An explosive British-Norwegian blues guitarist is set to release a jam-packed double album and take it around Europe for a 50-date tour.
Krissy Matthews’ new album Krissy Matthews & Friends is set for release on May 10, and he will be playing it live at The Flying Circus, Newark, on June 1.
At the helm of the release is the sensational Krissy Matthews, the guitar pro who recorded three albums, played onstage with John Mayall and with the late great Jeff Healey and received industry advice from the legendary B.B. King, all before turning 18 years old.
Following on from his previous record Pizza Man Blues back in 2021, his upcoming album is stacked with appearances from a wealth of musicians across the modern blues and rock scene.
Unsurprisingly, Krissy Matthews & Friends took a whole year to pull together and produce, but with the album featuring the likes of the god of hellfire Arthur Brown, the energetic John Otway, rap metal giants Clawfinger, the esteemed Hamburg Blues Band, and Mancunian powerhouse vocalist Kim Jennett among so many others, the monster of a record is worth the wait.
Krissy Matthews said: “It was a long time in the making and I managed to get it done. I wanted to get all my favourite musicians together that I have met on the road in my career. They are not all here by any means, but a good handful are. I did not want this album to have a box, so there are many different genres from metal to blues and jazz to rock'n'roll. But in the end, it is a Krissy Matthews record.”
The album includes 24 songs and is almost three hours long, with a mix of Krissy’s original material and his favourite cover songs.
Also appearing on the album are singer Chris Farlowe, Germany's soul queen Inga Rumpf, legendary singer songwriter Stoppok, elite drummers Dennis Chambers and Curt Cress, blues singing dynamite Big Daddy Wilson, guitar heroes Clem Clempson, Siggi Schwarz, Kai Strauss, Miller Anderson, Eric Steckel, Keith Matthews and Danny Bryant, the beautiful voices of Erja Lyytinen, Alice Armstrong, Layla Zoe, Vanja Sky, Heidi Solheim, Marlia Rae, Dani Wilde, Whitney Shay and Cherry Lee Mewis, harmonica royalty Will Wilde, Jimmy Z and Giles Robson — alongside many more talented musicians.
The first single, released in March, was ‘Queen’, featuring Kim Jennett on vocals on a rocking stomp of a track, which is sure to go down a treat on tour.
“I wrote this song about a particular person in my life at the time I could not stand,” added Krissy.
“It is a song of anger. I needed a real rock voice on this and Kim was the perfect solution. She may be small but the voice that comes out of her is pure dynamite.”
Shortly after, in April, the next single entitled ‘Why Are You Ashamed of Me?’ was released. The track, featuring the stunning and powerful vocal stylings of Heidi Solheim from rock band Pristine, is used as a vessel to vent against the Norwegian government, who refused to grant him a passport and repeatedly refused his appeal, despite being of Norwegian descent on his mother’s side.
He said: “It is unfair and I am very angry at the Norwegian system. I guess this is political blues and I want them to make it right.”
Around the album’s release, Krissy Matthews will embark on his mammoth European tour, for honest, dynamic and explosive stage shows set to leaves ripples in every venue.
He will have different line ups for the Norwegian, European and UK legs of the tour — in the UK, Krissy will bring his fantastic new trio featuring Polish dynamite Slawek Semeniuk on bass and the Belgian thunder Gerry Reynders on drums.
