| Eastern Europe has a legion of blues and roots music fans and one of their favorite artists carrying the torch of traditional blues is Hungarian bluesman Little G Weevil. The singer/songwriter/guitarist made many a long pilgrimage to America to study and immerse himself in the artform at its source in Atlanta, St. Louis, and Memphis, where he worked as a dishwasher in a club on Beale Street just to be close to the action. Little G won the International Blues Challenge in 2013 as a solo act, toured internationally and has recorded eight albums before the pandemic shutdown. Finding a harder working musician than Little G would be difficult.
He returns in summer of 2023 with the new studio album, If I May, a collection of ten original compositions that run the gamut of blues, jazz, swing, and ragtime styles. His devotion to authenticity is matched with his penchant for creative lyricism that presents timely topics and modern jargon over timeless musical forms. Joining Little G in this pursuit for the sessions at Sounday Studio in Budapest, Hungary are the nimble quartet of drummer Tom Kiss, piano man Mr. Jambalaya, Csaba Pengo on upright bass, and K.C. Brown on harmonica, with producer/engineer Gabor Vastag tossing in backup vocals for good measure.
The opening track, “Yoga Girl (Hold Me Close),” flies out of the gate like a Luther Allison Chicago Blues rocker. His reflection on current events, “Spy Balloon Blues,” features Mr. Jambalaya playing the part of Professor Longhair as Kiss rolls out a loose swinging New Orleans parade beat. Little G seeks redemption on the rumbling blues “One Last Time,” pleading his case on his gritty lead guitar. He updates the old “You Done Me Wrong” song vignette into “Scam Me, Scam Me Not,” as he warns off a wily woman trying to steal his heart. The dose of straight-ahead blues “Doctor Hay,” finds him railing against the advice to curb his wild life and get healthy.
He gives a voice to those who would rise up against their oppressors on the throbbing Safari blues “Tribal Affairs,” an evocative mixture of a Hill Country meets Mali and Delta trance aesthetics. The rambling Basin Street rhumba, “Gold Mine,” bemoans the plight of African workers, who toil for the white man’s treasure, and he lambastes modern education in the age of the internet on the two-beat stomper, “Tingalingaling (Everybody’s Qualified),” with tongue firmly in cheek. The rebuke continues from Little G in the rolling slow blues “We Don’t Learn Much,” expressing his fears for our world. Before all swirls into the abyss Little G ends the set by taking a cue from Chess Records legend Willie Dixon and delivering a multi-step plan in “I Know Many Ways To Prove My Love,” while the band plays a percolating blues that cooks up a convincing love potion. With sincerity and devotion Little G Weevil gives us another reason to believe in the blues.
Rick J Bowen
BIOGRAPHY
Little G Weevil is a highly esteemed member of the worldwide blues community. He is the solo winner of the Blues Foundation’s 2013 International Blues Challenge, and a Blues Music Award, Blues Blast Music Award, and Independent Blues Award nominee. He has released eight internationally acclaimed albums and toured across the globe. During his travels he has shared the stage with Johnny Winter, the Neville Brothers, Terry Evans, John Popper, Lee Oskar, Anson Funderburgh and the Rockets with Sam Myers, Denise LaSalle, Billy Gibson, Otis Taylor, Big Jack Johnson, Lonnie Shields, Lurrie Bell, Willie King, Ian Siegal, Matt Schofield, to name just a few.
Gee grew up in Budapest, Hungary, where he formed his first band in 1996 and toured Europe before moving to the U.S. in 2004. He spent time in Birmingham, AL and Memphis, TN and secured a steady gig on Beale Street in Memphis. In 2005, he made his first solo recordings at Charlie Wood’s studio in Memphis, but three out of the four tracks were lost. The one remaining track “Hey Jody” was missing the bass line, which was later added by Csaba Pengo. “Hey Jody” was eventually released as the intro to Gee’s debut solo album Southern Experience in 2008. In 2009, Gee relocated to Atlanta, GA, where he teamed up with legendary local musicians for his second album, The Teaser. The backing crew of long-time heavy hitters (John McKnight, Bill Burke, Bob Page, and Maurice Nazzaro) toured with icons such as John Lee Hooker and Chuck Berry. The record was released in December 2011 to critical acclaim; ranked one of the best blues albums of the year by Mojo and topped the French blues chart. In 2013, Little G took first place in the solo/duo category in the International Blues Challenge (Memphis, TN), at which he was also awarded “Best Guitarist” in his category. The same year he released his first full-length acoustic album, Moving (VizzTone Label Group). Mojo magazine ranked it #3 “Best Blues Album of the Year” and it was nominated for a Blues Blast Music Award “Acoustic Album of the Year.” In 2014, Gee was nominated for a Blues Music Award “Acoustic Artist of the Year.” In the same year he was invited to join the judging panel in the 5th series of X-Factor (Hungary) the popular television music talent show franchise. In 2016 his fourth album, Three Chords Too Many, received an Independent Blues Music Award nomination as “Best Acoustic Blues Album of Year.”
To read more about Little G go to www.gweevil.com/biography. |
