Andres Roots

Born in Tallinn, Estonia, USSR in 1976, Andres Roots made his first public appearance as a guitarist in Denmark in 1995 and his first recordings in Germany in 2000. After stints in several award-winning college bands in Tartu, Estonia around the turn of the century, he co-founded Bullfrog Brown in 2003. Quickly earning cult status in their native country, the alt.blues trio went on to play hundreds of shows from the Baltics to the UK, sharing stages with the likes of Deltahead, Havana Black and Gurf Morlix. Roots’ solo debut “Roundabout” was released in November 2010 and featured collaborations with Eric “Red Mouth” Gebhardt (USA), Bottleneck John (SWE), Dave Arcari (UK), Black River Bluesman (FIN) and World Harmonica Festival bronze ’09 Jantso Jokelin (FIN). In Estonia, it produced several Eesti Top7 TV hits, including a #1 in “Redecoration Day”. In Britain, Andres Roots was voted 5th best international solo artist in Blues Matters magazine’s Writers Poll 2011 in a tie with Mississippi legend Jimmy “Duck” Holmes and Finland’s leading blues lady Erja Lyytinen. Roundabout the band was born onstage the night the album was released and continued as a loose association of musicians. For the album "Leigh's Spider Jam", special guests Bert Deivert (USA/SWE) and L.R.Phoenix (UK/FIN) were brought in on mandolin and vocals. Roundabout was also featured on Phoenix' own album, recorded in Tartu and co-produced by Roots. By late 2011, the band was mainly touring as an instrumental trio with Roots, Eessalu and ex-Bullfrog Brown drummer Raul Terep, melding "traditional blues with dashes of Hawaiian, Western Swing and, of course, Dixie" (Blues In Britain). Album "Three!" added roots rock to the mix and was released in 2013 to positive acclaim; by 2014, Peeter Piik, another former member of Bullfrog Brown, had replaced Eessalu on bass.