you know, in roots music you wouldn’t necessarily need to use any effects, but I use them quite a lot. I have two separate pedalboards with around 12 or 13 pedals. For me, using pedals is a big way of expressing myself as a guitar player.
the frame of mind in which I wrote the song when it’s performed live.
What are your favorite pieces of gear?
I have a koa Weissenborn-style guitar by Andreas Cuntz. It’s a constant companion. Also a Patrick Eggle custom electric set up for slide and a National Style O.
What song in your catalog best exemplifies your approach to the guitar?
My approach changes from record to record. On the Roll With the Punches album, I was digging into the R.L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough early recordings. “If Tears Were Pennies” was nice and loose and was inspired by the mighty grooves found in Mississippi Hill Country Blues. Nothing was set in stone, so drummer Harry Harding and I had a few drinks and disappeared into that song for four or so minutes.
GREGG ERWIN (MAGNOLIA BOULEVARD)
What does blues
mean to you?
People tend to think blues is all about being down, broke, stuck in a rut with no way out. But when I hear B.B. King play single-note lines, for example, I cannot help but hear joy and happiness.
Who are your blues guitar heroes?
Duane Allman was the first to really get me. His knowledge, passion and love for all music, especially the blues, is at the forefront of his playing to my ears. From there I really started digging B.B. King, Warren Haynes, Charlie Christian, Wes Montgomery, Django, Dickey Betts, Miles and Coltrane.
What was the first blues song or lick you learned?
The Allman Brothers Band’s arrangement of “Stormy Monday” from At Fillmore East. Duane Allman’s solo in that particular cut is the only guitar solo I’ve ever learned note for note. The tone, phrasing and especially the string bending blew my young mind.
What do you try to achieve in your playing to make your style and sound unique?
My lifelong goal is to sing a guitar, not play it. Every now and then, something happens where you are completely free in the moment to play from your heart. You are truly in the moment.
How do you interpret the blues for a modern audience?
I just try to sing my instrument. I think the human voice is the most intricate instrument out there, so I listen to a lot of the great vocalists and try to incorporate their phrasing, use of time and space where they have to breathe to be able to sing.
What are your favorite pieces of gear?
My touring rig consists of a PRS McCarty, a Custom 22 and the first PRS I acquired, an S2 Standard 22. My amp is a PRS Original Sewell 50-watt head running through a 4x10 half open-back cab with Greenback speakers in it. With this amp I am finally able to plug straight in and ride the volume and tone pots throughout the set. A crucial element is running the amp through a Brown Box made by AmpRX.
What song in your catalog best exemplifies your approach to the guitar?
“Lovin’ Me,” off New Illusion. Maggie [Noelle, Magnolia Boulevard’s singer and guitarist] and I both have rhythm tracks on it, and I have a slide track as well. I found myself thinking on both tracks, how would a horn player approach this? With the main chord being a major 7th, the possibilities are endless. I love how they often play a semitone up or down from the tonal center of the song in the middle of a beat, so I tried to mimic that a bit with a two-note inversion.
JUSTIN JOHNSON What does blues mean to you?
Doing more with less and making it better by adding feeling, attitude, and style to the delivery is what has always defined my favorite blues musicians.
Who are your blues guitar heroes?
Jimmy Page and Jimi Hendrix were the gateway drug that got me hooked on Blind Willie Johnson, R.L. Burnside, John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Son House and Lightning Hopkins. I also try to pick up slide guitar melodies and techniques from vocalists, especially Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, Etta James, Hank Williams Sr. and Cab Calloway.
What was the first blues song or lick you learned?
I remember learning the “Catfish Blues” riff from the Jimi Hendrix Stages album and becoming obsessed with that style.
What do you try to achieve in your playing to make your style and sound unique?
I love how guitarists like Hendrix and Stevie were so immediately identifiable. I’ve always aspired to develop my own voice on guitar and to tell a story in each song, even without words.
How do you interpret the blues for a modern audience?
People never get tired of the honesty and emotion in blues music. Blues is best when it’s emotional and raw, and those feelings are universal.
What are your favorite pieces of gear?
My 60th Anniversary Fender Tele, my Gyrock with swappable pickups by Wild Custom Guitars, and a custom Phoenix
“IT’S EASY TO GET LOST IN PERCEIVED IMPROVEMENT OR DEVELOPED TECHNIQUE AND TO LOSE SIGHT OF THE SONG AS A WHOLE” — MARTIN HARLEY
model by Little Crow Guitars. For amps, I use my Hughes & Kettner Triamp MKII for almost everything, I also use a Mad Professor Old School 51 RT Head for that classic, spring reverb, surfy sound, and a custom Square Amp for that rusty vintage dirt.
What song in your catalog best exemplifies your approach to the guitar?
“Whiskey Sippin’ Music,” from The Bootleg Series, Volume 2. That performance was an unfiltered, stream-ofconsciousness moment with my old vintage Dobro.
JOSH SMITH What does blues mean to you?
The Black music that I’ve loved since I was a kid and that I’ve dedicated my life to learning, respecting, listening to and playing. Secondly, it’s a feeling and emotion that everyone can relate to. The blues is universal.
Who are your blues guitar heroes?
Albert King, B.B. King, Otis Rush, Magic Sam, Hubert Sumlin, T-Bone Walker, Albert Collins, Buddy Guy, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimmie Vaughan, Lonnie Johnson, Charlie Christian… I could go on forever.
What was the first blues song or lick you learned?
A B.B. King slow-blues intro. Probably “Sweet Sixteen.” Still gives me chills.
What do you try to achieve in your playing to make your style and sound unique?
I’m always pushing myself to be a better player and musician. No matter how sophisticated the idea or technique is, I want it to sound like me. I’m also always trying to make my playing a more direct connection to my thoughts and feelings.
How do you interpret the blues for a modern audience?
I’m mostly concerned with writing the best material I can and working as hard as I can. I want to write and record new classics. I don’t have a goal to modernize the blues per se; I just want to be the authentic me.
What are your favorite pieces of gear?
My new Ibanez signature guitar, the FlatV1, my LovePedal Tchula overdrive, the Vemuram Myriad Fuzz, the Eventide H9 and my Morgan
JS12 amp.
What song in your catalog best exemplifies your approach to the guitar?
“That For You Too” on the Burn to Grow album. I think it’s proof of concept for all my goals: classic style and respect for tradition, more harmony than the average blues song, more fleshed-out production and arrangement than the current blues releases, and my guitar playing straddles it all.
LAURENCE JONES What does blues mean to you?
To me it’s the feeling you get.
Who are your blues guitar heroes?
The main guitarist who got me into the blues was Jimi Hendrix, and from there I learned about Stevie Ray Vaughan from seeing covers he’d done from Hendrix, like “Voodoo Child.” But number one for me is Eric Clapton. I grew up with Clapton. I loved the songwriting and loved that side of things from an artist’s point of view.
What was the first blues song or lick you learned?
“Key to the Highway” — Clapton’s version, of course. I remember really studying that song, learning a lot about the major blues. And from there I found B.B. King. I actually went to see B.B. on his last tour, in Birmingham, England; That was a really interesting gig for me because Gary Moore was the support act, so it was a great opportunity to see Gary play as well.
What do you try to achieve in your playing to make your style and sound unique?
I take influences from my classical guitar playing, which I started when I was eight years old. Because of that, a lot of my style is fingerpicking and has developed from classical guitar.
“I LOVE HOW GUITARISTS LIKE HENDRIX AND STEVIE WERE SO IMMEDIATELY IDENTIFIABLE”
— JUSTIN JOHNSON
How do you interpret the blues for a modern audience?
I’d say in a similar way that Clapton does. The main thing for me is catchy vocal hooks and always trying to capture the audience and get that younger audience involved by having proper songs they can sing along to. I’m also all about the stage show. When I supported Buddy Guy at the Holland International Blues Festival in 2018, I learned from the master that you’ve got to be a showman as well as just getting up onstage and playing guitar and singing.
What are your favorite pieces of gear?
My 1964 Fender Stratocaster, Blondie. I bought that while I was on tour in Denmark in 2017, at a shop called Plektrum. I actually just went in for a packet of strings and the guy grabbed this guitar from the back. It wasn’t even on the shop floor. As soon as I tried it, I knew. My other favorite piece of gear at the moment is the new Marshall Origin50 amp.
What song in your catalog best exemplifies your approach to the guitar?
“Mistreated,” from 2019’s Laurence Jones Band. I’m really proud of the guitar and the sounds we got on that. Our producer, Gregory Elias, did a really cool trick at the end of that song, which is like a false ending.