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Blues Underground Network Pete Herzog "Steel Guitar - A Blues
Opera"
(USA)
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 Over my 6+ years of doing
reviews, I have come across many creative ways in which Blues artists have
done their albums, but I must say that one of the most creative to date is
Pete Herzog's "Steel Guitar - A Blues Opera"."Steel Guitar - A Blues Opera" is my
2nd introduction to Pete Herzog, the first being his
critically acclaimed 2008 release,
"Homestyle".
Pete Herzog is no stranger to the
Blues as he started playing at the age of only 8. "He learned the
slide and playing using all the harmonics and overtones he could wring out
of an instrument. During the folk revival he switched to a regular guitar,
but eventually was drawn to playing bottleneck in various open
tunings." Pete usually uses several Guitars for his shows, all
tuned a little differently.
"Steel Guitar - A Blues Opera" is a 2
disc release, and tells the story of a Steel Guitar via 27 Tracks of
spoken word and 22 Tracks of songs, all written and performed by Pete
Herzog. Over a series of generations, "Steel Guitar - A Blues Opera",
traces the history of one Steel Guitar as it is stolen, bought, won,
purchased, stolen again, and so on, in no particular order. Pete does
this by mainly telling stories of the people who have the Guitar in
their possession and how they not only acquired the Guitar, but
also in some cases how they lost it, or had it stolen and how the
Guitar affected those that had it. Pete Herzog is an extremely intriguing
and well versed Storyteller, whom has no problem immersing us in each of
the tales throughout this album. "Steel Guitar - A Blues Opera" comes
across as an album you would just like to curl up in front of a warm
fireplace and contently be taken away to another world with.
As of the writing of this review, Pete
Herzog is still contemplating whether or not to develop and release a
DVD of "Steel Guitar - A Blues Opera". I personally think that that would
be awesome. Pete currently tours with "Steel Guitar - A Blues Opera" as a
one man show of which he recently said, ""Steel Guitar" is a
performance piece, best done in a theater type environment, not to be
confused with the regular show that I do that is just music that I play in
wineries, restaurants, festivals, etc."
"Steel Guitar - A Blues Opera" is a
very rare, creative, and intriguing work of musical art, one in which I
doubt we will see the likes of again, for a very long time, if
ever.
"Steel Guitar - A Blues Opera"
enthusiastically gets my highest rating of 5*****. Highly Recommended and
Thoroughly Enjoyed...
Review by John Vermilyea (Blues
Underground Network)
Listen To Samples Here... http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/peteherzog
Additional Artist Info... http://peteherzogmusic.com/
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