Main Blues

Remarkably versatile, lower Michigan-based blues/rock guitarist Keith Scott has been working his way methodically up through the blues' ranks since his parents bought him his first guitar at age 14 and his young ears heard Muddy Waters in 1978. Scott is heavily influenced by Chicago blues legends Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Jimmy Reed and other legendary Chicago bluesmen. Coming to the Chicago area in 1982, Scott soon found the opportunity to play with many of the post-war blues greats of the Chicago pantheon.

Scott has an ambitious touring schedule in 2012 and will be in the Pacific NW the first two weeks of February. If he's coming to your area, I highly recommend catching his act. You can see Scott at the following locations this month:

• February 2, 2012 at the Shores Restaurant in Birch Bay, Washington
• February 3, 2012 at the Snoqualmie Falls Country Club in Fall City, Washington
• February 4, 2012,  1:00 PM at The Experience Music Project in Seattle, Washington
• February 4, 2012, 5:30 PM Finnaughtys Irish Pub in Snoqualmie, Washington
• February 7, 2012 at The Wet Dog Brewery in Astoria, Oregon
  
• February 8, 2012, 12:00 PM at the Clatsop Community College in Astoria, Oregon
• February 9, 2012  7:30 PM at The Upstage in Port Townsend, Washington
• February 10, 2012 at the Rattlesnake Mountain Brewery in Richland, Washington
• February 11, 2012 at the Oasis Sports Bar in Sequim, Washington 

Here is a recent review of Keith Scott's latest CD release titled Universal Blues:

Keith Scott has been playing the bluesman's trade since landing in Chicago from Florida in the early 1980s, and since then, he's released five CDs of original blues, rock and acoustic music. Along the way, he's played the Chicago Blues Festival, several Midwestern universities, breweries, and noted blues rooms in Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan. In 2011, he released two CDs that bookend acoustic and electric blues. I particularly enjoyed his unplugged Tennessee Blues, but the follow-up to this toned-down acoustic blues CD, Universal Blues, shows me that Keith can bend blue notes quite effectively with an electric band, too.

Keith's music has landed on MTV's "Real World," "Road Rules," and "Making the Video," and was featured in a short film, "Fault," which screened at the prestigious MIPCOM international entertainment conference in 2002. He's toured extensively with "West Side Guitar Hero" Jimmy Dawkins, and has worked with the late Johnny Littlejohn, Hubert Sumlin, Hip Linkchain, and Eddie Taylor.

Universal Blues offers up some strong songwriting backed up by some pretty tasty electric blues, particularly on "Second Hand Man," "No Mercy," and "Mean Mistreater." While the majority of Universal Blues is forceful and electric, the acoustic blues of "Leaving Blues" and "Georgia Blues," and the slide work on "Living in My Own World" attest to Keith's diverse approach to the blues.

If you're fortunate enough to live near Chicagoland, check out Keith Scott live. He's often working at clubs like Reggie's on South State Street, the House of Blues downtown, or playing clubs all the way from Saugatuck, Michigan down to Warsaw, Indiana, and up to Baraboo, Wisconsin, and all points in-between. I enjoyed Tennessee Blues, but his second 2011 release, Universal Blues, is even better as it offers up a mixture of original electric and acoustic blues that more clearly showcases the breadth of this bluesman's talent. - Review By Eric Steiner